Turkish politician fined over genocide denial
A Swiss district court has found a Turkish politician, Doğu Perinçek, guilty of racial discrimination for denying the 1915 Armenian massacre was genocide.
The court in Lausanne agreed with the prosecutor's demand and handed Perinçek a suspended fine of SFr9,000 ($7,336) as well as a one-off financial penalty of SFr3,000.
The court also ruled that Perinçek would have to pay SFr1,000 to the Swiss-Armenian Association as a symbolic gesture.
The politician, whose left-wing Turkish Workers' Party has no seats in the Turkish parliament, was brought to court after calling the genocide "an international lie" during a public speech in Lausanne in July 2005.
Under the Swiss penal code any act of denying, belittling or justifying genocide is a violation of the country's anti-racism legislation.
And Lausanne is the capital of canton Vaud, one of two Swiss cantons along with Geneva where the parliaments have voted in recent years to recognise the Armenian massacre as genocide.
Reactions
Judge Pierre-Henri Winzap accused Perinçek of being "a racist" and "an arrogant provocateur" who was familiar with Swiss law on historical revisionism.
According to Winzap, the politician's action "appears to have rascist and nationalist motives".
The Armenian genocide is "an established historical fact according to the Swiss public", he added.
Perinçek's lawyers have called into question the authority of the district court to hear such a case. The Turkish politician said he would appeal the verdict, which he called "racist and imperialist".
He admitted in court earlier in the week that there had been massacres but said there could be no talk of genocide. "I have not denied genocide because there was no genocide," he argued.
Armenians maintain the mass killings in 1915 were genocide, a charge Turkey disputes.
Sarkis Shahinian, co-president of the Swiss-Armenian Association, said there was "great relief" among the community.
Swiss-Turkish relations
The court case is set to test the already shaky relations between Bern and Ankara.
Tensions between Bern and Ankara were high in 2005 after Turkey criticised the Swiss authorities' decision to investigate Perinçek. It also later cancelled an official trip to Turkey by the then economics minister, Joseph Deiss.
And a meeting between Swiss Justice Minister Christoph Blocher – who opposes the anti-racism law – and his Turkish counterpart Cemil Cicek in Bern last weekend raised eyebrows.
Blocher came in for criticism by the media and some politicians over the timing of the meeting with his Turkish counterpart at the weekend. According to the justice ministry, bilateral issues – and not the trial – were discussed.
Blocher visited Turkey last October during which he announced that the legislation was incompatible with freedom of expression.
The comments were welcomed by Ankara but caused a storm of protest in Switzerland.
swissinfo with agencies
http://www.swissinfo.org/eng/front/detail/...y=1173438906000
http://egern.net/index.php?view=news
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6434041.stm
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/03/09/...-Politician.php
