The Peninsula, Qatar
Oct 8 2005

Turkey sentences journalist for comments
Web posted at: 10/8/2005 2:28:24

ISTANBUL: A Turkish court gave an Armenian-Turkish journalist a
six-month suspended prison sentence on Friday for `insulting Turkish
identity’ in an article he wrote, the journalist said.

The issue of freedom of speech has dogged every stage of Turkey’s
efforts to join the European Union. While the EU agreed this week to
start entry talks with Turkey, such court cases are likely to hinder
Ankara’s progress toward full membership.

The Istanbul court found Hrant Dink, the editor-in-chief of the
bilingual Turkish and Armenian weekly Agos newspaper, guilty of
`insulting and weakening Turkish identity through the media’ in an
article he wrote last year.

`Whether the sentence was for one day or six years, it doesn’t
matter. The important thing, and what saddens me, is that I was
sentenced. I did not commit this crime,’ Dink said.