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TURKISH ACTIVISTS DEMAND JUSTICE AT DINK MURDER TRIAL
Agence France Presse
Feb 11 2008
Turkish intellectuals and politicians called for a fair and transparent
ruling Monday in Istanbul as the third hearing began in a case against
three alleged killers of Armenian journalist Hrant Dink.
"This stain must be cleaned so that a Turkey where opinions are no
longer judged and those who express them are no longer condemned can
exist," said a statement read to journalists near the Besiktas court.
The statement was signed by politicians from various leanings, as well
as well-known intellectuals who called for "complete transparence"
in a case that is being closely followed by the European Union,
which Turkey is looking to join.
On January 19, 2006, 52-year-old Dink was shot outside the office
of the weekly publication he ran -- the Turkish-Armenian Agos --
by a 17-year-old boy with close links to Turkish nationalists.
A group calling themselves "The Friends of Hrant Dink" read a statement
to a separate crowd of several hundred people in Besiktas.
They demanded that justices "do their job correctly and follow this
through to the end." The courthouse was surrounded by police as those
standing trial arrived in armed police vans.
Dink campaigned for reconciliation between Turkey and Armenia,
but ran into trouble with the law for articles in which he labeled
the 1915-1917 mass killings of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire
during World War I a "genocide." The journalist was slapped with a
suspended sentence of six months in jail under article 301 of the
Turkish penal code, which deals with offences that insult Turkishness
and is denounced by the EU.
Monday's hearing took place behind doors due to the fact alleged
murderer Ogun Samast is a minor. Samast has confessed to the murder
and could face up to 42 years in prison. His co-charged, Yasin Hayal
and Erhan Tuncel, allegedly ordered the attack on Dink and could face
life in prison. Sentences ranging from 7.5 to 35 years have already
been handed out to 16 others accused in the case.
Agence France Presse
Feb 11 2008
Turkish intellectuals and politicians called for a fair and transparent
ruling Monday in Istanbul as the third hearing began in a case against
three alleged killers of Armenian journalist Hrant Dink.
"This stain must be cleaned so that a Turkey where opinions are no
longer judged and those who express them are no longer condemned can
exist," said a statement read to journalists near the Besiktas court.
The statement was signed by politicians from various leanings, as well
as well-known intellectuals who called for "complete transparence"
in a case that is being closely followed by the European Union,
which Turkey is looking to join.
On January 19, 2006, 52-year-old Dink was shot outside the office
of the weekly publication he ran -- the Turkish-Armenian Agos --
by a 17-year-old boy with close links to Turkish nationalists.
A group calling themselves "The Friends of Hrant Dink" read a statement
to a separate crowd of several hundred people in Besiktas.
They demanded that justices "do their job correctly and follow this
through to the end." The courthouse was surrounded by police as those
standing trial arrived in armed police vans.
Dink campaigned for reconciliation between Turkey and Armenia,
but ran into trouble with the law for articles in which he labeled
the 1915-1917 mass killings of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire
during World War I a "genocide." The journalist was slapped with a
suspended sentence of six months in jail under article 301 of the
Turkish penal code, which deals with offences that insult Turkishness
and is denounced by the EU.
Monday's hearing took place behind doors due to the fact alleged
murderer Ogun Samast is a minor. Samast has confessed to the murder
and could face up to 42 years in prison. His co-charged, Yasin Hayal
and Erhan Tuncel, allegedly ordered the attack on Dink and could face
life in prison. Sentences ranging from 7.5 to 35 years have already
been handed out to 16 others accused in the case.