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PRESIDENT GUL MET HOSROF DINK, BROTHER OF KILLED HRANT DINK
BIAnet.org
Aug 23 2010
Turkey
President Gul received Hosrof Dink, brother of killed Turkish Armenian
journalist Hrant Dink, in Istanbul on Friday (20 August). Related
to the state's recent defence to the ECHR, judge Turmen called the
state to apologize and admit a mistake.
Tolga KORKUT [email protected] Istanbul - BİA News Center23
August 2010, Monday RELATED NEWS President Gul Admits State's
Responsibility for Dink Murder President Abdullha Gul met with Hosrof
Dink, the brother of assassinated Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant
Dink, in Istanbul on Friday (20 August).
Gul had invited Dink to a mansion in the Tarabya district. The meeting
lasted for one hour. Dink said afterwards, "I thank the president for
his invitation. We talked about very sensitive topics such as sharing
sorrow and pouring out our grievances. The meeting was all about this.
Thank you".
Dink did not take any questions from the journalists. Gul did not
comment on the meeting at all.
Hrant Dink, then editor-in-chief of the Armenian Agos newspaper,
was killed on 19 January 2007. Prior to his assassination he had been
convicted under article 301 of the Turkish Criminal Code (TCY), which
bans "insults" to the Turkish state. The Dink family brought the case
to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). In the defence of the
Turkish state recently submitted to the international court, Dink
was compared to a Nazi leader and accused of spreading "hate speeches".
After the news about the defence had made the headlines, president
Gul admitted that the "necessary precautions" had not been taken to
prevent the murder of the journalist. Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu
and Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin both distanced themselves from
the defence.
Turmen: government should apologize Rıza Turmen, former judge at
the ECHR, criticized the defence of the Turkish state. He advised
the state to admit a mistake instead of defending it.
In an article published in the nation-wide Milliyet newspaper on
Friday (20 August), Turmen took pen to paper on the defence: "It
is not necessary to defend every case. Sometimes it might be better
for the state in moral and legal terms to admit a mistake instead of
clinging to a defence. If this case is bothering the government that
much, they could conclude the case before it is decided".
According to Turmen, this could be done in two ways. That could either
be an amicable agreement between the government and the complainants.
This is related to the state's prosecuting the public officials accused
of negeligence and thus paving the way to the murder of Dink and to
correcting the sentence handed down to Dink under Article 301.
The government could apologize, Turmen suggested.
Or, in case an amicable agreement would not work out, the government
could unilaterally announce to accept a violation of the European
Convention on Human Rights and agree on compensation. If the ECHR
would recognize such a declaration, the "victim" status of the
complainants could be lifted and the case could be concluded, the
judge said. (TK/VK)
From: A. Papazian
BIAnet.org
Aug 23 2010
Turkey
President Gul received Hosrof Dink, brother of killed Turkish Armenian
journalist Hrant Dink, in Istanbul on Friday (20 August). Related
to the state's recent defence to the ECHR, judge Turmen called the
state to apologize and admit a mistake.
Tolga KORKUT [email protected] Istanbul - BİA News Center23
August 2010, Monday RELATED NEWS President Gul Admits State's
Responsibility for Dink Murder President Abdullha Gul met with Hosrof
Dink, the brother of assassinated Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant
Dink, in Istanbul on Friday (20 August).
Gul had invited Dink to a mansion in the Tarabya district. The meeting
lasted for one hour. Dink said afterwards, "I thank the president for
his invitation. We talked about very sensitive topics such as sharing
sorrow and pouring out our grievances. The meeting was all about this.
Thank you".
Dink did not take any questions from the journalists. Gul did not
comment on the meeting at all.
Hrant Dink, then editor-in-chief of the Armenian Agos newspaper,
was killed on 19 January 2007. Prior to his assassination he had been
convicted under article 301 of the Turkish Criminal Code (TCY), which
bans "insults" to the Turkish state. The Dink family brought the case
to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). In the defence of the
Turkish state recently submitted to the international court, Dink
was compared to a Nazi leader and accused of spreading "hate speeches".
After the news about the defence had made the headlines, president
Gul admitted that the "necessary precautions" had not been taken to
prevent the murder of the journalist. Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu
and Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin both distanced themselves from
the defence.
Turmen: government should apologize Rıza Turmen, former judge at
the ECHR, criticized the defence of the Turkish state. He advised
the state to admit a mistake instead of defending it.
In an article published in the nation-wide Milliyet newspaper on
Friday (20 August), Turmen took pen to paper on the defence: "It
is not necessary to defend every case. Sometimes it might be better
for the state in moral and legal terms to admit a mistake instead of
clinging to a defence. If this case is bothering the government that
much, they could conclude the case before it is decided".
According to Turmen, this could be done in two ways. That could either
be an amicable agreement between the government and the complainants.
This is related to the state's prosecuting the public officials accused
of negeligence and thus paving the way to the murder of Dink and to
correcting the sentence handed down to Dink under Article 301.
The government could apologize, Turmen suggested.
Or, in case an amicable agreement would not work out, the government
could unilaterally announce to accept a violation of the European
Convention on Human Rights and agree on compensation. If the ECHR
would recognize such a declaration, the "victim" status of the
complainants could be lifted and the case could be concluded, the
judge said. (TK/VK)
From: A. Papazian