–Judge overrules Police Department’s decision to ban demonstration
BERLIN (DPA/Armenpress)–A German court overruled Tuesday a decision by the Berlin Police Department to ban two Turkish demonstrations–March 15 and 18–against the recognition of the Armenian genocide and commemorating the 85th anniversary of Talaat Pasha’s death.
Political leaders and human rights groups had supported this decision by the police–but organizers appealed to the court and got the ban overturned.
Organizers of one of the protests warned that Europe’s cities would "go up in flames like Paris" unless Europeans stopped blaming Turkey for the Armenian genocide.
The ban was justified by police who said they feared violence and because they suspected demonstrators would try to both deny and glorify the Armenian genocide.
"It is unacceptable when planned demonstrations seek to deny the genocide of Armenia’s during the First World War and make veiled calls for violence in Germany," said Frank Henkel–the opposition Christian Democratic Union interior affairs spokesman in the city government.
The statement disseminated by the Berlin Police Department said that Talaat Pasha bears the responsibility for the genocide of Armenia’s in 1915 and makes note of the resolution adopted by the German Bundestag about the Armenian genocide.
A human rights group–the Society for Threatened Peoples–also welcomed the ban and called for legislation to prevent all public events denying or glorifying genocide or war crimes.
Germany has about 1.8 million Turkish nationals out of a total population of 82 million.
Mainstream Turkish-German groups withdrew their support for the controversial demonstrations over the weekend.