Turkish parliamentarians may face fines for Genocide remarks

Turkish parliament members may from now on have to pay fines for voicing remarks about the Armenian Genocide, the newspaper Hurriyet reports.

An 18-clause amended package, drafted by the ruling Justice and Development party and the coalition National Movement, lays out new rules of procedure, including, among other things, punitive measures for voicing accusations or insulting the Turkish people’s history and the shared past of the ethnic groups residing on the country’s territory. The lawmakers who breach the norm will be suspended from sessions and have their salaries cut by 12,000 Turkish Liras (over US $ 3,000)

The said clause was designed specifically to target the use of “genocide” when referring to the 1915 events in the Turkish parliament, according to the Turkish publication.

Members of the National Movement party later proposed applying the sanctions also to “Kurdistan” and “Kurdish provinces”.

The package did not receive any backing by the opposition People’s Republican, and People’s Democratic Parties.

An ethnic Armenian lawmaker, Garo Paylan (People’s Democratic Party), was earlier suspended from three sessions this year after using “genocide” at a constitutional debate.

(Tert.am)

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