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TURKISH COURT GIVES DINK ASSASSIN 23 YEARS
Simon Cameron-Moore
The Daily Star
http://www.dailystar.com.lb
July 26, 2011
Lebanon
ISTANBUL: An Istanbul court sentenced the assassin of Armenian
journalist Hrant Dink to nearly 23 years in prison Monday. Editor
of bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos and Turkey's best known
Armenian voice abroad, Dink was shot in broad daylight as he left
his Istanbul office in January 2007.
His killer Ogun Samast was 17 and unemployed when the killing took
place. He was sentenced by a juvenile court to 22 years and 10 months.
Dink had angered nationalists with articles referring to a Turkish
"genocide" of Christian Armenians in 1915.
Another court is hearing the cases against two other main suspects
in the conspiracy and a handful of others accused of being linked to
the plot.
Reacting to Samast's sentencing, Eyten Mahcupyan, a Turkish Armenian
columnist who took over editorship of Agos after Dink's death,
praised the court for opting for a severe jail term.
"The court was courageous enough to go with the evidence, and not go
down an ideological path in terms of nationalism," Mahcupyan, who is
now a columnist for pro-government Zaman newspaper, told Reuters.
He said it would set an example to another court hearing the Dink
conspiracy cases, a point echoed by a lawyer for Dink's family.
"Ogun Samast and other suspects were not expecting this sentence. This
could ruin their hope of being freed soon," lawyer Fethiye Cetin told
Reuters. "This is very important to deter this sort of crime."
Dink was frequently criticized by Turkish nationalists, including top
politicians and prosecutors, for saying the mass killing of Armenians
by Ottoman Turks during World War I was genocide. The government says
both Christian Armenians and Muslim Turks died in large numbers as
the Ottoman Empire collapsed.
Two years before he was killed, Dink received a suspended six-month
jail term for "insulting Turkey's identity" in an article.
Last year, the European Court of Human Rights ordered Turkish
authorities to pay 100,000 euros to Dink's family in compensation,
saying authorities had failed to adequately protect Dink even though
they knew ultra-nationalists were plotting to kill him.
The Dink case was closely followed by the European Union as it
underlined concerns over EU-candidate Turkey's human rights record
and democratic credentials.
A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Daily
Star on July 26, 2011, on page 9.
Read more:
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2011/Jul-26/Turkish-court-gives-Dink-assassin-23-years.ashx#ixzz1TBQf9g4P
Simon Cameron-Moore
The Daily Star
http://www.dailystar.com.lb
July 26, 2011
Lebanon
ISTANBUL: An Istanbul court sentenced the assassin of Armenian
journalist Hrant Dink to nearly 23 years in prison Monday. Editor
of bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos and Turkey's best known
Armenian voice abroad, Dink was shot in broad daylight as he left
his Istanbul office in January 2007.
His killer Ogun Samast was 17 and unemployed when the killing took
place. He was sentenced by a juvenile court to 22 years and 10 months.
Dink had angered nationalists with articles referring to a Turkish
"genocide" of Christian Armenians in 1915.
Another court is hearing the cases against two other main suspects
in the conspiracy and a handful of others accused of being linked to
the plot.
Reacting to Samast's sentencing, Eyten Mahcupyan, a Turkish Armenian
columnist who took over editorship of Agos after Dink's death,
praised the court for opting for a severe jail term.
"The court was courageous enough to go with the evidence, and not go
down an ideological path in terms of nationalism," Mahcupyan, who is
now a columnist for pro-government Zaman newspaper, told Reuters.
He said it would set an example to another court hearing the Dink
conspiracy cases, a point echoed by a lawyer for Dink's family.
"Ogun Samast and other suspects were not expecting this sentence. This
could ruin their hope of being freed soon," lawyer Fethiye Cetin told
Reuters. "This is very important to deter this sort of crime."
Dink was frequently criticized by Turkish nationalists, including top
politicians and prosecutors, for saying the mass killing of Armenians
by Ottoman Turks during World War I was genocide. The government says
both Christian Armenians and Muslim Turks died in large numbers as
the Ottoman Empire collapsed.
Two years before he was killed, Dink received a suspended six-month
jail term for "insulting Turkey's identity" in an article.
Last year, the European Court of Human Rights ordered Turkish
authorities to pay 100,000 euros to Dink's family in compensation,
saying authorities had failed to adequately protect Dink even though
they knew ultra-nationalists were plotting to kill him.
The Dink case was closely followed by the European Union as it
underlined concerns over EU-candidate Turkey's human rights record
and democratic credentials.
A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Daily
Star on July 26, 2011, on page 9.
Read more:
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2011/Jul-26/Turkish-court-gives-Dink-assassin-23-years.ashx#ixzz1TBQf9g4P