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TURKEY REMEMBERS MURDERED JOURNALIST
By Ivan Watson, CNN
CNN International
Jan 19 2012
Istanbul (CNN) -- A crowd estimated at more than 10,000 people marched
silently on a bitterly cold day through downtown Istanbul Thursday
to commemorate the five year anniversary of the murder of an ethnic
Armenian journalist Hrant Dink.
They walked carrying a sea of black signs declaring "We are all Hrant,
we are all Armenian," written in Turkish and Armenian.
Police, who put the crowd estimate at 10,000 or more, blocked off
traffic as the crowds moved towards the offices of the Armenian
language Agos newspaper.
On January 19, 2007, Dink, the newspaper's editor in chief, was
gunned down in broad daylight on the sidewalk outside the newspaper's
offices. Dink, in the opinion of observers, had been an eloquent
spokesman for Turkey's tiny minority of Armenians.
A 17-year-old Turkish ultra nationalist soccer player was caught with
the murder weapon and later convicted of the killing.
But on Tuesday an Istanbul court attracted condemnation from members
of the Dink family as well as human rights groups when 19 suspected
accomplices in the murder where all acquitted of charges of being
members of a terrorist organization that plotted the assassination.
"The verdict was not only a travesty of justice, it shows our justice
system is simply political and does not work," said newspaper columnist
Asli Aydintasbas, as she marched along with her mother and thousands
of others up Istanbul's Cumhuriyet Caddesi, the broad boulevard where
Dink was shot dead.
"So many journalists are in jail charged with terrorism only because
of their writing," Aydintasbas added, "whereas the actual guys
who killed a journalist and who had clear connections with state
officials... they're not charged with terrorism. Some are even let go."
According to the Turkish Journalists Union there are currently more
than 90 media workers behind bars, many of them facing charges of
alleged membership in terrorist organizations and coup plots to
overthrow the government.
A Parliament member from Turkey's ruling party added to the chorus
of criticism Thursday in a newspaper column describing the trial as a
"disgrace."
"Apart from offending our civic conscience and eroding our limited
trust in justice in this country, Tuesday's verdict is also an insult
to this nation's intelligence," wrote lawmaker Suat Kiniklioglu in
the English-language Today's Zaman. "Despite the clear evidence
that confirms links with state officials both before and after
Hrant's murder, it is clear that the deep state wants this link to
be covered up."
"Deep state" is the term many Turks use to refer to alleged criminal
networks within security forces and the government bureaucracy.
Many members of the crowd of thousands carrying portraits of Dink on
Thursday chanted "fascist state."
Before his murder Dink was on trial for "insulting Turkishness" because
he referred to the World War I-era massacre of hundreds of thousands
of ethnic Armenian as genocide. The Turkish government vehemently
rejects using that term to refer to that bloody chapter of history.
But while attracting the anger of Turkish ultra-nationalists, Dink
was also outspoken in his defense of freedom of speech. Three months
before his murder, Dink gave an interview to U.S. National Public
Radio, in which he argued against a proposed law in France to make
the denial of the Armenian genocide a crime.
"Those who use this Armenian issue as a political tool are massacring
my people over and over again," Dink said.
In that October 2006 interview, Dink also warned that he had received
multiple death threats.
According to a prosecutor's indictment, within days of Dink's
shooting, the chief murder suspect Ogun Samast, was caught by police
in possession of the murder weapon and the white knit hat that he was
filmed wearing by a security camera, positioned on the street where
Dink was killed.
After he was detained, several Turkish police officers filmed
themselves treating Samast like a hero. A video that was later widely
re-broadcast on Turkish television networks showed the officers
posing alongside Samast, after positioning him prominently in front
of a Turkish flag.
Watch video at
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/19/world/meast/turkey-journalist-anniversary/?hpt=ieu_c2
From: A. Papazian
By Ivan Watson, CNN
CNN International
Jan 19 2012
Istanbul (CNN) -- A crowd estimated at more than 10,000 people marched
silently on a bitterly cold day through downtown Istanbul Thursday
to commemorate the five year anniversary of the murder of an ethnic
Armenian journalist Hrant Dink.
They walked carrying a sea of black signs declaring "We are all Hrant,
we are all Armenian," written in Turkish and Armenian.
Police, who put the crowd estimate at 10,000 or more, blocked off
traffic as the crowds moved towards the offices of the Armenian
language Agos newspaper.
On January 19, 2007, Dink, the newspaper's editor in chief, was
gunned down in broad daylight on the sidewalk outside the newspaper's
offices. Dink, in the opinion of observers, had been an eloquent
spokesman for Turkey's tiny minority of Armenians.
A 17-year-old Turkish ultra nationalist soccer player was caught with
the murder weapon and later convicted of the killing.
But on Tuesday an Istanbul court attracted condemnation from members
of the Dink family as well as human rights groups when 19 suspected
accomplices in the murder where all acquitted of charges of being
members of a terrorist organization that plotted the assassination.
"The verdict was not only a travesty of justice, it shows our justice
system is simply political and does not work," said newspaper columnist
Asli Aydintasbas, as she marched along with her mother and thousands
of others up Istanbul's Cumhuriyet Caddesi, the broad boulevard where
Dink was shot dead.
"So many journalists are in jail charged with terrorism only because
of their writing," Aydintasbas added, "whereas the actual guys
who killed a journalist and who had clear connections with state
officials... they're not charged with terrorism. Some are even let go."
According to the Turkish Journalists Union there are currently more
than 90 media workers behind bars, many of them facing charges of
alleged membership in terrorist organizations and coup plots to
overthrow the government.
A Parliament member from Turkey's ruling party added to the chorus
of criticism Thursday in a newspaper column describing the trial as a
"disgrace."
"Apart from offending our civic conscience and eroding our limited
trust in justice in this country, Tuesday's verdict is also an insult
to this nation's intelligence," wrote lawmaker Suat Kiniklioglu in
the English-language Today's Zaman. "Despite the clear evidence
that confirms links with state officials both before and after
Hrant's murder, it is clear that the deep state wants this link to
be covered up."
"Deep state" is the term many Turks use to refer to alleged criminal
networks within security forces and the government bureaucracy.
Many members of the crowd of thousands carrying portraits of Dink on
Thursday chanted "fascist state."
Before his murder Dink was on trial for "insulting Turkishness" because
he referred to the World War I-era massacre of hundreds of thousands
of ethnic Armenian as genocide. The Turkish government vehemently
rejects using that term to refer to that bloody chapter of history.
But while attracting the anger of Turkish ultra-nationalists, Dink
was also outspoken in his defense of freedom of speech. Three months
before his murder, Dink gave an interview to U.S. National Public
Radio, in which he argued against a proposed law in France to make
the denial of the Armenian genocide a crime.
"Those who use this Armenian issue as a political tool are massacring
my people over and over again," Dink said.
In that October 2006 interview, Dink also warned that he had received
multiple death threats.
According to a prosecutor's indictment, within days of Dink's
shooting, the chief murder suspect Ogun Samast, was caught by police
in possession of the murder weapon and the white knit hat that he was
filmed wearing by a security camera, positioned on the street where
Dink was killed.
After he was detained, several Turkish police officers filmed
themselves treating Samast like a hero. A video that was later widely
re-broadcast on Turkish television networks showed the officers
posing alongside Samast, after positioning him prominently in front
of a Turkish flag.
Watch video at
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/01/19/world/meast/turkey-journalist-anniversary/?hpt=ieu_c2
From: A. Papazian