360) Swiss Senate: ‘Genocide’ Allegations is Not Parliament’s Job

* The 1915 events and Armenian ‘genocide’ allegations will never be an issue for the Swiss Senate, according to the president of the Senate foreign affairs committee.

 

* Peter Briner said other countries had no business pointing the finger at Turkey 90 years after the disputed events.

 

Kemal YENICE (ANKARA) Peter Briner, president of the Senate foreign affairs committee, said the committee had decided that the death or deportation of Armenians between 1915 and 1919 would not be the subject of a plenary session. During the First World War many Turks and Armenians were killed as a result of war circumstances and ethnic conflicts. Turks claim that at least 520,000 Turkish villagers were ma

 

ssacred by armed Armenian ultra-nationalist groups, Tashnaks and others, while the Armenian side similarly argue that more than 500,000 Armenians were killed during the years.

 

Peter Briner said the Swiss committee agreed with the Swiss government that it was not parliament’s job to decide on the whether the killings constituted genocide. They have been recognised as such by the parliaments of several countries, including the United States, France, Russia and Italy.

 

The Swiss House of Representatives recognized the Armenian allegations as if they are truth in 2003. The Swiss government however does not officially speak of "genocide" but of "mass deportation". Turkey condemned the Swiss Parliament for the decision.

 

Briner said the committee believed that it was more for the parties involved, namely Turkey and Armenia, to reach an agreement. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan called the Armenian President Kocherian to establish a joint committee to discuss the historical disputes. However Armenia strongly rejected the offer.

 

Disagree to Disagree

 

Briner said a mixed commission of historians had to "work through the terrible events" – just as Switzerland had reappraised its history during the Second World War.

 

Attempts by international scholars to determine once and for all what really happened between 1915 and 1919 have never got much further than agreeing which two countries were involved.

 

In June Alev Kiliç, the Turkish ambassador in Bern, told swissinfo that during Foreign Minister Micheline Calmy-Rey’s visit to Turkey in March, the Turkish foreign minister Abdullah Gül talked about establishing a commission of historians from both sides and opening all files and archives.

 

"But of course the proposal has also been made to the Armenian government and we can’t establish anything without their agreement. We have still not received a positive reply," Kiliç said.

 

Dr. Davut Sahiner from ISRO says the Swiss step is historical and should be a good example to all the national parliaments including the Swiss House of Representatives:

 

“Strangely the parliaments has started to discuss the 1915 events for 2-3 years. They have just remembered the Armenians. I cannot see any good will in these decisions. 20 percent of Azerbaijani territories have been under Armenian occupation. More than 1 million Azerbaijanis have been refugees as a result of Armenian attacks. Armenia does not recognize Turkey’s and Azerbaijan’s national borders. Armenian genocide attempt in Khojally in 1992 cannot be ignored by anyone. However while all these facts are there, all the Western parliaments discuss almost a century, the events of 1915. The aim is to stop Turkey’s EU membership process. Nobody cares Armenians but their national interests. They have nothing to use in Turkey’s membership process but Armenian allegations�.

 

JTW and news agencies

7 August 2005

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