Press releases

20 December 2007, Press Statement Regarding the announcement of The Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland about its rejection of the appeal of Mr. Perinçek (Unofficial Translation)

The Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland has announced its rejection of the appeal of Mr. Perinçek, the leader of the Labor Party, against the verdicts of Lausanne Court of First Instance and Regional Court of Appeal on 19 December 2007.

We maintain the same views put forward in our press release which was made following the verdict of Lausanne Court of First Instance. We consider the verdicts of these courts, above all, as serious violations of freedom of expression.

An understanding which was predicated on subjective assessments prevails in these verdicts instead of universal norms, principles and rules of law.

In these verdicts, the historical facts have been replaced by the self-constructed memory of Armenian circles and the erroneous convictions of some circles concerning the 1915 events.

In 2005, Turkey, with the conviction that history should be evaluated and commented by historians and not by judicial or legislative organs, proposed to Armenia to establish a Joint Commission of Historians.

We welcome the statement made by the Swiss Government following the verdict of the Federal Supreme Court expressing that the elucidation of the events which occurred during the last period of the Ottoman Empire should be first of all by means of historical research in order for them to be assessed within their contextual background and underlining in that sense, Switzerland would deem it useful if a commission of historians was set up.”

Republic of Turkey - Ministry of Foreign Affairs