Armenian, Assyrian and Hellenic Genocide News

Turkish Priest acquitted of "Inciting Hatred"
by CWNews.com
Posted: Wednesday, April 11, 2001 03:45 am CST

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey, (CWNews.com) - A Syriac Catholic priest accused of "inciting hatred" because he spoke of the historic genocide of his people by Turks was acquitted by a Turkish court on Thursday.

Father Yusuf Akbulut was arrested last October and faced between one and three years in prison if convicted under article 312 of the Turkish penal code, which criminalizes "inciting hatred by showing up differences of class, race, religion, creed, or region." He had been quoted in a major newspaper as saying Syriac Christians had been systematically killed by Turks at the beginning of the 20th century. That would coincide with the similar genocide of Armenians at the same time.

Turkey is very sensitive to claims of genocide against minority groups. A formal recognition of the Armenian genocide by the French National Assembly, and by the European Parliament, last year resulted in a diplomatic flap with Turkey. Turkey remains important to Europe for its strategic position and common border with Iraq which allows overflights to be based there.

The arrest of the priest led to warnings that Turkey's bid to join the European Union could face obstacles based on human rights worries.

Father Akbulut said before his acquittal that his remarks had been taken out of context. "I am not a historian, I am not a politician," he said. "I was not presenting a new idea. I only repeated what I had been told by my elders."

There are now only about 3,000 Syriac Christians remaining in Turkey in the mainly Kurdish southeast.

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