Turkish Group Accuses Google of Limiting Free Speech

A Turkish advocacy organization is accusing Google of limiting free speech after the Web search leader suspended the group's ads in response to complaints by an Armenian-American group that the ads were "morally reprehensible" for denying a genocide occurred in the Ottoman-Armenian conflict of a century ago.

The Turkish Coalition of America said Google pulled its ads without giving the group a chance to respond to the accusations made by the Armenian National Committee of America.

A Google spokesman told FOXNews.com that it does not accept ads "designed to stir up hate or advocate against a protected group." The spokesman also said the company does not allow ads for Web sties "that suggest revisions to history or attempt to revise history against the interests of a protected group."

"So you can imagine an ad by a Nazi group that said the Holocaust is a myth," a person familiar with Google's policies told FOXNews.com, offering another example of an ad that would be rejected by the company.

The Turkish Coalition, or TCA, objects to Google's policy.

"The notion that there is a Google-accepted version of history is extraordinarily disturbing," the group said in a statement.

"Google has failed to distinguish between advocating an idea in an historic controversy, which the TCA does, and advocating against a group, which the TCA does not," the group said. "This notion strikes at the very core of the First Amendment free speech rights."

The Armenian National Committee of America initiated its online campaign against the ads in May, asking supporters to urge Google to stop hosting genocide denial ads placed by the Turkish Coalition.

"Ask Google to live up to its guiding principle of 'Don't be Evil' by refusing to profit from an organization seeking a platform for their historically inaccurate, morally reprehensible and deeply offensive genocidal denial campaign."

The group said search terms such as "Armenian Genocide," "Armenia" and "Armenian" typically spawn a Google ADWords link that reads either : "History, Propaganda" or "Learn Armenian Atrocities." Both directed users to the Turkish Coalition's Web site that it says features "extensive content denying the Armenian Genocide."

The Republic of Turkey disputes the use of the term "genocide" to describe the decimation of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I.

David Saltzman of the Turkish Coalition told FOX News that his group is not against any group and lamented that anyone who disputes a genocide happened in 1915 is "accused of immorality and criminality."

The suspension of ads, Saltzman said, is devastating to his group because it limits its "presence in the marketplace of ideas."

Aram Hamparian, executive director of the Armenian National Committee of America, told FOX News that he was "gratified" that Google decided the Turkish group's ads were not "consistent with its values. We think Google did the right thing."

He added that the Turkish group was just as misguided in trying to force Google to run the ads as it is in denying the genocide.