Tweet
Armenian journalist on trial in Turkey for 'insulting Turks'
28/04/2005 Â AFP
ANKARA, April 28 (AFP) - 13h39 - A Turkish court on Thursday began
hearing a case against a journalist of Armenian descent on charges
that he insulted Turks in remarks at a conference three years ago, the
Anatolia news agency reported.
Hrant Dink, editor of the Armenian-language weekly Agos, could face up
to three years in prison if found guilty by the court in the
southeastern Turkish city of Sanliurfa where the conference on
minorities and human rights was held.
Dink, who was not present at the hearing, told AFP from his office in
Istanbul that he believed the suit stemmed from his reponse to a
question on what he felt when, at primary school, he had to take an
oath with which elementary school days begin in Turkey.
The patriotic verse which all students in Turkey have to memorise and
recite begins with the lines: "I am a Turk, I am honest, I am
hardworking".
"I said that I was a Turkish citizen but an Armenian and that even
though I was honest and hardworking, I was not a Turk, I was an
Armenian," Dink explained.
He said he also criticised a line in the Turkish national anthem that
speaks of "my heroic race".
"I said I did not feel like singing that line because I was against
the use of the word 'race', which leads to discrimination," Dink said.
Dink is on trial with Seyhmus Ulek, deputy chairman of the Mazlum-Der
Human Rights Association, who is accused of insulting the Turkish
Republic and could also face upto three years in jail if convicted.
"At the conference, I raised objections against the Republican project
of creating a one-nation country," Ulek told AFP.
Expanding minority rights is one of the issues Turkey must address
before it can join the European Union, with which it is scheduled to
start membership talks on October 3.
Under the 1923 Lausanne Treaty, the founding accord of modern-day
Turkey, Turkey recognises Greeks, Jews and Armenians as religious
minorities, but any attempt to put ethnic identity forward is still
largely untolerated.
28/04/2005 Â AFP
ANKARA, April 28 (AFP) - 13h39 - A Turkish court on Thursday began
hearing a case against a journalist of Armenian descent on charges
that he insulted Turks in remarks at a conference three years ago, the
Anatolia news agency reported.
Hrant Dink, editor of the Armenian-language weekly Agos, could face up
to three years in prison if found guilty by the court in the
southeastern Turkish city of Sanliurfa where the conference on
minorities and human rights was held.
Dink, who was not present at the hearing, told AFP from his office in
Istanbul that he believed the suit stemmed from his reponse to a
question on what he felt when, at primary school, he had to take an
oath with which elementary school days begin in Turkey.
The patriotic verse which all students in Turkey have to memorise and
recite begins with the lines: "I am a Turk, I am honest, I am
hardworking".
"I said that I was a Turkish citizen but an Armenian and that even
though I was honest and hardworking, I was not a Turk, I was an
Armenian," Dink explained.
He said he also criticised a line in the Turkish national anthem that
speaks of "my heroic race".
"I said I did not feel like singing that line because I was against
the use of the word 'race', which leads to discrimination," Dink said.
Dink is on trial with Seyhmus Ulek, deputy chairman of the Mazlum-Der
Human Rights Association, who is accused of insulting the Turkish
Republic and could also face upto three years in jail if convicted.
"At the conference, I raised objections against the Republican project
of creating a one-nation country," Ulek told AFP.
Expanding minority rights is one of the issues Turkey must address
before it can join the European Union, with which it is scheduled to
start membership talks on October 3.
Under the 1923 Lausanne Treaty, the founding accord of modern-day
Turkey, Turkey recognises Greeks, Jews and Armenians as religious
minorities, but any attempt to put ethnic identity forward is still
largely untolerated.