Pan Armenian

Hrant Dink: I Will Alarm the Whole World

14.10.2005 22:54 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Editor-in-Chief of Akos newspaper Hrant Dinksentenced to 6
months of conditional imprisonment appealed to the Turkish Supreme Court.
Last week Hrant Dink stated, `If the stigma attached to me is not removed I
will be forced to abandon this country like my ancestors did. But I will not
leave silently like them. I will alarm the whole world.’ Hrant Dink informed
that he received a great number of supporting phone calls and letters from
intellectuals and even political figures. To remind, last week the Istanbul
court sentenced Hrant Dink to 6 months of conditional imprisonment for
demonstrating disregard towards Turks. In his article Dink called upon
Armenians not to poison their blood with hatred towards Turks but think
about Armenia’s future. However the court thought that Dink meant `the
poisonous blood of Turks.’ `I have never outraged any nation. An Armenian
will never do such a thing. We do not offend but are searching for our right
like I am doing now. I am searching for my right and the right of my
ancestors’, Dink said. Term genocide was mentioned for several times in his
article and this fact, in Dink’s opinion has become the reason of his
sentence. `However I am not punished and not sent to prison, since it will
stir up an international scandal’, he said adding that the court examination
had the purpose of making him silent. In case Dink fails to justify himself
in the Supreme Court he is going to appeal to the European Court of Human
Rights. A similar court session is expected as regards writer Orhan Pamuk
for statements on the Armenian Genocide. The well-known writer could receive
Nobel Prize in Literature, RFE/RL reported.