Turkish Minister says no force can arrest him over Genocide denial

February 7, 2012 - 12:44 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkey’s EU Affairs Minister Egemen Bağış commented on Swiss probe launched over his remarks on the Armenian Genocide on his way to Brussels.

“Zurich prosecutor needn’t waste time on investigation. My remarks that the 1915 events do not amount to Genocide are still valid,” Bagis told journalists.

“I learnt about the investigation through media reports as you probably did. However, there’s no force that could bring about the arrest of any Turkish minister,” Anadolu quoted Bagis as saying.

A Zurich prosecutor on Monday, February 6 launched an investigation into remarks by Egemen Bağış, Turkey's EU affairs minister and chief EU negotiator, after he said in Zurich that there was no Armenian Genocide and that Swiss authorities could arrest him if they wanted to.

News about the prosecution's move was published in the Swiss daily Neue Zürcher Zeitung. The Zurich Chief Prosecutor's Office launched the investigation into Bağış's remarks - which he made last month in Zurich on his way back from the World Economic Forum at Davos - based on a complaint filed by members of Switzerland's Armenian community.

Zürich State Prosecutor Christine Braunschweig was quoted by the daily as having said: “Last week we received a petition about this issue, informing us that Mr. Bağış violated the anti-racism Article 261 of the Swiss Penal Code. Our prosecutor's office has taken this allegation seriously and launched an investigation. We will investigate whether Egemen Bağış uttered words denying the Armenian Genocide as asserted in the petition. We will also see if he has diplomatic immunity. At the end of this, we will press charges against him if there indeed is a violation and if he cannot benefit from diplomatic immunity.”