EP rapporteur says everybody should express his/her views freely

BRUSSELS (A.A) - European Parliament's (EP) rapporteur on Turkey said on Tuesday that everybody should express his/her views freely. Ria Oomen-Ruijten supported Turkey's European Union (EU) Minister and Chief Negotiator Egemen Bagis, against whom Swiss Prosecutor's Office launched an investigation into his remarks that "an Armenian genocide was not carried out in 1915." Following her meeting with Bagis in Brussels, Oomen-Ruijten criticized efforts of Switzerland and France to restrict freedom of expression through courts, and said everybody should and could express his/her views freely. Oomen-Ruijten backed Turkey's proposal to open Turkish archives and set up a joint commission of historians to investigate the incidents of 1915, and said whether in Switzerland or France, or Europe or Turkey, everybody should say whatever s/he thought without any restrictions. The rapporteur said she did not back initiatives of some members of EP to include Armenian allegations regarding the incidents of 1915 in a draft report on Turkey, and every one would see the result in the vote.  The report is under discussion at the EP Committee on Foreign Affairs. It calls on Turkey and Armenia to ratify the protocols they have signed without any preconditions, take steps for normalization of bilateral relations, and open borders. Turkey and Armenia signed two protocols in Zurich on October 10, 2009, including one on establishment of diplomatic relations and the other on developing bilateral relations Moreover, Bagis met Hannes Swoboda, the leader of the Socialist Group at the EP, and gave the message that if the EU really wanted to help Greece, it should work on visa exemption for Turkey.