Azernews.Az

The prosecutor general`s office in Ankara has launched an investigation into an online signature campaign sponsored by a group of Turkish citizens to apologize to Armenians for alleged World War I-era killings.
The initiative, launched on the www.ozurdiliyoruz.com website in December by up to 200 Turkish scholars and personalities, seeks to apologize for the alleged mass killings in the Ottoman Empire that Armenians term as genocide, a claim strenuously denied by Ankara. Supporters of the campaign assist by including their names, city of residence and email addresses on the web-page. The campaign is expected to last a year.
The web site claims that over 13,000 people have joined the campaign, but it is unknown which of the published names are forged, as apparent fraud has recently been revealed. The Turkish public, at large, is opposed to the initiative.
Law enforcement agencies are now looking into the possibility of launching a criminal case against the initiators of the campaign on charges of insulting the Turkish people, the Anatolian news agency reported. A group of Ankara residents angered by the campaign has filed a lawsuit demanding to prosecute the organizers of the campaign. The plea says that Armenian criminal groups had killed hundreds of thousands of Turks while the alleged genocide of Armenians never occurred.
"Accusing the Turkish nation of genocide means humiliating the Turkish nation," the plaintiffs said in their filing.
To further counter the initiative, Turkish intellectuals have recently launched a campaign called "We Are Not Apologizing." The signature collection campaign is being carried out on the www.ozurdilemiyoruz.com website.
Armenia and Turkey maintain no diplomatic ties and the border between the two countries has been closed by Turkey since 1993 in response to Armenia`s policy of occupation of Azerbaijani territories and Armenian "genocide" claims. However, relations between the two countries have begun to improve of late and both countries` officials have held talks several times.