Hrant Dink Under New Investigation

BÝA, Turkey
July 19 2006

Public Prosecutor’s Office launches new investigation into Armenian
Turkish bilingual Agos newspaper Editor-in-Chief Dink for remarks in a
Reuters interview. Dink suspected of "insulting the Turkish identity"
for referring to genocide.

BIA News Center 19/07/2006 Erol ONDEROGLU

BÝA (Istanbul) – The Sisli Public Prosecutor’s Office has launched a
new investigation into Hrant Dink, the Editor-in-Chief of the Armenian
Turkish bilingual Agos weekly, on charges of "insulting the Turkish
identity" through an interview he gave to the Reuters news agency.

Dink’s previous 6 month suspended prison sentence on an identical
charge for a 2004 article published in Agos was upheld by the Court
of Cassation this month with its "conditional verdict" that defers
imprisonment for the journalist only on condition that he does not
commit a similar offence for a period of five years.

If he is prosecuted and found guilty in the new investigation, Dink
is required to serve the jail term for his previous conviction too.

This new investigation relates to a July 14 interview with Reuters
where Dink is accused of defending an Armenian genocide had taken
place in history by saying "of course I say this is a genocide.
Because the result itself identifies what it is and gives it a name.
You can see that a people who have been living on these lands for 4
thousand years have disappeared. This is self explanatory".

The interview was conducted by Daren Butler and Osman Senkul of
Reuters after Dink’s verdict was conclusively ratified by the Appeals
Court. He said in the context of the interview that he had no doubts
that an Armenian genocide had taken place, that he would not remain
silent because he was punished and that he would not leave the country.

Dink, who has exhausted all domestic channels, is taking the verdict
to the European Court of Human Rights and referred to the state of
freedom of expression in Turkey during the Reuters interview. "If I
leave [Turkey]" he said, "I will feel that I have left those people
struggling for democracy in this country alone. That would be betraying
them, I could never do that".

It is understood that the Sisli Public Prosecutor’s investigation
into Dink was sparked off after the office received a complaint.

"…Every person has the right to live in the land where their
ancestors have lived and where the roots of their culture are known.
It is not possible for them to live elsewhere. I am someone who accepts
it like this. But as an Armenian I am not a person who expects Turkey
or the Turks by saying ‘accept this, apologize’" were also cited as
being among Dink’s offending remarks. (EO/AD/II/YE)

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