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Turkish politician expelled from Belgium party over 1915 events

Turkish national Mahinur Ozdemir has been expelled from her party in Belgium for refusing to recognize the 1915 events as 'genocide'

29.05.2015 - Update : 29.05.2015
Turkish politician expelled from Belgium party over 1915 events

BRUSSELS

 A Turkish member of the Belgian parliament was expelled from her political party Friday for not recognizing the 1915 events concerning Armenians as “genocide”.

Mahinur Ozdemir, who is the first woman with a headscarf to become member of the Belgian parliament, told Anadolu Agency on Friday that she refused to recognize the 1915 events as “genocide” and was later expelled by a committee from her party, the Humanist Democratic Centre (CHD).

CHD President Benoit Lutgen said last week that any member of the party who denied what he called ‘the Armenian genocide’ would be expelled.

Ozdemir, who did not attend a standing ovation to commemorate the 1915 events, said there was no court order that could force one to recognize the events concerning Armenians; moreover, the European Parliament’s resolution in April for recognition of the 1915 events as “genocide” was also non-binding.

Ozdemir told Anadolu Agency that CHD Secretary-General Eric Poncin wanted her to sign a communique recognizing the 1915 events and told her that she would be expelled from the party if she refused.

She said her response to Poncin was: "I stand by my opinions on this issue. I will not give up. I stand upright [for] freedom of expression."

"Unfortunately, the Humanist Democratic Centre [Party] took a decision which is incompatible with humanism and democracy, and proved it does not harbor Europe’s fundamental value of freedom of expression," she added.

She also alleged that the CHD felt uncomfortable because of her headscarf.

"Benoit Lutgen, who is on duty for two years, did not give me a key position in the party and refused my request for president of the commission, although I am the fifth MP [Member of Parliament] who gathered most votes in last year's election in Brussels," she said.

"The decision they took shows that they wanted to expel me from the party in some way and indicated that my scarf also affected this decision. This issue became an excuse for expelling me," she said, adding that the decision was not fair.

Ozdemir also said that she would continue to highlight issues of discrimination, poverty and unemployment in the parliament.

Turkish nationals in Belgium have said there is a rise in intolerance against a different view of what happened in 1915.

During a rally event called "Listen to me also", around 3,000 Turkish nationals gathered in Brussels last week and protested the notion that parliamentarians from various countries, rather than historians, have voted to determine what is or what is not a genocide, in this case concerning the Armenian deaths in 1915.

Turkey and Armenia disagree on what happened during the events between 1915 and 1923. Armenia says that 1.5 million people were deliberately killed, while Turkey says the death toll is exaggerated and deaths were a result of relocations and civil strife.

Armenia has demanded an apology and compensation, while Turkey has officially refuted Armenian allegations over the incidents saying that, although Armenians died during the relocations, many Turks also lost their lives in attacks carried out by Armenian gangs in Anatolia.

Brussels: Turkish community slams politician's expulsion

Turkish community members gathered outside the Belgian Humanist Democratic Centre (CHD) party office in Brussels on Saturday to protest against its decision to expel Mahinur Ozdemir over her refusal to recognize the 1915 events.

"The decision by the Humanist Democratic Centre (CHD) to expel a member of the parliament, Mahinur Ozdemir, from the party because of her refusal to recognize the 1915 events is embarrassing," Suleyman Celik, chairman of the Union of European Turkish Democrats, said.

"No pressure, intimidation, threat and expulsion can prevent freedom of thought," Celik told reporters and dozens of Turkish nationals who gathered outside the CHD party to show support for Ozdemir.

"The decision to expel [Ozdemir] is not only a heavy blow against Mahinur Ozdemir, but also against the hundreds of thousands of [Turkish] Belgian citizens who share her views and who express their thoughts freely," he said.

"As a civil society which defends the freedom of speech, multiculturalism and pluralism, we [UETD] strongly condemn the CHD party," he added.


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