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Turkish court allows prosecution for Armenian apology
by Scott Gilbreath ~ March 2nd, 2009
The Public Prosecutor’s Office in Ankara recently rejected a demand to launch criminal proceedings against organisers and supporters of the campaign to apologise for mass killings of Armenians that began in 1915. The High Criminal Court of the district of Sincan has now overturned that decision, opening the way for criminal prosecution.
The decision by the court in Sincan, on the outskirts of Ankara, repeals a Jan. 26 ruling by the prosecutor general that bringing charges would impinge on freedom of speech laws, the Anatolia news agency said.
Criminal proceedings can now be launched against the organizers of the Internet petition, which was launched on Dec. 15, and the subsequent 29,000 signatories, Turkish media reported.
The petition states that signatories regret “that we remain indifferent to the Great Catastrophe that Ottoman Armenians endured…and that we deny,” and offers apologies.
Several Ankara residents complained to public prosecutors that the campaign violated Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code, which outlaws “insulting the Turkish nation”. When the prosecutors’ office rejected the complaint, they appealed to the court.
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March 4th, 2009 at 11:43 AM
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