DOGU PERINCEK'S DEFENSE OF HIS CASE IN LAUSANNE

The Honourable Court,

What has been going on here for two days has nothing to do with a law suit; it has been very much like an academic conference. The Swiss press is of the same opinion. Thus, this location has been the wrong choice for the present proceedings.
(Here the judge intervenes and asks Perinçek to stay within the boundaries of the accusation and not to direct any criticism towards the Court)

Perinçek continuing: I am answering the accusation. My explanations concern academic freedom. Courts cannot function as universities. Court rooms are not places where historical discussions are conducted. Judges cannot pass decisions on history. Otherwise, they would ruin historical discussions. And what has been going on here is a shame for European Civilization.

If the present activity must be considered a trial, then it is an example of the Mediaeval trials. The questions addressed to me since this morning, have been moving inside the curves of my brain. Just like it was in the witch hunts, my convictions, my ideas have been questioned and accused.

This behaviour towards me cannot hurt me but with it, you may hurt Switzerland and Europe. If you try to prevent scholarly discussions with law suits, police, prison, guards etc., you will do yourself no good.
 

THE PRESENT STATE OF EUROPEAN CIVILIZATION

Once convictions and ideas are accused, what will pursue is targeting all the revolutionary figures of the past century like Talat Pasha, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, Lenin, Mao Tse-tung, as is happening here. These anti-revolutionary and anti-communistic sentiments will lead you nowhere. European civilization is destroying its own foundations. What we have been witnessing in this room has unfortunately proved this.

While some European countries were stopping the people fleeing the Nazi Germany on their borders in 1930'ies and sending them back to their death, the Young Turks who are being accused here accepted them into their country and saved their lives. Atatürk was a symbol of that revolutionary tradition. Scholars from Germany such as Hirsch, Röpke, Schwarz, Koschaker, Ernst Reuter found refuge and conditions of free scientific research in Turkey while Europe was taken over by fascism and submission to fascism.

(Here D. Perinçek is implying the fact that Switzerland stopped the Jews on the border and contributed to Nazi genocide. These words were heard by the judge and the public prosecutor with their heads and eyes down)

European Civilization has been collapsing. It is in such a state that genuine intellectuals like Jean Thibaux have renounced their nationality of a European nation. The fact that Prof. Jean Thibaux has abandoned his French nationality and has acquired Turkish nationality was ridiculed here. It would have been a much better idea to leave the ridicule aside and to think why such a genuine European intellectual might have adopted such an attitude.

The values once advocated by 'the Europe of freedoms' are now defended by us against the decaying Europe. This court has tried hard to inquire about my sources of inspiration. I say, with the inspiration I have received from Galileo, Robespierre, Goethe and Marx, that Armenian genocide is an international falsification.
 

GENOCIDE, OR WAR?

The claims about an Armenian genocide are definitely false claims. The issue may be regarded on two levels:

The first one is war between countries. 200.000 Armenian infantrymen fought in the Tsarist Russian army against Turkey. 9 thousand Armenians served in the British Army. 5.000 Armenian soldiers were given French uniforms and driven to the Turkish Front. It is a fact that a great majority of Armenian soldiers fighting in the Russian and French armies were killed by the Turkish army. The losses suffered in the wars following the Armenian assault on Turkey in 1920 and 1921 must be included in this number.

Secondly, the Armenian volunteer units armed by Russia struck the Turkish army behind the lines and created terror in the villages. This caused considerable loss on both sides and mutual massacres were inflicted on one another. During the deportation, not only Armenians but many Turkish soldiers who were trusted with guarding them also got killed. However, it must not be forgotten that while the Armenian units acted as tools of imperialism, Turkey was defending the motherland.
 

RUSSIAN ARCHIVES

We have chosen one hundred documents from the Russian archives to show you the facts. These did not come only from the Bolshevik archives. A great number of them were originally in the archives of the Tsarist Russia and some of them are Armenian documents brought to Moscow during the Soviet period.

Although we have frequently called attention to this point, the Public Prosecutor's insistence on calling these documents Bolshevik documents and referring to the archives as Soviet Archives is non-professional. Nothing can be achieved by such anti-communism.

Among my witnesses is Katchaznouni, the first Prime-minister of Armenia and let me call your attention to the fact that he was not a Bolshevik but a Dashnag.

Armenian statesmen Karinian, Myasnikian and the famous Foreign Minister of the Soviet Russia, Mikoian are all my witnesses. Armenian historians such as Borian, Lalaian wrote about facts. They were all honourable Armenians.

The war reports of Armenian commanders also include very striking facts. For example, a Dashnag officer, in one of these reports he sent from the Vaaram region in 1920 tells about his accomplishments in the following manner:

We have also submitted to Your Court, the verdicts of Russian courts. For example, with Decision no. 1014 of the Military Court of the Caucasus Army Headquarters, some Armenian soldiers in the Russian Army were sentenced to death, for killing 26 Muslim women after raping them.
 

PREJUDICE OF THE JUDGE

The reports by some Russian commanders are also very striking. These reports talk about the massacres, torture and rape inflicted by Armenian infantry troops, in detail. Colonel Klebov declares they could stop the massacre by the Armenian infantry only after the cannonade of the Russian artillery.

The Honourable Judge of this esteemed Court has frequently asked me and the witnesses how many Armenians were killed. However he never asked how many Turks were killed. I do not think the Honourable Judge has done this intentionally. I rather think he reflects rigid prejudices. The life of a Turk is worthless, just as the lives of 600 thousand people killed by the US occupation forces in Iraq are worthless.
 

METHOD OF BREAKING DOWN RIGID PREJUDICES

It is true that I said "The Armenian genocide is an international falsification". Some have even qualified it as "provocation". I have learned from history that rigid prejudices cannot be changed by showing affection towards them. This is why I preferred using striking expressions. I was proved right.

Our demonstrations in Switzerland and Germany were qualified as "provocation". However, not the slightest sign of violence was seen in those demonstrations and the press observed the maturity displayed by the demonstrators. The Swiss press reflecting the present court proceedings with headlines such as "History Rewritten during Eleven Hours" (Le Matin,7 March 2007) shows how far we have come, in breaking down prejudices. The statement, "international falsification", on my part, does not prove a criminal intention but an intention of awakening the Swiss public opinion.
 

TURKISH RACISM IS BASELESS

It was claimed that I was a racist or an extreme nationalist. For my part, I consider racism dishonourable. This is the moral aspect of how I view this accusation.

Turkish nationalism is not racist. Turks are not an ethnic group. If we regard the issue academically it will be clearly seen that the claims as to Turkish racism are baseless. The peoples living on the lands from the Pacific to the Atlantic are related to Turks to some degree or other. We have relatives even in America. Turks are dispersed around the world more extensively than any other people. They have, everywhere, mixed and intermingled with other people. The culture of a Turkish empire, in fact, means securing the co-habitation of various peoples within very wide borders. Racism cannot live under such historical conditions on such a basis.

Turks are not an ethnic group but a big nation.

The fact that Turks have always considered an Armenian converted to Islam as one of them, shows how far away they stand from racism. 400-600 thousand Armenians converted to Islam during the First World War. Turks embraced them, married them and had their children. There must be some 6-7 million people in the Turkish population of 70 millions, who are the offsprings of Turco-Armenian marriages. Would this have been possible had Turks been racist ? Would Hitler have done this?
 

FILLING UP THE GAP WITH INSULT AND PSYCHOLOGICAL WAR MATERIAL

The accusations posed in this trial have arisen from prejudices. We answered these prejudices with historical facts. Those who do not possess historical knowledge try to fill in the gap with insults and psychological war material. This is a tradition. The falsified accounts of Armenian Genocide were fabricated by state officials and officials of intelligence services such as Morgenthau and Toynbee. The same mission is being continued by similar figures now. Tessa Hoffman, who was heard by Your Court two days ago is the head of the Caucasus Department of the German Federal Intelligence Service. On the cover of the book she published, she used a painting in which a heap of dead man's skulls was depicted by the Russian painter Vassiley Vereshchagin, painted in 1871, claiming it was a picture of the Armenian Genocide in 1915. This campaign of slander has been conducted with such pitiful material. As an answer to the question we asked two days ago, she replied that she corrected her mistake. Incorrect ideas can no doubt be corrected, but moral squalor cannot be easily rectified.

Taner Akçam who is frequently referred to, on the other hand, has been nourished and educated by Tessa Hofman. When he was in Turkey he was a student at the Middle Eastern Technical University in Ankara, but he is very poor in history. The Hamburg Centre for Social Studies manufactured him as a 'scholar of history' and created a demand for him.

On the first day of the trial, there was a perpetual reference to the telegrams by Talat Pasha known as the Andonian Documents. We had already informed the Prosecutor that they had been proved false long ago. As a matter of fact, the UN document we have submitted once more proves this fakery.

The true face of the Turco-Armenian Commission of Compromise is also now clear. The campaigns of Armenian Genocide have always been carried out on such concocted documents.
 

ARE LAWS BINDING FOR EVERYONE

The discussions that took place here should be continued in universities and other scientific institutions.

The present law applied to my case does not concern my actions, because the claim of genocide does not apply to the Armenian case. The provision concerning genocide is invalid in the Armenian case. This provision may be applicable to the Jewish Holocaust, as the courts choose, but it is inapplicable to the Armenian question.

Prof. Norman Stone, the advisor to Margaret Thatcher, in his article published in Die Weltwoche, titled "Armenian Genocide did not Happen", states that he wholly agrees with Dogu Perinçek. You have not been able to judge Prof. Stone in this court.

General Yasar Müjdeci gave a lecture titled "Armenian Genocide is a Falsification", the Swiss police videotaped it but could not bring him to court.

The former MP from Bern, Albert Hourriet has also openly declared that the Armenian Genocide is a false claim but you cannot bring him to court either.

In fact, on September 21, 2005, after having questioned me, Jacques Antenen, the public interrogator in Lausanne declared on all the TV channels including Cahannel 1, that he was going to declare this case nolle prosequi. It is clear that in connection with the Armenian genocide, this law has not been accepted by the public conscience in Switzerland.

Right after our demonstration of Lausanne 2005, the Swiss Senate permanently removed the resolution concerning Armenian Genocide from its agenda,.

In October 2006, M. Blocher, the Swiss Minister of Justice declared that they intended to drop the law punishing the denial of Armenian genocide and set up a committee for the purpose. M. Leupold, the head of this committee, for his part, stated that judges are not entitled to pass judgement on history.

So, these were our activities for which we have been accused of being provocateurs! They have brought the Swiss Government to the point of dropping passed resolutions. Therefore our activities have been of help to Switzerland, let alone being a provocation.
 

YOU CANNOT PROCESS THE MEAT OF A DEAD ANIMAL

In Turkish we have a saying which goes: You cannot process the meat of a dead animal.

The provision of the law which, the prosecution claims, applies to me, is dead, as far as Armenian genocide is concerned. Now it is time to remove it.

The fact that this law is effective at present does not mean that it is applicable. Laws also die and they are buried. This is what should be and what is inevitably going to be done.
 

FOR THE GOOD OF TURKEY, THE MIDDLE EAST, AND THE WORLD

The intention of my activities was questioned in order to find out whether the criminal act has been fulfilled or not.. I will tell you what I intended when I said that the Armenian genocide is an international falsification.

Firstly, I acted with the drive of being faithful to facts.

My second concern was the future of Turkey, the Middle East and the world.

This falsification will be used in connection with the US project of The Greater Middle East, not with the Armenian question. It has already become clear that this falsification will be made use of, in the operation of extending the borders of the puppet regime in North Iraq towards Turkey, Syria and Iran. This operation does not serve the interests of Switzerland and Europe. It does not serve the interests of humanity and of our Armenian brothers and sisters.

I demand a just verdict and extend my regards to Your Court.