Tweet
ARMENIAN AMERICANS ASK CLINTON TO PROTEST ZARAKOLU ARREST
armradio.am
15.11.2011 11:05
Armenian Americans have joined with free speech and human rights
advocates in calling upon Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to
end more than two weeks of official silence regarding the Turkish
government's October 28th arrest of long-persecuted publisher Ragip
Zarakolu.
"Ragip Zarakolu has - for no reason other than his commitment to
freedom of speech - been dragged, once again, to rot in a Turkish
prison - without a single word of protest from the U.S. State
Department," said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA.
"This is a disgrace. The leaders of the Obama Administration - who
have, by now, made it painfully clear that they lack the courage to
honor their own commitments to speak out honestly about the Armenian
Genocide - appear, now, also unwilling to even speak up when those,
like Ragip Zarakolu, demonstrate the audacity to stand up for the
truth in the face of threats of prosecution and persecution."
Mr. Zarakolu, the owner of the Belge Publishing House, was rounded up
as part of a politically motivated series of arrests of largely Kurdish
political and human rights leaders. He has, among his many titles,
published a series of books on the Armenian Genocide - actions that
have made him and his family the target of prolonged prosecutions
and incarcerations over many years.
Despite public protest by rights groups including Human Rights Watch
and PEN International, the U.S. State Department has remained silent
in response to the Zarakolu arrest.
"The United States is a strong defender of freedom of expression
in Turkey and in all countries around the world. We do not want to
comment at this time on specific cases before the courts. We urge
that the prosecution proceed transparently, and that all defendants be
assured due process and a fair hearing in a timely manner,"Spokesman
for the Department of State said.
The letter notes the State Department's "shameful, century-long record
of appeasing the most intolerant elements of Turkish society - as
so painfully illustrated for all the world to see by the gag- rule
that our nation's leaders have allowed Ankara to impose on American
recognition of the Armenian Genocide." It also forcefully condemns
the State Department's "tacit support for the Turkish government's
long-standing prosecution and persecution of the small but growing
number of voices within Turkey who, at the risk of their own lives and
freedom, seek to bring about fundamental change to a system founded
upon genocide, and reliant upon the threat and use of force, both at
home and abroad."
The ANCA WebMail letter closes with a chilling reminder about how
"the State Department maintained a similar silence regarding the
Turkish government's prosecution and public deionization of Hrant
Dink, the late Armenian journalist, until, of course, after he was
killed in cold-blood on the streets of Istanbul in January of 2007.
From: A. Papazian
armradio.am
15.11.2011 11:05
Armenian Americans have joined with free speech and human rights
advocates in calling upon Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to
end more than two weeks of official silence regarding the Turkish
government's October 28th arrest of long-persecuted publisher Ragip
Zarakolu.
"Ragip Zarakolu has - for no reason other than his commitment to
freedom of speech - been dragged, once again, to rot in a Turkish
prison - without a single word of protest from the U.S. State
Department," said Aram Hamparian, Executive Director of the ANCA.
"This is a disgrace. The leaders of the Obama Administration - who
have, by now, made it painfully clear that they lack the courage to
honor their own commitments to speak out honestly about the Armenian
Genocide - appear, now, also unwilling to even speak up when those,
like Ragip Zarakolu, demonstrate the audacity to stand up for the
truth in the face of threats of prosecution and persecution."
Mr. Zarakolu, the owner of the Belge Publishing House, was rounded up
as part of a politically motivated series of arrests of largely Kurdish
political and human rights leaders. He has, among his many titles,
published a series of books on the Armenian Genocide - actions that
have made him and his family the target of prolonged prosecutions
and incarcerations over many years.
Despite public protest by rights groups including Human Rights Watch
and PEN International, the U.S. State Department has remained silent
in response to the Zarakolu arrest.
"The United States is a strong defender of freedom of expression
in Turkey and in all countries around the world. We do not want to
comment at this time on specific cases before the courts. We urge
that the prosecution proceed transparently, and that all defendants be
assured due process and a fair hearing in a timely manner,"Spokesman
for the Department of State said.
The letter notes the State Department's "shameful, century-long record
of appeasing the most intolerant elements of Turkish society - as
so painfully illustrated for all the world to see by the gag- rule
that our nation's leaders have allowed Ankara to impose on American
recognition of the Armenian Genocide." It also forcefully condemns
the State Department's "tacit support for the Turkish government's
long-standing prosecution and persecution of the small but growing
number of voices within Turkey who, at the risk of their own lives and
freedom, seek to bring about fundamental change to a system founded
upon genocide, and reliant upon the threat and use of force, both at
home and abroad."
The ANCA WebMail letter closes with a chilling reminder about how
"the State Department maintained a similar silence regarding the
Turkish government's prosecution and public deionization of Hrant
Dink, the late Armenian journalist, until, of course, after he was
killed in cold-blood on the streets of Istanbul in January of 2007.
From: A. Papazian