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TRIAL OVER ARMENIAN JOURNALIST'S MURDER SHINES LIGHT ON TURKEY'S DEEP STATE
Blouin News Blogs
Sept 17 2013
September 17, 2013 by Lora Moftah
Years before the Gezi Park sit-in began in Istanbul, another set of
mass protests broke out in Turkey following the murder of prominent
Armenian-Turkish journalist Hram Dink in 2007. The case has been held
up as an example of the lingering power of the Turkish deep state and
now, with an already unpromising retrial of the principal suspects
underway, the issue of impunity is back in the spotlight in the midst
of an already tense political landscape.
Protesters lined up on Tuesday in front of the Istanbul courthouse
in which eight suspects were being retried, accusing authorities
of covering up a conspiracy by nationalists. As a vocal critic of
Ankara's policies towards Armenians, Dink had made enemies among
Turkish nationalists and had received threats prior to his murder
outside the offices of his bilingual weekly newspaper. A major outcry
resulted after it emerged that state authorities had disregarded prior
warning of the murder plot though the campaign for justice has been,
for the most part, fruitless. In 2012, a Turkish high court acquitted
18 defendants of the murder and ruled out a conspiracy. The current
retrial of these suspects, however, brings little hope for those
hoping that the case would target nationalist elements in the state's
institutional structure.
The scope of his case should serve as a glaring reminder of the limits
of Islamist President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's efforts at dismantling
the Turkish deep state - and how self-serving such efforts have been,
at that. It should be noted that the high-profile "Ergenekon" case,
which was touted as a major victory by Erdogan over these deep-state
elements in the military, targeted opponents of the prime minister's
AKP government. Authorities have refused requests by Dink's family
and supporters to investigate links between his murderers and the
Ergenekon plotters and have maintained, despite some eyebrow raising
circumstances, that the Dink case is an entirely isolated matter.
Whether this sort of asymmetrical justice is testament to Erdogan's
self-serving agenda or a pragmatic choose-your-battles strategy can
be debated but, either way, it should undermine one of the prime
minister's major bragging points on his domestic record. Given the
increasingly sectarian nature of Turkey's recent protests and the
coalition of minority ethnic groups (including Kurds) that have rallied
around the Dink case, the appearance of impunity here should not be
taken for granted by the leader. Not only does the issue transcend
ethnic lines and resonate among his various political opposition
groups - it also places him in the company of the establishment he
has made fighting against so central to his political brand.
http://blogs.blouinnews.com/blouinbeatworld/2013/09/17/trial-over-armenian-journalists-murder-shines-light-on-turkeys-deep-state/
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Blouin News Blogs
Sept 17 2013
September 17, 2013 by Lora Moftah
Years before the Gezi Park sit-in began in Istanbul, another set of
mass protests broke out in Turkey following the murder of prominent
Armenian-Turkish journalist Hram Dink in 2007. The case has been held
up as an example of the lingering power of the Turkish deep state and
now, with an already unpromising retrial of the principal suspects
underway, the issue of impunity is back in the spotlight in the midst
of an already tense political landscape.
Protesters lined up on Tuesday in front of the Istanbul courthouse
in which eight suspects were being retried, accusing authorities
of covering up a conspiracy by nationalists. As a vocal critic of
Ankara's policies towards Armenians, Dink had made enemies among
Turkish nationalists and had received threats prior to his murder
outside the offices of his bilingual weekly newspaper. A major outcry
resulted after it emerged that state authorities had disregarded prior
warning of the murder plot though the campaign for justice has been,
for the most part, fruitless. In 2012, a Turkish high court acquitted
18 defendants of the murder and ruled out a conspiracy. The current
retrial of these suspects, however, brings little hope for those
hoping that the case would target nationalist elements in the state's
institutional structure.
The scope of his case should serve as a glaring reminder of the limits
of Islamist President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's efforts at dismantling
the Turkish deep state - and how self-serving such efforts have been,
at that. It should be noted that the high-profile "Ergenekon" case,
which was touted as a major victory by Erdogan over these deep-state
elements in the military, targeted opponents of the prime minister's
AKP government. Authorities have refused requests by Dink's family
and supporters to investigate links between his murderers and the
Ergenekon plotters and have maintained, despite some eyebrow raising
circumstances, that the Dink case is an entirely isolated matter.
Whether this sort of asymmetrical justice is testament to Erdogan's
self-serving agenda or a pragmatic choose-your-battles strategy can
be debated but, either way, it should undermine one of the prime
minister's major bragging points on his domestic record. Given the
increasingly sectarian nature of Turkey's recent protests and the
coalition of minority ethnic groups (including Kurds) that have rallied
around the Dink case, the appearance of impunity here should not be
taken for granted by the leader. Not only does the issue transcend
ethnic lines and resonate among his various political opposition
groups - it also places him in the company of the establishment he
has made fighting against so central to his political brand.
http://blogs.blouinnews.com/blouinbeatworld/2013/09/17/trial-over-armenian-journalists-murder-shines-light-on-turkeys-deep-state/
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress