Epress.am News from Armenia
If denial is not a crime, what crime has Turkey been committing for years? ask several prominent Armenians living in Turkey in a joint statement issued today.
“Our country, a paradise of freedoms, is mobilized once more — this time for freedom of speech,” say the authors of the statement, alluding to the fact that following the French Parliament’s adoption of a law yesterday criminalizing genocide denial, Turk politicians unanimously state that the decision violates the right to freedom of speech.
“If it is inappropriate for a parliament to pass resolutions on history, does this mean that we have nothing to expect from the Turkish Parliament about the Armenian Genocide? If it is inappropriate for the politicians to decide on topics of history, then why we were so enthusiastic about the words spoken about Dersim?
“However this time, the law the French law goes beyond recognition of genocide, and bans its denial. This gives Turkey a chance to hide its denialist mindset and unfair position under a thin cover of legitimacy.
“It is obvious that we all seem to agree that denial of genocide should not be penalized.
“But does this mean we all believe that denial is not a moral offense? Isn’t Turkey, at the end of the day, demanding the right to deny genocide? Isn’t this is the wish to continue the luxury of exercising this “right”?
“Is what the 9 people from Turkey, including Hrant Dink and Ragıp Zarakolu, argued in 2006 in France really the same as what Turkey argues today?
“Isn’t Turkey ashamed of using Hrant Dink’s words to its own advantage?
“The policy of denial committed many crimes after 1915 as [Turkey] gave its consent to evildoings and paved the way for the assassination of Hrant Dink.
“Denial, by causing the genocide victims to live through the same trauma again and again, poses the danger of new acts of violence and for this reason it is a crime.
“Therefore, let’s leave France aside. All right, maybe France is doing wrong; its intentions are no good. But what is Turkey planning to do?” reads the statement, which is signed also by Hrant Dink’s son, Arat Dink.
Note, the authors of the statement are referring to Hrant Dink’s Oct. 2006 statement that he is ready to go to France and protest the bill criminalizing genocide denial if the country’s parliament votes in its favor. In Dink’s opinion, the bill violates freedom of speech.