Bağış urges Berlin to resolve “historic dispute” between France, Turkey

February 8, 2012 - 13:45 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkish Minister for EU Affairs called on Germany to resolve historic dispute between France and Turkey over the Armenian Genocide.

As Egemen Bağış told Die Welt, German archives must have retained data on the 1915 Genocide, “which gave rise to so many disputes.” Turkey’s chief EU negotiator urged Berlin to allow historians’ access to the archives in question.

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.

A Zurich prosecutor on Monday, February 6 launched an investigation into remarks by Bağış, 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 as saying: “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.”