Turkish lawyer demands recognition of Armenian Genocide

March 31, 2010 - 14:32 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Attorney Bendal Celil Ezman applied to a Turkish civil court, demanding recognition of the Armenian Genocide. In his application, the attorney demands to find Talaat Pasha and his accomplices guilty and rename the streets carrying his name, Haberturk reported.

Ezman demands starting an investigation based on Turkey’s Criminal Code on crimes against humanity. “This will be the first trial of the kind in Turkey, which has to acknowledge its past. Should anything happen to me, such is, then, the will of God,” said Ezman, one of the signatories of apology petition put up on Internet in December 2008.

The Armenian Genocide

The Armenian Genocide (1915-23) was the deliberate and systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I. It was characterized by massacres and deportations, involving forced marches under conditions designed to lead to the death of the deportees, with the total number of deaths reaching 1.5 million.

The majority of Armenian Diaspora communities were formed by the Genocide survivors.

Present-day Turkey denies the fact of the Armenian Genocide, justifying the atrocities as “deportation to secure Armenians”. Only a few Turkish intellectuals, including Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk and scholar Taner Akcam, speak openly about the necessity to recognize this crime against humanity.

The Armenian Genocide was recognized by Uruguay, Russia, France, Lithuania, Italy, 45 U.S. states, Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon, Argentina, Belgium, Austria, Wales, Switzerland, Canada, Poland, Venezuela, Chile, Bolivia, the Vatican, Luxembourg, Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands, Paraguay, Sweden, Venezuela, Slovakia, Syria, Vatican, as well as the European Parliament and the World Council of Churches.

"Armenians, forgive us" online petition

The online petition initiated by three scholars, Ahmet Insel, Baskin Oran and Cengiz Aktar, and a journalist, Ali Bayramoglu read: "My conscience does not accept the insensitivity showed to and the denial of the Great Catastrophe that the Ottoman Armenians were subjected to in 1915. I reject this injustice and for my share, I empathize with the feelings and pain of my Armenian brothers. I apologize to them.”