Azerbaijan, Baku, April 3 / Trend, A.Taghiyeva /
Public Prosecutor's Office of Switzerland decided not to initiate criminal proceedings against Turkish Minister for EU Affairs Egemen Bagis, who told journalists in Zurich that he denies the so-called "Armenian genocide", Anadolu Agency reported.
This decision was made after the Turkish Foreign Ministry expressed its protest over the initiative of the Swiss Public Prosecutor's Office to make Bagis criminally liable for his statement that there was no "Armenian genocide" in the Ottoman Empire.
The minister made this statement after the French Senate approved a bill envisaging criminalization of the denial of the so-called "Armenian genocide". A similar law is in force also in Switzerland.
On Jan 23, after an eight-hour debate, the Senate adopted the bill criminalizing denial of the so-called "Armenian genocide". Some 127 senators voted in favor, while 86 voted against.
Armenia and the Armenian lobby claim that the predecessor of the Turkey - Ottoman Empire had committed the 1915 genocide against the Armenians living in Anadolu, and achieved recognition of the "Armenian Genocide" by the parliaments of several countries.