Turkish
Court Halts Planned Conference on Armenian
Killings
2005-09-22 11:34 (New York)
By Ben
Holland
Sept. 22 (Bloomberg) -- A Turkish court
halted a conference on claims of genocide by Ottoman
Turks against Armenians that was due to start
tomorrow, a verdict that may hurt the country's effort
to start European Union membership talks next month.
The Istanbul court ruled today that the conference
should be suspended following a request by the Turkish
Union of Lawyers, said Metin Goksel, head of the
public relations agency that was promoting the event,
in a phone interview. Nobody was available at the
office of the governor of Istanbul to confirm the
ruling.
The conference organized by Istanbul's Bosphorus
University was postponed in May amid criticism from
Justice Minister Cemil Cicek and some
parliamentarians. It was rescheduled for this week
after Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul and other
government members said there was no reason not to
hold the
meeting.
Turkey, which denies the claims of genocide in 1915,
has pledged to widen freedoms of expression as it
chases membership of the European Union. Turkey is due
to start accession talks with the EU on Oct. 3.
EU member countries including France and Italy have
passed
parliamentary resolutions recognizing that a
genocide occurred.
Germany's lower house on June 16 passed a motion
criticizing Turkey for denying the extent of the
massacre and deportation of Armenians.
The Turkish government says
hundreds of thousands of
Turks and Armenians died in wider ethnic clashes as
the Ottoman Empire defended itself from Russian forces
during the First World War.
Turkey says some ethnic Armenian groups sided with
Russia.
