Tweet
DOES DINK TRIAL VERDICT INDICATE A REVIVAL OF POWER POLITICS IN ANKARA?
by Dorian Jones
EurasiaNet.org
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/64885
Jan 23 2012
NY
Almost a week after the conclusion of a trial concerning the murder
of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, the verdict continues to
reverberate in Turkey. It is shaking the faith of minority groups that
they can get a fair hearing in the country's courts and is raising
questions among rights activists about the judiciary's independence.
And some political analysts are worrying that the country's leaders
are giving in to anti-democratic tendencies.
In its January 17 ruling, the Turkish court gave a life sentence to
one individual, Yasin Hayal, for the 2007 slaying -- the second such
conviction in the case -- but acquitted all 19 defendants on trial
on the charge of being part of a larger conspiracy in connection
with the slaying. Popular shock and outrage over those acquittals
was on prominent display January 19, when tens of thousands of Turks,
ethnic Armenians and ethnic Kurds marched in Istanbul to commemorate
the fifth anniversary of Dink's death.
"I do not believe in justice in this country anymore," commented Ara,
an ethnic Armenian university student who took part in the march,
the largest such public demonstration since Dink's funeral.
Many cannot shake the belief that Dink's murder was the product of a
conspiracy, involving some participants who acted with the police's
knowledge, and that the court deliberately turned a blind eye to
this possibility. Dink had outraged nationalists and faced state
prosecution in the past for describing as genocide the mass killings
of ethnic Armenians during World War I.
The perception that the Turkish government is not willing to
investigate the Dink case thoroughly - a perception also echoed in
a 2010 European Court of Human Rights ruling -- has enraged many of
the country's estimated 70,000 ethnic Armenians, who see the slain
journalist as a symbol of the violence and discrimination that they
have faced over the years. The Ministry of Education's recent decision
to block public schools' access to the website of the Turkish-Armenian
newspaper Dink founded, Agos, is cited as fresh evidence of the
government aligning itself with the traditional state mentality that
views ethnic Armenians as a threat. Agos is now challenging the ban
in court; the ministry has not issued a public explanation.
"If this country is my country, can I say the same thing for the
state? Do I want to call it my state for what it is now?" wrote
ethnic Armenian columnist Karin Karakasli, who worked closely with
Dink, in the daily Radikal on January 22. "For once, let the courts
be the place of justice ... [t]o do this is an obligation, a debt,
a responsibility."
In comments to the daily Hurriyet last week, Council of Europe
Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg noted that the case
could be referred back to the European Court of Human Rights if the
court verdict is upheld on appeal.
"The case shows the low point we are at the moment in Turkey," said
Emma Sinclair Webb, the Turkey researcher at the New York City-based
Human Rights Watch. Turkish and international human rights groups,
as well as the international community, saw the trial "as a test of
Turkey's abilities to secure justice for grave crimes, to secure
accountability to protect minorities and to uphold freedom of
expression," she continued.
"The trial encapsulates many of the problems facing Turkey. But
the whole trial has been a resounding failure so far of the Turkish
judiciary," Sinclair Webb said. The government on January 18 announced
a package of roughly 100 changes for the judicial system, but no
date has been announced for the bill's submission to parliament. The
reforms do not appear to address the issues raised in the Dink case.
The government has treaded gingerly in responding to such
dissatisfaction. Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arınc
acknowledged the criticism over the verdict, but stressed that the
trial is not the final word on the case. "The ruling over the Hrant
Dink case has not satisfied the conscience of the people. But the
process is continuing; it is not over yet. There still remains the
court of appeals," Arınc said in a Turkish television interview the
night of the verdict.
The governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) earlier had promised
that any state involvement in Dink's death would be uncovered, and
those responsible would be brought to justice. Last January, President
Abdullah Gul said he might launch a presidential investigation into the
killing, but since then, he appears to have quietly dropped the idea.
The prosecutor in the Dink trial claimed at one point that the slain
journalist had been a victim of the so-called Ergenekon conspiracy,
an alleged plot by active and retired army officers to overthrow the
government. The judges, however, rejected the allegation, saying the
perpetrators acted alone.
Prosecutors previously asserted that the Ergenekon conspiracy targeted
those, who, like Dink, believe that Ottoman Turkey committed genocide
against ethnic Armenians during World War I. Some observers reason that
that argument, first advanced when the AKP was locked in a political
struggle with Turkey's state bureaucracy, now no longer serves any
purpose, and, so, has been dropped.
Having pushed opponents out of the state apparatus, the AKP now sees
this structure as part of its own domain, and wants to protect it,
suggested political scientist Cengiz Aktar of Istanbul's BahceÅ~_ehir
University. Among those arrested last year for supposedly being part
of the Ergenekon conspiracy is journalist Nedim Sener, who was writing
a book about alleged police involvement in Dink's murder.
"We've always had a difference between the government and state. The
state was actually working against the AK government in the early
years of its power. But now it is one and the same," said Aktar. "Now
the democratic process has stalled. We are seeing the return of all
the old mentalities. It has immediately resurfaced and this is what
is happening today."
Editor's note: Dorian Jones is a freelance reporter based in Istanbul.
by Dorian Jones
EurasiaNet.org
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/64885
Jan 23 2012
NY
Almost a week after the conclusion of a trial concerning the murder
of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, the verdict continues to
reverberate in Turkey. It is shaking the faith of minority groups that
they can get a fair hearing in the country's courts and is raising
questions among rights activists about the judiciary's independence.
And some political analysts are worrying that the country's leaders
are giving in to anti-democratic tendencies.
In its January 17 ruling, the Turkish court gave a life sentence to
one individual, Yasin Hayal, for the 2007 slaying -- the second such
conviction in the case -- but acquitted all 19 defendants on trial
on the charge of being part of a larger conspiracy in connection
with the slaying. Popular shock and outrage over those acquittals
was on prominent display January 19, when tens of thousands of Turks,
ethnic Armenians and ethnic Kurds marched in Istanbul to commemorate
the fifth anniversary of Dink's death.
"I do not believe in justice in this country anymore," commented Ara,
an ethnic Armenian university student who took part in the march,
the largest such public demonstration since Dink's funeral.
Many cannot shake the belief that Dink's murder was the product of a
conspiracy, involving some participants who acted with the police's
knowledge, and that the court deliberately turned a blind eye to
this possibility. Dink had outraged nationalists and faced state
prosecution in the past for describing as genocide the mass killings
of ethnic Armenians during World War I.
The perception that the Turkish government is not willing to
investigate the Dink case thoroughly - a perception also echoed in
a 2010 European Court of Human Rights ruling -- has enraged many of
the country's estimated 70,000 ethnic Armenians, who see the slain
journalist as a symbol of the violence and discrimination that they
have faced over the years. The Ministry of Education's recent decision
to block public schools' access to the website of the Turkish-Armenian
newspaper Dink founded, Agos, is cited as fresh evidence of the
government aligning itself with the traditional state mentality that
views ethnic Armenians as a threat. Agos is now challenging the ban
in court; the ministry has not issued a public explanation.
"If this country is my country, can I say the same thing for the
state? Do I want to call it my state for what it is now?" wrote
ethnic Armenian columnist Karin Karakasli, who worked closely with
Dink, in the daily Radikal on January 22. "For once, let the courts
be the place of justice ... [t]o do this is an obligation, a debt,
a responsibility."
In comments to the daily Hurriyet last week, Council of Europe
Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg noted that the case
could be referred back to the European Court of Human Rights if the
court verdict is upheld on appeal.
"The case shows the low point we are at the moment in Turkey," said
Emma Sinclair Webb, the Turkey researcher at the New York City-based
Human Rights Watch. Turkish and international human rights groups,
as well as the international community, saw the trial "as a test of
Turkey's abilities to secure justice for grave crimes, to secure
accountability to protect minorities and to uphold freedom of
expression," she continued.
"The trial encapsulates many of the problems facing Turkey. But
the whole trial has been a resounding failure so far of the Turkish
judiciary," Sinclair Webb said. The government on January 18 announced
a package of roughly 100 changes for the judicial system, but no
date has been announced for the bill's submission to parliament. The
reforms do not appear to address the issues raised in the Dink case.
The government has treaded gingerly in responding to such
dissatisfaction. Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arınc
acknowledged the criticism over the verdict, but stressed that the
trial is not the final word on the case. "The ruling over the Hrant
Dink case has not satisfied the conscience of the people. But the
process is continuing; it is not over yet. There still remains the
court of appeals," Arınc said in a Turkish television interview the
night of the verdict.
The governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) earlier had promised
that any state involvement in Dink's death would be uncovered, and
those responsible would be brought to justice. Last January, President
Abdullah Gul said he might launch a presidential investigation into the
killing, but since then, he appears to have quietly dropped the idea.
The prosecutor in the Dink trial claimed at one point that the slain
journalist had been a victim of the so-called Ergenekon conspiracy,
an alleged plot by active and retired army officers to overthrow the
government. The judges, however, rejected the allegation, saying the
perpetrators acted alone.
Prosecutors previously asserted that the Ergenekon conspiracy targeted
those, who, like Dink, believe that Ottoman Turkey committed genocide
against ethnic Armenians during World War I. Some observers reason that
that argument, first advanced when the AKP was locked in a political
struggle with Turkey's state bureaucracy, now no longer serves any
purpose, and, so, has been dropped.
Having pushed opponents out of the state apparatus, the AKP now sees
this structure as part of its own domain, and wants to protect it,
suggested political scientist Cengiz Aktar of Istanbul's BahceÅ~_ehir
University. Among those arrested last year for supposedly being part
of the Ergenekon conspiracy is journalist Nedim Sener, who was writing
a book about alleged police involvement in Dink's murder.
"We've always had a difference between the government and state. The
state was actually working against the AK government in the early
years of its power. But now it is one and the same," said Aktar. "Now
the democratic process has stalled. We are seeing the return of all
the old mentalities. It has immediately resurfaced and this is what
is happening today."
Editor's note: Dorian Jones is a freelance reporter based in Istanbul.