Turkish journalist: Egemen Bagis remarks on Genocide “provocative”

February 9, 2012 - 15:45 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkish journalist Kadri Gursel dubbed recent remarks of Turkey’s EU Affairs Minister Egemen Bagis on Armenian Genocide as “hasty and provocative.”

“Bagis picked a wrong place and time to refer to Genocide, considering the fact that his statement is punishable according to Swiss legislation,” the journalist said.

“Daring Swiss authorities to arrest him, Bagis discredited himself as a politician. The Minister should have thought of how Turkish policy line, exhibited by his behaviour, might impress French Constitutional Council which is to decide on the outcome of the Genocide bill,” Milliyet quoted the journalist as saying.

A Zurich prosecutor launched an investigation into remarks by Egemen Bagis, 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.

Zurich 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. Bagis 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 Bagis 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.”

On January 23, the French Senate passed the bill criminalizing the Armenian Genocide. If signed into law, the bill will impose a 45,000 euro fine and a year in prison for anyone in France who denies this crime against humanity committed by the Ottoman Empire.