TURKISH JUDGE PUBLICLY CRITICIZES DENIAL OF ARMENIAN
GENOCIDE
07-11-2008 15:30:00 | USA | Articles and Analyses
By Harut Sassounian Publisher, The California Courier
Scores of highly sympathetic articles about the Armenian
Genocide have appeared in the Turkish press in recent months,
despite Turkey's repressive laws that make it a crime to discuss
this taboo subject.
One such article appeared in the October 30 issue of the
liberal newspaper Taraf. It was authored by a very unlikely
writer - Judge Faruk Ozsu from Odemish, near Izmir. This is
probably the first time that a sitting Turkish judge publicly
expresses such daring thoughts in violation of article 301 of
the penal code. He criticizes and mocks the Turkish government's
distorted version of the Armenian Genocide that has been fed to
the public for decades.
Judge Ozsu asserts that Turkish denialists contradict
themselves by first denying that anything happened in 1915 and
then stating that those killings were committed "in defense of
the homeland."
Referring to the three Turks, recently sentenced by a Swiss
Court for denying the Armenian Genocide, Judge Ozsu writes that
contrary to widespread Turkish misrepresentation Switzerland did
not restrict freedom of expression, but in fact upheld human
dignity. Moreover, he ridicules all those who claim that "from
the point of view of freedom of expression, Turkey is more
advanced that Switzerland" - a statement he characterizes as a
hilarious comedy! In his judgment, those toeing the official
Turkish line on the Armenian Genocide are "blind patriots" who
accuse of treason anyone expressing the slightest human
sensibility on this subject.
Judge Ozsu describes himself as "a simple man who has not
lost his conscience, despite his nationalistic education." He
explains that since Switzerland has acknowledged 1915 as
genocide, everyone in that country is obliged to obey the law of
the land. He goes on to quote Elie Wiesel as saying that the
denial of genocide is the continuation of genocide. That is why,
the Judge writes, "it is mandatory that denial be deemed a
crime."
The Honorable Judge further contends that the denial of
genocide is unrelated to the scholarly investigation of facts.
He condemns French historian Gilles Weinstein and Turkish
Professor Baskin Oran for claiming that "there are no documents
proving that the killings were committed according to a
government plan, therefore it is not possible to qualify these
events as genocide." In the Judge's view, those making such
comments are simply trying to save their necks from "the claws
of article 301."
In a direct reference to Dogu Perincek who was convicted by
the Swiss Supreme Court last year for denying the Armenian
Genocide, Judge Ozsu made the following observations:
- "Perincek's association bears the name of Talaat Pasha
who is viewed as a 'Turkish Hitler.'"
- "Those who declare that the Armenian Genocide is 'an
imperialist lie,' show no respect for the deaths of hundreds of
thousands of people, but exclaim: 'Long live the Ittihadists; we
were right [to kill the Armenians] and we can do the same thing
now,' then the only person who will pay attention to them is a
Swiss judge."
- "Disputing the genocide, making racist statements, and
praising the commission of a crime is now a legal issue in
Switzerland, and not an attempt to seek the truth through
scientific inquiry."
To be sure, the Judge takes a dim view of his country's
educational system which keeps Turks in a state of ignorance
about 1915, while people outside Turkey, who have not had a
'Turkish education,' view things differently. Explaining that
the term genocide was coined by a Polish-Jewish attorney named
Raphael Lemkin in 1933, in the aftermath of the Armenian
Genocide, and before the Holocaust had taken place, which means
that "the Genocide Convention signed by Turkey was inspired by
the Armenian Genocide."
The Judge is particularly irate at the Turkish government's
insensitivity toward the mass killings of Armenians. He states:
"The official Turkish position is that during the war Armenians
from certain regions were temporarily sent to the Southern
region and during that period about 300,000 Armenians perished
due to different circumstances. Any Turk who has not been
through ‘Turkish education’ and has kept his conscience intact,
upon hearing the 300,000 figure, would say, 'Oh My God' and will
start thinking about that number."
Consequently, the Judge suggests that the first thing Turks
should do is "to state that we feel terrible regarding these
events…. Those who died at that time were not our enemies, but
our citizens. Some of those who died were children. No one can
speak of children as enemies."
Judge Ozsu concludes: "The Swiss Court's verdict is neither
against democracy nor freedom of expression. Switzerland simply
does not allow the events leading to the deaths of hundreds of
thousands of people to be characterized by racist and
insensitive words that insult people's dignity. Switzerland
simply does not allow that the victim be victimized for a second
time!"
Given the Turkish government’s well-established record of
punishing all factual references to the Armenian Genocide, we
fear that this righteous judge may be dismissed from his job and
even get imprisoned for simply telling the truth!