PARIS—The Armenian National Committee office in France and the European Armenian Federation for Justice and Democracy (ANC of Europe) issued a joint statement Tuesday strongly condemning the Dec. 17 ruling of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) that the denial of the Armenian genocide is not a criminal offense. According to the Court, the 2007 decision of the Lausanne Police Court against the head of Turkish Workers’ Party Dogu Perincek is a violation of the right to freedom of expression. (Read the Court’s press release here.)
The statement considered the ruling to be direct assistance to the wave of denial orchestrated by official Ankara and Baku throughout Europe. “Once again hiding behind the right to free speech, and following the example of the French Constitutional Council, the European Court undermines with this infamous decision the right to dignity of the victims and descendants of the Armenian genocide,” read the statement.
The statement further noted that the decision will “undoubtedly strengthen extremist movements” and undermine the voices calling for justice from within Turkey.
“Moreover, by declaring that ‘it would be very difficult to identify a general consensus’ on the Armenian genocide, the Court aligns itself with Perincek’s statement that the Armenian genocide is an ‘international lie.’ The Court’s approach that ‘clearly distinguished the present case from those concerning the negation of the crimes of the Holocaust’ is also deplorable. How can such a distinction be made by the highest human rights court in Europe?”
In conclusion, the statement noted that the ANC of France, in coordination with the EAFJD Brussels office, will fight against this unacceptable decision. “Switzerland has three months to appeal this verdict. We have requested a meeting with the Swiss Ambassador in Paris, to present our expectations from the Swiss authorities. Coordinated efforts will be made in other countries as well, through local ANCs and regional offices, as well as through official Yerevan, as we form a united front against this decision,” concluded the statement.
Turkish Foreign Ministry reacts
In a written statement issued on Wednesday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said, “The ECHR ruling is a milestone regarding the preservation of freedom of expression, which is a basic element of societies attached to the principle of freedom, democracy and the rule of law,” the Hurriyet Daily News reported.
“The ruling is a significant warning against attempts to enforce a unilateral view of history through legal means, and also against the politicization of law and history,” the statement added.
Awesome decision: it perfectly shows that the EU is not a community of values.
If you want to interpret it in a bad light, this is both stupidity (the part where they say it is disputed and there was nothing comparable to the Nurembourg trials) and racism (as you have to be retarded to believe that anyone wouls be stupid enough to believe the explanation). The part I love about it is that a third tier lawyer can look past the explanation: if you can’t deny the Holocaust because of the Nurembourg trials, then why can’t you deny the Nurembourg trials and the Holocaust? Similarly, what an explanation is that the Holocaust is accepted? So, a Turkish citizen, Turkey being a country where “Mein Kampf” is a bestseller, can deny the Holocaust because in his country it is not widely accepted? No matter how you look at it – weak.
What we see here, is the immoral response to Armenia joining Russia’s trade union. Knowing that they can’t do shit politically or economically, they even lack the decency to refrain from becoming part of a national trauma.
Ara Manoogian and Policy Forum Armenia would decry all you people who are hating on European hypocrisy. For shame… Policy Forum Armenia believes in Europe, as should you, even if they treat like cases differently [with respect to Armenian and Jewish holocaust denial].
ara manoogian is a tool and an agent of the turkish/azeri/israeli/nato/american/eu alliance. If we pay attention to manougian’s insane and delusional anti-Armenian and anti-Russian hysetia, we see it lines up 100% with the propaganda that comes out of ankara, baku, tel aviv, brussels and washington.
manoogian and the turks both want to accomplish the same two objective: 1) split the diaspora from Armenia because they believe that this will deprive the Republic of Armenia of economic and diplomatic support, and 2) effect a coup d’état or color revolution or arab spring in Armenia so that a pro-turkish, anti-western puppet goverment like saakashvili’s in georgia can be installed.
If hypothetically Russia pulled its Army out of Armenia, ara manoogian, levon ter-petrossian and raffi hovannisian would be the ones going on cnn and calling for and justifying nato/turkish bombings of Armenia. Fortunately for the Republic of Armenia, manoogian and co are pretty powerless to harm Armenia except maybe permanently turning the Armenian Diaspora away from Armenia (again, another long-time turkish objective)
So Mr. Grinch, do you believe in Christmas?
G.: No,Christmas is an International lie! An International court has not declared it to be a legally recognized day.
What if the Elves around the world have governments recognize it?
G.:That would be politicizing a day through legal means.
So the only way to solve this is for the Elves to sue in international court?
G.: Elves don’t have the legal right to sue. Only Santa can sue. And he won’t.
Why won’t Santa sue if he has a right to?
G.: Because I whispered in Santa’s ear, if he did go to court, I would consider that an act of war and I would destroy the North pole once and for all. Naturally I go around telling everyone Santa won’t sue because he doesn’t have a case but I and he knows why this issue will never be solved. In my religion, the end justifies the means.
A united front, from all over the World, against this decision is highly welcome. The message to the Swiss authorities must be, that no historical debate can hidden the deepest offense of Human dignity, what is the denial of a genocide.
Should there not have been a united front while this court case was happening? We’re hearing about it *after* the judgement. And the Turkish government took part in the case apparently.
BASTARDS AGAIN THEY SOLD US ,,
What kind of freedom of expression? The Turkish Foreign Minister is out of His mind. The Ottoman Empire in 1915 brutaly slaughtered almost 2 million Armenians, simply because being Armenians. It looks likethe ECHR supports genocide. The denial of the Armenian Genocide is a great criminal offense.
All the more reason for Armenia to get the hell out of “Democratic” Europe politically, economically and culturally. They have shown their true faces AGAIN. Stop taking their loans which aim to turn us into another Greece and solidly align with the one super power that has recognized the genocide and whose president visits the genocide memorial in Yerevan regularly and whose military is protecting our borders from this Euro-Turkic-NATO alliance. Our true ally is Russia.
During the Crimean War Britain and France saved muslim turkey from being dismantled by Orthodox Christian Russia (Armenia’s liberators after more than 800 years of slavery), allowing turks the chance to massacre Armenians en masse in 1894-1896, 1909, and 1915-1923. During World War One the Germans allied with the ottoman turks and armed and trained the turkish military to the point where many Armenians resisting the Genocide where fighting turkish troops under direct German command. In the aftermath of World War I the turks were armed by the Italians to fight off and destroy the Greeks because Italy did not want to see a rival power arise in Athens and challenge Rome’s dominance in the Mediterranean. During the Treaty of Lausanne turkey got to keep everything so long as it tacitly allowed the British and French to take over the Arab Middle East and the oil wealth there. The west, particularly it’s jewish bankers, funded the bolshevik movement and harbored many of its leaders in European capitals until the time was ripe for the murderous bolsheviks to overthrow the Orthodox Christian Czar and replace his government with the bloodiest and most murderous one in history; the early bolsheviks (mainly jewish and including a significant number of Armenian idiots) were the ones who handed the turks all of western Armenia as well as Kars and other regions of Eastern Armenia. In the early 1920s the French shameless gifted Cilicia to the turks. In the early 1930s the French shamelessly gifted the Hatay province, including the handful of remaining western Armenian cities located there, to the turks. In the mid-1940s the Americans instituted the “Truman doctrine” and prevented the advancing Soviet Red Army from taking over turkey, which still remains the best chance Armenia has had at liberating any territory from turkey since the Genocide. In 1973 the Americans and Europeans looked the other way as turkey occupied and raped the island nation of Cyprus, resulting in death and destruction for many Armenians and Greeks. Over sixty years of steady NATO support has turned the remnants of the “sick man of Europe” into the regional powerhouse which turkey is today. The west has looked the other way like occasional massacres in Istanbul destroyed the remaining Armenians and Greeks there, while giving the turks the freedom to openly colonize large parts of Europe itself (unless things change, Europe will have a muslim majority, if not outright turkish majority in a few decades)… Meanwhile the west supports terrorists who target Armenians in Syria, has committed genocide in Iraq, has instituted dehumanizing blockades of Iran which have harmed civilized but left the government there untouched, enabled a genocide of Palestinians, carried out immoral bombings of civilians in Serbia, Libya and former colonies around the world……..
And we Armenians are actually surprised that these criminals masquerading as “defenders of liberty” have once again basically told us Armenians that we do not matter?!?!?! When historians like David Irving or Ernst Zundel question inconsistencies about the Holocaust, the Europeans are quick to self-righteously hand them long prison sentences without due process. European leaders show us time and again that they national interests trump fairytale concepts like justice, democracy, human rights or any other lofty ideals that they can deceptively use to justify their criminality.
But I see a silver lining here: if Europe keeps spitting on the Armenians long enough, even the most politically inept Armenians will realize that Europeans are not to be trusted. Thankfully, with the Rise of Russia as a superpower once again and the precipitous decline of European economies, living standards, demographics and influence, Armenia has a choice and does not have to look to the treacherous west for salvation.
Anyone who thinks the EU is the bastion of democracy and expects fair decisions from them is at least naive if not delusional. EU now is 28 member misunderstanding, and a weak coalition. If you look at the their history you will wonder how did they manage to become a union. the answer is globalism, their governments are hijacked by corporate entities and a common european now is a mixed breed of at least 4 races. they have never been friends of armenia, they are friends with money. and as long as azeri and turkish money is flowing there will be more anti-armenian decision. Did you know that in 18th century it was Prussia who saved Ottomans from Russian take over and made them the power to eventually exterminate us. there are 100s of examples how Europe always stubbed us in the back and weakened us. We have to recognize who are our friends and who are not. ECHRs has been a joke, most of their decisions have been anti-christian for last 10 years. it is time for countries allied to us to quit that court and let it dismantle.