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The video of the conference titled “Assessment of the Punishment of Denial of Armenian Claims in the Context of Freedom of Expression” was published on the YouTube channel of the Center for Eurasian Studies (AVİM) on 12 September 2021. This video was removed by YouTube for "violating YouTube's policy on hate speech".

The video includes the record of a conference organized by AVİM in which the Turkish Constitutional Court Rapporteur Ceren Sedef Eren is a speaker. The speaker discusses the conflicts with the principle of freedom of expression and the problems caused by the penalization of the rejection and criticism (sometimes simplified as “denial” in public discourse) of the Armenian genocide allegations. Afterwards, Ms. Eren makes a concrete assessment of this issue through the decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in the Perinçek v. Switzerland case.

The speaker does not engage in any "discriminatory or racist" discourse in her relevant presentation, on the contrary, she emphasizes the principles stated by the ECHR in its verdict. The foremost among these principles is the principle of protecting all kinds of expressions that convey academic views and opinions within the scope of freedom of expression, provided that they are not discriminatory or meant to incite hatred.

Upon our objection via online tools and mail, YouTube has informed us that after one more check of the content, they confirmed that it "does not violate the provisions of the community rules" and that the conference video has been republished.

The relevant video can be accessed from the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cNzffHpIOk