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Planned Armenian genocide memorial ruffles Ankara

Turkey seems to have the upper hand in the political struggle against an Armenian genocide monument proposed for Geneva.
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A proposed art project commemorating the 1915 mass slaughter by the Ottoman Turks of the empire’s Armenian subjects has sparked a tug-of-war between the Turkish government and Switzerland’s ethnic Armenian community, sharpening decades of mutual suspicion and resentment and pitting the federal government in Bern against the local government in Geneva, where the monument is to be placed.

With only months to go before the April 24 centenary of the genocide, the stakes are higher than ever — and so far, Turkey is prevailing. In early December, the Swiss Foreign Ministry declared that it opposes erecting the Armenian monument in the canton of Geneva because “it is important for federal authorities to preserve the absolute impartiality of Geneva,” where the United Nations and various other international organizations are headquartered, Turkey’s semi-official Anadolu news agency crowed.

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