3 Articles on the Subject:
a.
Turkey fumes at Swiss recognition of "so-called" Armenian genocide
Agence France Presse
December 16, 2003 Tuesday 1:46 PM Eastern Time
ANKARA, Dec 16 -- Turkey on Tuesday condemned the Swiss parliament for
recognizing as genocide the killings of Armenians under the Ottoman
Empire during World War I and warned that the move would lead to
consequences.
"We strongly condemn and reject the decision adopted by the lower
house of the Swiss parliament on the so-called Armenian genocide,"
the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement.
It added without elaborating that Switzerland would "bear
responsibility for the negative consequences" triggered by the
decision which the statement said was taken without consideration
for bilateral ties.
The resolution by the lower house of the Swiss parliament, which
goes against the Bern government's advice, was adopted adopted by
107 votes to 67.
Unlike an earlier motion rejected in 2001, it does not formally
require the Swiss government to recognize that a genocide had indeed
taken place.
Instead, it asks only that the government acknowledge the decision
and transmit it to Turkey.
Ankara hit back by saying that the Swiss resolution was a distortion
of historical facts.
"It is unacceptable that events which took place under the special
conditions of World War I and which caused great pain to both Turks
and Armenians, be distorted and presented as genocide of one party,"
the Turkish ministry statement read.
Armenians say up to 1.5 million of their kinsmen were massacred in
orchestrated killings nine decades ago.
Turkey categorically rejects claims of genocide, saying that 300,000
Armenians and thousands of Turks were killed in what was a civil
strife during World War I when the Armenians raised up against their
Ottoman rulers.
b. Armenian genocide
SwissInfo
Dec 16 2003
The Swiss parliament has officially recognised as genocide the
slaughter of up to 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire from
1915 to 1918.
The government now has to inform the Turkish authorities of the
House of Representatives' decision, but it does not have to take a
position itself.
Earlier proposals to recognise the killings as genocide had been
rejected for fear of harming relations with Turkey.
A planned visit to Turkey in October by the Swiss foreign minister,
Micheline Calmy-Rey, was cancelled by the Turks following the decision
of a cantonal parliament to recognise the genocide.
c.
Swiss lawmakers recognize Armenian genocide
by IRENE HARNISCHBERG; Associated Press Writer
Associated Press Worldstream
December 16, 2003 Tuesday 12:55 PM Eastern Time
BERN, Switzerland -- Swiss lawmakers on Tuesday voted to recognize
as genocide the mass killing of Armenians during and after World War I.
Some 107 members of the Alpine country's lower house backed a
resolution condemning the actions of Ottoman Turkish forces eight
decades ago. Sixty-seven lawmakers opposed the move and 11 abstained.
Switzerland is the 15th country to label the killings as genocide,
a step already taken by France, Argentina and Russia - as well as 11
U.S. state governments.
When the resolution was first proposed in March 2002, Switzerland's
ruling Cabinet said it feared a vote could harm links with Turkey,
which is deeply sensitive about the issue. Swiss Foreign Minister
Micheline Calmy-Rey spoke against the resolution in parliament Tuesday.
Armenians say a 1915-1923 campaign to force them out of eastern Turkey
amounted to a genocide and some 1.5 million people were killed.
Turkey says the death count is inflated - although it acknowledges
hundreds of thousands died - but denies genocide. Turks say Armenians
were killed or displaced along with others as the Ottoman Empire
tried to quell civil unrest.
In a statement, Turkey's Foreign Ministry said it "strongly condemned
and rejected the decision."
"It is unacceptable to unilaterally present as a genocide ... these
events that came out of the special conditions of World War I and which
caused great pain for both Turks and Armenians," the statement said.
"Parliament took this decision by considering domestic politics
and by ignoring relations between Turkey and Switzerland and the
feelings and thoughts of Turks in the country," it said. "It bears
the responsibility for the negative consequences that the decision
can lead to."
Swiss-based Armenian groups welcomed the vote.
Dominique de Buman, one of two Christian Democrat parliamentarians who
proposed the resolution, said a vote was needed to reflect historical
truth. "Time cannot heal all wounds," he said, adding that he did
not want to provoke a dispute with modern Turkey.
But Radical Democrat Johann Schneider-Ammann, president of a Swiss
industrial federation, said he feared the vote could damage trading
links with Turkey.
In 2001, Turkey canceled millions of dollars worth of defense deals
with French companies, after lawmakers in France recognized the
genocide.
Lawmakers should leave the issue to historians, Schneider-Ammann said.
