Armenian, Assyrian and Hellenic Genocide News

Court trial of Assyrian-Suryoye priest
by Assyrian-Chaldean-Syriac Union
Posted: Sunday, February 18, 2001 11:39 pm CST

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E-mail: acs_union@hotmail.com

Concerning: Court trial of Assyrian-Suryoye priest

Dear Ladies, dear Sirs,

Through this letter we kindly would like to ask your attention for the following very urgent matter. On the coming 22nd of February the Syriac Orthodox priest Yusuf Akbulut, of the Holy Mary church in the Turkish town of Diyarbakir, will be trialed for the second time in front of the court DGM in Diyarbakir. The first trial took place on the 22nd December of last year. According to the Turkish penal law, art. 312, he is accused of "causing racial hate." This follows an article in the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet of the 4th October of last year, in which father Yusuf Akbulut is quoted to have stated that not only the Armenians but also the Assyrians-Suryoye were assassinated during the genocide of 1915. Following protests by Assyrians-Suryoye throughout Europe members of parliament from several European countries attended the trial, as well as journalists and representative of embassies, among them a representative of the Dutch embassy in Ankara. The Turkish media considered this broad attention as a statement of solidarity in support of the priest. Because of the broad foreign presence, presumably, the Diyarbakir court did not dare to take a decision. The pending verdict is imprisonment during three up to seven years. This would have been in line with the Turkish policy since the seventies. During those decades an atmosphere was created in which 250000 Assyrians-Suryoye saw themselves forced to leave their villages and cities and had to flee. By now about 450000 there are Assyrians-Suryoye living throughout Europe. A country that does not respect its minorities should not participate in the European Community. This trial is not a trial of the state against a private person but is considered by the Assyrian-Suryoye community as a case against their right of existence and history in Turkey. As well as a part of the Turkish policy to try to cover up genocide in which more than half a million of people were assassinated. We kindly but urgently request your political party to take a stand on this issue. Moreover we hope that your political party will consider this case urgent enough to send a representative to the trial. For further information you are kindly invited to contact the undersigned.

With kindest regards,

Fikri Aygur
ACSU

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