Diyarbakır Bar Association members under investigation over Armenian Genocide notice
The Diyabakır Chief Public Prosecutor’ Office has launched an investigation against the former administration of the Diyarbakır Bar Association over a notice they published on April 24, Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day, Ahval reports.
The notice published by the bar association titled, “We share the great unrelieved pain of the Armenian people,’’ pointed to the massacre of Turkey’s Armenian population from 1915 to 1917, highlighting the cruel policies of the Ottoman Empire and expressing sorrow for the victims.
Former head of the bar association, Amet Özmen, and former administrative council members Mahsum Bati, Nuşin Uysal Ekinci, Cihan Ülsen, Sertaç Buluttekin, Muhammet Neşet Girasun, Serhat Eren, İmran Gökdere, Velat Alan, Ahmet Dağ and Nahit Eren are accused of “provoking people to hatred and enmity and insulting Turkish parliament,’’ Tarafsız news agency reported on Sunday.
Turkey strongly denies the mass killing of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire a century ago as genocide.
The U.S. House of Representatives last month approved a resolution recognising the Armenian Genocide, sparking outrage by the Turkish government.
A total of 30 countries, including Germany and France, have recognised the mass killings as genocide thus far.