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THE ASSASSINATION THAT CHANGED TURKEY'S MINDS OVER ARMENIA
By Zvi Bar'el
Ha'aretz
http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/the-assassination-that-changed-turkey-s-minds-over-armenia-1.408850
Jan 23 2012
Israel
The murder of an Armenian newspaper editor by a 17-year-old Turkish
nationalist rattled the country's public. Now, Turks of all political
stripes are waiting to see what the political ramifications will be.
"We want to get rid ourselves of this shame. They tell us the Dink
affair has come to an end, but the truth is that it is only the
beginning," cried Turkish-Armenian journalist Karin Karaksli with
excitement as she spoke from the balcony of the headquarters of "Agos,"
Istanbul's Armenian weekly newspaper. "This is not a closed case, it
is a wound," she added, expressing the feelings of thousands of raging
protesters that gathered in front of the newspaper last Thursday.
Hrant Dink was assassinated in broad daylight, on January 19, 2007,
at the hands of a 17-year-old Turkish nationalist. Dink - an editor
at Agos - called for reconciliation between Turks and Armenians,
and criticized the government's refusal to recognize the Armenian
Massacre. As a result, he was "marked" by nationalist forces as an
enemy of the Turkish people, and was to be eliminated.
Exactly five years have passed since an investigation into the killing
was opened. Members of the Armenian community, as well as large parts
of the Turkish public - specifically liberals who advocate for minority
rights, and nationalists who see the Armenians as enemies - had been
waiting for the verdict. Last Wednesday, the verdict was published,
causing an uproar no less severe than the one which followed the
assassination itself. The court ruled that the killer, Orgun Samast,
who was 17 when he killed Dink, acted alone, and that there is no
proof that he was a member of a terrorist organization.
The judge who sentenced Yasin Hayal, the man who incited Samast to
kill Dink, acquitted 19 other suspects that were arrested together
with Samast. This acquittal, along with the explanations given by
the judge, created a storm which caused tens of thousands of Turks to
protest across major cities across the countries to demand "justice."
The demonstrators and critics of the verdict refuse to believe that the
murder was committed by a sole perpetrator, considering the background
information that was presented to the court, according to which,
photographs of police officers could be seen laughing with Samast
at a police station. The police also received an early warning that
told them of the intention to assassinate Dink - the police did not
do a thing to prevent the murder. On top of all this were the reports
that revealed information regarding the Ergenekon Affair.
The Eregenkon Affair has accompanied Turkey for over six years.
Hundreds of military officials, journalists, politicians and
intellectuals have been arrested for suspicion of attempting to
overthrow Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development Party.
According to the recently published findings, the suspects plotted to
attack Armenian institutions and mosques, in order to prove that the
government is not capable of providing public security, thus giving
the military a reason to take control of the country. It is suspected
that Ergenekon activists were behind Dink's killing.
"Students, whose only "fault" was that they protested the government,
are being judged and jailed due to their involvement in a terrorist
organization. There are journalists and military personnel who are
in similar situations. And now they are expecting us to believe that
those who assassinated Hrant Dink acted on their own accord and
are not part of a 'terror group,'" wrote Semih Idiz, an important
publisher, last week. "It seems that the idiom which says one cannot
sue the devil while the court sits in hell, was written to describe
the Turkish judicial system."
Even President Abdullah Gul, who was asked to remark on the court's
decision, understood that the issue is a political and public bomb,
which is not about to go away with the trial's end. "This is an
important trial full of great emotion, as it affects one of our
non-Muslim citizens," said Gul, who suggests waiting until the appeal
submitted by Dink's family will be heard by the Supreme Court. But
such a suggestion does not satisfy the public.
Even the Vice Prime Minister Bulent Arınc declared that he stands
"on the side of the people whose conscious does not rest due to court
decisions." Erdogan, who is still recovering from intestinal surgery
last month, refused to discuss the issue, although in an interview
with journalist Mehmet Ali Birand he said that he accepted the claim
that the court's verdict hurt the conscience of the citizens.
However, the frustrations and the disappointments on the court's
decision cannot cover up the concerns and the suspicions, that the
murder caused great satisfaction among nationalists, even those who
held senior positions in the ruling party. This is the way Dink's son,
Arat Dink, blamed former Justice Minister Jamil Chichak for inciting
against Armenians, mentioning the nickname he gave participants of
a conference on the Armenian Massacre: "backstabbers." Before his
killing, Hrant Dink said he was summoned to the Istanbul district
governor's office for a meeting where members of state intelligence
were present. The agents warned him "to act cautiously in his
writing...we know who you are, but society may not know (and may harm
you, Z.B.)."
Turkish journalists are exercising extreme caution today when they
describe the Armenian Genocide. They use phrases such as "the events
of 1915," or "The Armenian disaster." He who wants to use the word
"massacre" despite it all must quote foreign sources, as if the
subject were some military secret.
But at least the protesting Turks can be comforted by one fact:
the consciousness surrounding the Armenian Massacre is no longer a
matter of "Westerners who are seeking to attain what they failed at
during World War II, when they used the Armenians (to kill Turks,
Z.B.)," as the nationalists in Turkey claim; now the Armenian issue
has risen to the top of the public's interest in Turkey.
By Zvi Bar'el
Ha'aretz
http://www.haaretz.com/news/middle-east/the-assassination-that-changed-turkey-s-minds-over-armenia-1.408850
Jan 23 2012
Israel
The murder of an Armenian newspaper editor by a 17-year-old Turkish
nationalist rattled the country's public. Now, Turks of all political
stripes are waiting to see what the political ramifications will be.
"We want to get rid ourselves of this shame. They tell us the Dink
affair has come to an end, but the truth is that it is only the
beginning," cried Turkish-Armenian journalist Karin Karaksli with
excitement as she spoke from the balcony of the headquarters of "Agos,"
Istanbul's Armenian weekly newspaper. "This is not a closed case, it
is a wound," she added, expressing the feelings of thousands of raging
protesters that gathered in front of the newspaper last Thursday.
Hrant Dink was assassinated in broad daylight, on January 19, 2007,
at the hands of a 17-year-old Turkish nationalist. Dink - an editor
at Agos - called for reconciliation between Turks and Armenians,
and criticized the government's refusal to recognize the Armenian
Massacre. As a result, he was "marked" by nationalist forces as an
enemy of the Turkish people, and was to be eliminated.
Exactly five years have passed since an investigation into the killing
was opened. Members of the Armenian community, as well as large parts
of the Turkish public - specifically liberals who advocate for minority
rights, and nationalists who see the Armenians as enemies - had been
waiting for the verdict. Last Wednesday, the verdict was published,
causing an uproar no less severe than the one which followed the
assassination itself. The court ruled that the killer, Orgun Samast,
who was 17 when he killed Dink, acted alone, and that there is no
proof that he was a member of a terrorist organization.
The judge who sentenced Yasin Hayal, the man who incited Samast to
kill Dink, acquitted 19 other suspects that were arrested together
with Samast. This acquittal, along with the explanations given by
the judge, created a storm which caused tens of thousands of Turks to
protest across major cities across the countries to demand "justice."
The demonstrators and critics of the verdict refuse to believe that the
murder was committed by a sole perpetrator, considering the background
information that was presented to the court, according to which,
photographs of police officers could be seen laughing with Samast
at a police station. The police also received an early warning that
told them of the intention to assassinate Dink - the police did not
do a thing to prevent the murder. On top of all this were the reports
that revealed information regarding the Ergenekon Affair.
The Eregenkon Affair has accompanied Turkey for over six years.
Hundreds of military officials, journalists, politicians and
intellectuals have been arrested for suspicion of attempting to
overthrow Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development Party.
According to the recently published findings, the suspects plotted to
attack Armenian institutions and mosques, in order to prove that the
government is not capable of providing public security, thus giving
the military a reason to take control of the country. It is suspected
that Ergenekon activists were behind Dink's killing.
"Students, whose only "fault" was that they protested the government,
are being judged and jailed due to their involvement in a terrorist
organization. There are journalists and military personnel who are
in similar situations. And now they are expecting us to believe that
those who assassinated Hrant Dink acted on their own accord and
are not part of a 'terror group,'" wrote Semih Idiz, an important
publisher, last week. "It seems that the idiom which says one cannot
sue the devil while the court sits in hell, was written to describe
the Turkish judicial system."
Even President Abdullah Gul, who was asked to remark on the court's
decision, understood that the issue is a political and public bomb,
which is not about to go away with the trial's end. "This is an
important trial full of great emotion, as it affects one of our
non-Muslim citizens," said Gul, who suggests waiting until the appeal
submitted by Dink's family will be heard by the Supreme Court. But
such a suggestion does not satisfy the public.
Even the Vice Prime Minister Bulent Arınc declared that he stands
"on the side of the people whose conscious does not rest due to court
decisions." Erdogan, who is still recovering from intestinal surgery
last month, refused to discuss the issue, although in an interview
with journalist Mehmet Ali Birand he said that he accepted the claim
that the court's verdict hurt the conscience of the citizens.
However, the frustrations and the disappointments on the court's
decision cannot cover up the concerns and the suspicions, that the
murder caused great satisfaction among nationalists, even those who
held senior positions in the ruling party. This is the way Dink's son,
Arat Dink, blamed former Justice Minister Jamil Chichak for inciting
against Armenians, mentioning the nickname he gave participants of
a conference on the Armenian Massacre: "backstabbers." Before his
killing, Hrant Dink said he was summoned to the Istanbul district
governor's office for a meeting where members of state intelligence
were present. The agents warned him "to act cautiously in his
writing...we know who you are, but society may not know (and may harm
you, Z.B.)."
Turkish journalists are exercising extreme caution today when they
describe the Armenian Genocide. They use phrases such as "the events
of 1915," or "The Armenian disaster." He who wants to use the word
"massacre" despite it all must quote foreign sources, as if the
subject were some military secret.
But at least the protesting Turks can be comforted by one fact:
the consciousness surrounding the Armenian Massacre is no longer a
matter of "Westerners who are seeking to attain what they failed at
during World War II, when they used the Armenians (to kill Turks,
Z.B.)," as the nationalists in Turkey claim; now the Armenian issue
has risen to the top of the public's interest in Turkey.