Tweet
CHP DEPUTY INSISTS ON DNA TESTS FOR PRESIDENT
Hurriyet
Dec 24 2008
Turkey
ANKARA - The dispute between a main opposition deputy and President
Abdullah Gul over the latter's ethnic origin took on another dimension
with the request of a DNA test from Gul to prove his ethnic background.
Canan Arıtman, the İzmir deputy of the Republican People's
Party, or CHP, said Gul had Armenian roots, which is why he has
not openly rejected the apology campaign carried out by a group of
intellectuals. In a counter-statement Gul said his family was 100
percent Muslim and Turk and filed a lawsuit against Arıtman.
"Today, ethnic origin does not gain legal and scientific validity
through family trees, but through DNA tests," Arıtman said in her
written statement late Monday. "Birth records during the Ottomans were
based on declarations and while recording non-Muslims, the state used
to write a Muslim name as the father's name. Thus, nobody can prove
their ethic identity through a family tree."
Arıtman said it was Gul's prerogative to file a suit against
her and that she was not after anyone's DNA results, but in the
event of a judicial process, she would have to produce documents
and witnesses. She also said she expected the president to say the
Turkish nation had not committed any crime of genocide. Many nations
owe an apology to our nation, but we do not owe an apology to anybody.
Constitutional duty "I do not think I have requested a difficult
thing. This is the president's constitutional duty. If he does not
perform this task, he commits a crime against the Constitution and he
should resign," she said. In protest over Gul's approach to an apology
campaign concerning World War I-era killings of Armenians at the hands
of the Ottoman Empire, Arıtman said Gul was a secret Armenian. Thus,
Gul filed a suit against Arıtman on the grounds her statements harm
the notion that the president stands an equal distance from his or
her citizens.
Arıtman has been harshly criticized by many, even members of her own
party, for attacking the president with a racist motive. The CHP has
warned Arıtman, but has not yet taken disciplinary action.
--Boundary_(ID_ZrNn7FhkvHfy08Gpa/9INQ)--
Hurriyet
Dec 24 2008
Turkey
ANKARA - The dispute between a main opposition deputy and President
Abdullah Gul over the latter's ethnic origin took on another dimension
with the request of a DNA test from Gul to prove his ethnic background.
Canan Arıtman, the İzmir deputy of the Republican People's
Party, or CHP, said Gul had Armenian roots, which is why he has
not openly rejected the apology campaign carried out by a group of
intellectuals. In a counter-statement Gul said his family was 100
percent Muslim and Turk and filed a lawsuit against Arıtman.
"Today, ethnic origin does not gain legal and scientific validity
through family trees, but through DNA tests," Arıtman said in her
written statement late Monday. "Birth records during the Ottomans were
based on declarations and while recording non-Muslims, the state used
to write a Muslim name as the father's name. Thus, nobody can prove
their ethic identity through a family tree."
Arıtman said it was Gul's prerogative to file a suit against
her and that she was not after anyone's DNA results, but in the
event of a judicial process, she would have to produce documents
and witnesses. She also said she expected the president to say the
Turkish nation had not committed any crime of genocide. Many nations
owe an apology to our nation, but we do not owe an apology to anybody.
Constitutional duty "I do not think I have requested a difficult
thing. This is the president's constitutional duty. If he does not
perform this task, he commits a crime against the Constitution and he
should resign," she said. In protest over Gul's approach to an apology
campaign concerning World War I-era killings of Armenians at the hands
of the Ottoman Empire, Arıtman said Gul was a secret Armenian. Thus,
Gul filed a suit against Arıtman on the grounds her statements harm
the notion that the president stands an equal distance from his or
her citizens.
Arıtman has been harshly criticized by many, even members of her own
party, for attacking the president with a racist motive. The CHP has
warned Arıtman, but has not yet taken disciplinary action.
--Boundary_(ID_ZrNn7FhkvHfy08Gpa/9INQ)--