Guest Posted October 24, 2000 Report Share Posted October 24, 2000 Mon, 23 Oct 2000 17:25:10 ANKARA, Turkey (AP) _ Prosecutors launched an investigation Monday into whether a leading human rights activist violated the law by reportedly saying that Turks should apologize for "the genocide of Armenians" between 1915 and 1923. Turkey says that hundreds of thousands of Armenians were killed while the Ottoman Empire tried to quell civil unrest but insists the killings did not amount to genocide. The Ottoman Empire became Turkey in 1923. Prosecutors said that by reportedly referring to the massacres as "genocide" human rights activist Akin Birdal may be guilty of inciting racial hatred, the Anatolia news agency reported. The charge carries a maximum three year prison sentence. Birdal reportedly made the comment during a recent conference in Germany. Armenians say 1.5 million of their people were slaughtered as part of a campaign to force them out of eastern Turkey between 1915 and 1923. Birdal, the former president of the Human Rights Association, was released from prison last month after serving a 10-month sentence for inciting racial hatred. He was convicted for speeches he gave in 1995 and 1996 supporting Kurdish rights and an end to Turkey's 16-year war against Kurdish rebels in the largely Kurdish southeast. Earlier this month, the U.S. House of Representatives shelved a resolution that would have labeled the Armenian killings as genocide. Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer appealed directly to President Clinton, urging him to ask Congress to shelve the bill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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