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BAKU: Prosecutor Looks Into Charging Turks Who Apologized To Armenia

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  • BAKU: Prosecutor Looks Into Charging Turks Who Apologized To Armenia

    PROSECUTOR LOOKS INTO CHARGING TURKS WHO APOLOGIZED TO ARMENIA

    Trend News Agency
    Jan 9 2009
    Azerbaijan

    A prosecutor in Ankara on Friday opened an investigation into whether
    an online campaign by a number of Turkish intellectuals in which they
    personally apologize for the First World War killings of Armenian
    constitutes "insulting the Turkish people," the Anadolu news agency
    reported.

    The investigation will look into the "We apologize" campaign and
    whether it violates Turkey's notorious Article 301, which stipulates
    imprisonment for those found guilty of "insulting Turkishness".

    In order for any trial to go ahead against the authors of the
    petition, permission must first be sought from the justice minister,
    dpa reported.

    A group of academics, writers and journalists set up an online
    petition last month in which they make a personal apology for the
    "great catastrophe" of 90 years ago and which is still considered a
    taboo subject in Turkey.

    "I cannot accept the denial of the great catastrophe of 1915 that
    Ottoman Armenians were subjected to. I condemn this injustice and
    acting on my own behalf I share the feelings of pain of my Armenian
    brothers," the webpage ozurdiliyoruz.com says, followed by the names
    of the almost 300 people who started the campaign.

    As of early January more than 25,000 people had signed the
    petition. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and military chiefs,
    as well as opposition figures condemned the campaign.

    The campaign is in direct contrast to official state policy that
    refuses to admit that the deaths of up to 1.5 million Armenians in
    the last days of the Ottoman Empire actually constitute a genocide.

    Turkey says that while there were massacres of ethnic Armenians the
    events were the result of a civil uprising during the war. A group of
    former Turkish ambassadors have issued a counter statement declaring
    the petition as against Turkey's national interests.

    Neighbouring Turkey and Armenia do not have any diplomatic relations
    and the land border between the two countries was closed by Turkey
    in 1993 in protest at the Armenian occupation of Nagorno- Karabakh.

    A thawing in relations has begun in recent months with Turkish
    President Abdullah Gul in September becoming the first Turkish head
    of state to visit the Armenian capital Yerevan.
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