Skip to main content

Eurasianet

Main Menu

  • Regions
  • Topics
  • Media
  • About
  • Search
  • Newsletter
  • русский
  • Support us
X

Caucasus

Armenia
Azerbaijan
Georgia

Central Asia

Kazakhstan
Kyrgyzstan
Tajikistan
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan

Conflict Zones

Abkhazia
Nagorno Karabakh
South Ossetia
Transnistria

Eastern Europe

Belarus
Moldova
Russia
The Baltics
Ukraine

Eurasian Fringe

Afghanistan
China
EU
Iran
Mongolia
Turkey
United Kingdom
United States
X

Arts and Culture

Economy

Politics

Security

Society

Coronavirus
X

Visual Stories

Audio
Interactive
Video

Blogs

Tamada Tales
The Bug Pit

Podcasts

Expert Opinions
The Central Asianist
X
You can search using keywords to narrow down the list.
Turkey, Armenia

Turkish prosecutor declines to charge activists over Armenian Genocide commemoration

A prosecutor in Istanbul says use of the word “genocide” to describe the World War I-era massacres of Armenians is “offensive” but protected speech.

Ayla Jean Yackley Jun 4, 2018

A Turkish prosecutor has decided against charging members of a human rights group who were detained for carrying placards bearing the word “genocide” during a memorial event for the victims of the World War I-era massacres of ethnic Armenians.

The prosecutor in Istanbul found that rules governing speech allowed the members of the Human Rights Association (IHD) to describe the killings as genocide, Agos newspaper reported last week. The prosecutor’s office cited rulings by the European Court of Human Rights on free expression in its justification not to pursue criminal charges.

The decision is at odds with a restrictive climate in Turkey during a two-year state of emergency President Recep Tayyip Erdogan imposed after a military coup failed to topple him and may signal a slight easing on curbs on speech ahead of parliamentary and presidential elections on June 24.

Dozens of politicians, journalists and academics have been jailed since 2016 on charges stemming from their opinions amid a broader crackdown on Erdogan’s foes.

Just last month, a prosecutor in the capital Ankara opened a criminal investigation against opposition lawmaker Garo Paylan, who is of Armenian descent, on allegations he insulted Turkish people and the state for calling the killings a genocide in parliament and in a media interview.

Turkey denies the killing of Armenian subjects in the Ottoman Empire amounted to genocide, arguing that both Turks and Armenians died during internecine strife amid the turmoil of World War I that culminated in the collapse of the empire.

Armenians, dozens of governments and most historians say 1.5 million people were murdered in a state-orchestrated genocide that laid the foundations of the far more ethnically and religiously homogenous Turkish Republic. Today, just 60,000 Armenians live in Turkey, which has a population of 80 million people.

Yet more Turks have come to question the official narrative and each April join grassroots events that have sprung up in recent years. Even Erdogan has expressed condolences to survivors of the massacres, though he has stopped short of recognizing the genocide.

Police had detained the three activists, who carried signs that read “Recognize the Armenian Genocide, apologize and compensate,” and barred the IHD from making a statement to the press that contained the terms “genocide” and “massacres” at a memorial event on April 24, the date in 1915 that is considered the start of the genocide and when commemorations are held worldwide.

The prosecutor noted that the European Court of Human Rights has determined that free speech protections apply to “offensive, shocking and discomforting information and opinions.”

“Even though it is of an unacceptable and disagreeable nature, the different interpretations of the subject, which essentially involves historians, when assessed as a whole does not amount to intentionally insulting the Turkish people,” the prosecutor said, according to Agos.

The IHD called on the government to treat the decision as precedent for hundreds of people who are in jail for expressing opinions that contradict official policy. The European Union and critics of the post-coup crackdown have accused the government of undermining judicial independence, and elected officials, including Erdogan, have publicly intervened in a number of high-profile cases against politicians and journalists.

“From now on, we will carry the prosecutor’s decision with us during each April 24 event. Should our events be obstructed again, we will show this decision to the authorities who try to block us,” the IHD said in a statement, newspapers reported.

Ayla Jean Yackley is a journalist based in Istanbul.

Ayla Jean Yackley is a journalist based in Istanbul.

Sign up for Eurasianet's free weekly newsletter. Support Eurasianet: Help keep our journalism open to all, and influenced by none.

Related

Perspectives | The EU and Karabakh: Picking up the pieces, looking for a role
Two months after war, dozens of Armenian POWs remain in Azerbaijani captivity
Will Biden take on neglected Caucasus and Central Asia?

Popular

Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan agreement advances Caspian gas cooperation
David O'Byrne
Turkmenistan: Big on gas, short on options
Chris Rickleton
China’s trade data confirm 2020 was a bleak year in Eurasia

Eurasianet

  • About
  • Team
  • Contribute
  • Republishing
  • Privacy Policy
  • Corrections
  • Contact
Eurasianet © 2021