Expatica France
Jan 28 2015

Amal Clooney in court to condemn Armenia genocide-denier

28th January 2015

A long-running battle over one man’s denial of the Armenian genocide
returned to the European Court of Human Rights on Wednesday, drawing
added attention by the presence of Amal Clooney.

The international human rights lawyer, who married Hollywood star
George Clooney last year, was representing the Armenian government
against a Turkish politician who denies a genocide took place 100
years ago.

Dogu Perincek, chairman of the Turkish Workers’ Party, was convicted
eight years ago in Switzerland for describing the Armenian genocide of
1915 as an “international lie”.

He says that was an attack on his freedom of speech and the ECHR
agreed with him in a December 2013 ruling.

The Swiss authorities have appealed the decision, and have the backing
of Armenia, which says 1.5 million people were killed by Turkey’s
Ottoman rulers.

Amal Clooney said the court’s 2013 decision “cast doubt on the reality
of genocide that Armenian people suffered a century ago”.

She also slammed Turkey for hypocrisy, saying: “This court knows very
well how disgraceful Turkey’s record on freedom of expression is.”

Lawyers for Perincek and the Turkish government argue that the
Armenian genocide is not a matter of “general consensus” like the
Holocaust.

Turkey has always denied that the massacre of Armenians was a
pre-planned attempt to wipe them out and says only 500,000 were
killed.

Perincek “neither denied nor apologised for the massacres, nor did he
incite hatred against the Armenians”, his lawyers argued, adding that
he only denied a “genocidal intent” on the part of the Ottoman
authorities who ruled Turkey at the time.

Turkey further argues that Perincek’s claims cannot possibly incite
hatred since there is no widespread hatred towards the Armenians.

The controversy continued outside court where some 600 Turkish
protesters had gathered, according to police, carrying Turkish flags
and portraits of the country’s modern founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.
The crowd cheered Perincek when he emerged from the court.

Around 20 Armenians stood on the other side of the road with one
placard reading: “No to denial — Europe must react”.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress