German Anti-racism Initiative Creates Concern In A

[Dinozavrik]

A new German initiative sets a legal framework to make denial of an alleged Armenian genocide at the hands of Ottoman Turks a crime, following up on similar measures elsewhere

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ISTANBUL - Turkish Daily News

A new German initiative to combat racism and xenophobia with a template European law is worrying Ankara with concerns it could spread moves underway in France and elsewhere to make “denial” of an alleged genocide against Armenians a crime.

The so-called “Framework decision,” essentially a recommended legal blueprint for European Union governments to follow, has some diplomats worried it will in fact serve as a recipe for other countries to follow the example of a French vote last October, the Turkish Daily News has learned. In that vote, the lower house of parliament voted to make denial of an “Armenian genocide” in the dying days of the Ottoman Empire a crime. Many Armenian scholars and historians characterize the events of those years as such; today's Turkish government and many other historians reject that depiction as a distortion of history – particularly because the moves also ignore French complicity in the massacres nearly a century ago.

The Turkish government believes that if the EU endorses such a decision, it might further complicate Turkey's accession process. The Turkish government is conveying its concerns to Germany, which holds the EU presidency. Turkish Minister of Justice Cemil Çicek raised the issue with his German counterpart Brigitte Zypries during their meeting in Berlin last week.

The details of Berlin's initiative can be found in the presidency's web site. According to a press release dated Jan. 29, in view of Germany's particular historic responsibility, the German EU Presidency has committed itself to returning the combating of racism and xenophobia throughout Europe to the political agenda. “It will revive the negotiations on the Framework Decision to combat racism and xenophobia, which have been frozen since 2005,” said the statement. The goal is to attain minimum harmonization of provisions on criminal liability for disseminating racist and xenophobic statements. However, criminal liability will be imposed upon not only racist or xenophobic agitation but also upon public approval, denial or gross minimization of genocide.

German initiative comes at a time, when some parliaments such as the U.S. Congress prepares to recognize the killings of Armenians during the Ottoman period as genocide. Some parliaments, such as the National Assembly in France, passed a resolution criminalizing denial of Armenians claims. Recently, a Turkish politician was convicted by a Swiss court for saying the early 20th century killing of Armenians was not genocide.

“It is certainly a worrying process for Turkey,” said a Turkish Foreign Ministry official to the TDN. “Considering the fact that there are those within the EU trying to stall Turkish accession process, if the EU endorses the decision in question, this can provide the necessary framework to present Turkish refusal of genocide as an obstacle to the accession process,” said the same official.

The European Parliament while discussing a report on Turkey last September rejected a provision that would have otherwise called the acknowledgement of Armenians claims of genocide a "precondition" for Turkey's EU accession. European Parliamentarians nevertheless stressed that, although the recognition of the Armenian genocide as such is formally not one of the Copenhagen criteria, it is indispensable for a country on the road to membership to come to terms with and recognize its past.

Turkey is concerned about how genocide will be defined in the Framework Decision. According to the information provided by the Web site of the German presidency, denial or gross minimization of genocide will be criminalized. The penalty will be at least one to three years in prison.

The Framework Decision does not identify specific cases of genocide, rather it refers to the Statue of the International Criminal Court, to which Turkey is not a party. Whether a concrete historic crime falls within these definitions would be decided by a court in each concrete and specific case.

Turkey has asked the German side to refer to the U.N. Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

“We are fully aware of the sensitivity on the Turkish side regarding this issue. We have been in contact with the Turkish government, in order to ease these worries – which from our perspective are unfounded,” said a spokesperson of the German Embassy in Ankara. “The Turkish side has voiced wishes, which we have been duly conveyed to Berlin. But one should note: this Framework Decision applies to EU member states only,” said the spokesperson in a telephone interview with the TDN yesterday.

According to the information given by the spokesperson the decision has no automatic direct legal application in member states. It obliges member states to transform the agreed decision into national law. “We are talking about a proposal which is not yet in force. In the 1990s there were a number of crimes committed in European countries against foreigners, among them people of Turkish decent. The primary motivation behind this Framework Decision is to fight these kinds of crimes. Genocide is but one aspect of this,” said the German official. According to the official the proposal does not give any new definition of genocide and it will not change how national courts already define these cases. “The U.N. Convention of 1948 remains the relevant reference for his matter,” said the spokesperson, but declined to comment on whether there would be reference to the convention in the decision arguing that no comment is provided on the details of the text, since it is a non-public working document.

Edited March 30, 2007 by Dinozavrik

[Dinozavrik]

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The new German initiative can give Turkey a headache

Tuesday, April 3, 2007 -Turkish Daily News

When one hears that Chancellor Angela Merkel is criticized for having given her consent as European Union (EU) term president to start negotiations on a second chapter, one can be slightly temped to sympathize with the difficult position she is in. She has to fine-tune her dual track policy as far as the EU- Turkey relations are concerned. On the one hand, as term president, she has to remain loyal to the commitments given by the Union to Turkey. “Pacta sunt servanda,” is a principle she often refers to when talking to the Turkish side. On the other hand, as the head of the Christian Democrats, she has to accommodate the pressure put on her from party circles and constituents on slowing down the Turkish accession process. This might be a particularly difficult task since; she is known to be a staunch believer in a privileged partnership instead of membership. Hence, it should not have come as a surprise when the German presidency did not invite Turkey for the EU's 50th birthday celebrations. Obviously, it is impossible not to feel resentment for Germany's total ignorance of Turkey's 40 years of history with the Union.

The fact that German presidency decided to leave Turkey out of the celebrations does not have an immediate concrete effect in Turkey's accession process. So we should not get stuck on this. It is however another decision by the German presidency that should preoccupy the minds of the Turkish officials; since not only can it have implications on Turkish accession process, it can also create serious headache on Turkey's efforts to counter Armenian claims of genocide.

Racism, xenophobia and genocide back to the agenda:

“In view of Germany's particular historic responsibility, the German EU Presidency has committed itself to returning the combating of racism and xenophobia throughout Europe to the political agenda” says in the press release dated Jan. 21. According to the press release, which can be found on the German Presidency's web site, negotiations on the Framework Decision to combat racism and xenophobia, which have been frozen since 2005 will be revived. The goal is to attain minimum harmonization of provisions on criminal liability for disseminating racist and xenophobic statements. The draft decision also foresees criminal liability for public approval, denial or gross minimization of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

As expected the Turkish side is seriously concerned about this initiative. Turkish concerns were conveyed to Berlin. Apparently, Ankara is not happy with the way German authorities are treating the matter. First of all, it took a considerable amount of time for the Turkish side to get hold of the details of the draft of the decision. Furthermore, the German side does not seem to take into consideration Turkish sensitivities about the issue.

When contacted the German Embassy in Ankara told the Turkish Daily News that the German side was in touch with the Turkish government in order to ease Turkey's worries which were described by a spokesperson of the Embassy as “unfounded.” The spokesperson furthermore said that the Framework Decision applies to EU member states only. Not much of a consolation, when one remembers Doğu Perinçek's recent conviction by a Swiss court because he said there had been no Armenian genocide. The endorsement by the EU of the Framework Decision will undoubtedly reinforce the hands of those who assert that the recognition of Armenian claims of genocide should be a precondition of Turkish membership.

Hence, one is temped to think that one of the motivations behind the German initiative, might be to use the decision as yet another pretext to stall the Turkish accession process.

According to some diplomats and academicians who follow developments in Germany closely, the main motive is different. They are of the view that Germany does not want to be known as the only one guilty of genocide. According to one Turkish diplomat, this will give Germany the possibility to finger point and say, “look I am not the only one, and there are other guilty of genocide too.” Obviously many believe that if another result of the German initiative were a setback in Turkish accession, it would not create a big annoyance in Berlin

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül will see his German counterpart today in Berlin whereas Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is set to meet Chancellor Merkel by mid April. I am sure the issue will be taken up during both meetings.

I have heard that the Turkish Ambassador to Berlin has been pressurizing Ankara to give a strong reaction to Germany.

Turkey's bilateral relations with many countries have been damaged because of the Armenian issue. In this case, Turkey might capitalize on the lack of consensus within the EU on the German initiative. Apparently, many member states, Italy among them object to the Framework decision. It might be hence wiser to lobby EU capitals on the issue.