Armenian, Assyrian and Hellenic Genocide News

Assyrian Priest Acquitted
by Agence France Presse, April 5, 2001, Thursday
Posted: Wednesday, April 11, 2001 03:06 am CST

DIYARBAKIR

A state security court Thursday acquitted a Christian Orthodox priest over remarks he made supporting a move by US legislators to recognize as genocide the killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks.

The priest, Yusuf Akbulut, who heads a Syriac Orthodox church in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir, was charged with "inciting hatred among the people on the basis of religious differences," an offence that carries a jail term of up to three years.

But the judge acquitted the defendant, saying the remarks he made in a press interview should be seen in the context of freedom of expression.

The ruling was greeted with ovations in the courtroom, where a number of German and Swedish parliamentarians were present.

The priest had expressed support last year for a draft bill put before the US House of Representatives, which recognized as genocide the controversial massacres of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire in the early 1900s.

The French parliament passed a similar bill in January, sparking tensions between Paris and Ankara.

Turkey vehemently rejects claims of genocide, saying that around 300,000 Armenians and thousands of Turks were killed in internal fighting toward the end of the Ottoman Empire.

Armenians maintain that 1.5 million people died in orchestrated massacres.

Predominantly Muslim Turkey is home to a number of Christian Orthodox communities, including Armenians and Syriacs -- a Semitic community that also lives in several other countries in the region.

Related Information...

Armenian, Assyrian and Hellenic Genocide News Archives