INTELLECTUALS SOLIDARIZE WITH HRANT DINK
Erol Onderoglu

BÝA, Turkey
Sept 29 2006

Leading Turkish intellectuals declare themselves as accomplices
to Armenian-Turkish Hrant Dink who, says AI, is being harassed
through repeated prosecution and at verge of jail which would lead
to recognition as an international "Prisoner of Conscience".

BÝA (Istanbul) – A number of leading Turkish intellectuals have
launched a new civil disobedience action declaring themselves
accomplices of Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink whose most
recent prosecution in a series launched by Turkish courts is based
on opinions he expressed in an interview with the Reuters news agency.

The action comes in the wake of an Amnesty International (AI)
statement on Dink that said the human rights watchdog organization
was dismayed at recent reports that yet another case had been opened
against Dink on charges of "denigrating Turkishness" under Article
301 of the Turkish Penal Code.

The AI warned that if Dink was arrested on any of the charges leveled
against him, he would be declared a "Prisoner of Conscience" on the
international arena.

The latest charge against Dink was brought up following a statement
he made to Reuters on July 14 in which he mentioned the massacre of
Armenians during the Ottoman Empire. "Of course I’m saying it’s a
genocide" he said in the report. "Because its consequences show it
to be true and label it so. We see that people who had lived on this
soil for 4000 years were exterminated by these events."

Civil disobedience underway

Those launching this week’s campaign in support of Dink from Turkey
have issued a public statement where they accept participating in
his offense subject to a new prosecution and request to be tried in
the same case.

Those who launched the statement were musician Sanar Yurdatapan,
spokesman of the Initiative Against the Crime of Thought, lecturer
Prof. Dr. Taner Akcam, teacher Erdal Yildirim, student Gulnur Elcik
and editor-author Nihat Ates.

But the statement is open for new signatories and expected to attract
dozens or hundreds other, under the statement "I participate in Dink’s
remarks, I undersign them. I want to be a defendant in this case".

The statement itself can be found at and those
willing to sign it are asked to email info@antenna-tr.org/

Background of the case

In reality issue to the case are not Dink’s remarks reflected to
the Reuters report but a 21 July 2006 news article in the weekly
Armenian-Tukish Agos magazine that he runs. Subject to the original
investigation was that news item and the remarks it contained.

A nationalist group of lawyers known for filing complaints against
Turkish intellectuals and writers, a group also held responsible for
interrupting many court proceedings with physical violence and dub
themselves now as the "Union of Grand Jurists," brought up the first
criminal complaint against Dink on these remarks.

As result, under article 301 of the Penal Code, a case was launched
by the Istanbul Sisli Prosecutor’s Office where both Dink and Serkis
Seropyan, as executives of the newspapers, were put on trial.

Amnesty concerned

The recent civil disobedience action follows of a strongly worded
statement by Amnesty International on the Hrant Dink case which was
issued from London this week.

AI said it considers that this new prosecution was "part of an emerging
pattern of harassment against the journalist exercising his right
to freedom of expression" noting that this is a right which Turkey,
as a State Party to the European Convention for the Protection of
Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the International Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights, has a legal obligation to uphold.

AI’s statement said that the rights monitoring group was "particularly
concerned at this latest prosecution, the third against Hrant Dink on
charges under Article 301, because it seems to constitute a pattern
of judicial harassment against the writer for peacefully expressing
his dissenting opinion.

"Furthermore, he has already been given a six-month suspended
prison sentence following an October 2005 conviction on charges of
"denigrating Turkishness" (upheld by the Court of Appeal in July
2006), and therefore if found guilty again on the same charge would
be imprisoned. Should he be, Amnesty International would consider
him a prisoner of conscience," it explained.

The Amnesty International statement also said that it considers this
latest prosecution to be "particularly disappointing following the
welcome acquittal four days ago of another writer, novelist Elif Safak,
on charges under Article 301 relating to statements made by characters
in her novel The Bastard of Istanbul.

"The organization had seen this as a positive step for freedom
of expression in Turkey but fears this acquittal may prove to be
the exception rather than the rule and demonstrates yet again the
failure of certain members of the Turkish judiciary and prosecution to
internalize international law, as required by Article 90 of the Turkish
constitution. The organization reiterates its call for Article 301
to be abolished in its entirety, thereby putting an end to arbitrary
implementation of this ill-defined law."

The statement continued:

"Finally, Amnesty International notes that this prosecution reportedly
arises from a complaint lodged by elements of civil society opposed to
the abolition of Article 301, who have lodged similar complaints in
the past seeking to secure such prosecutions and who have repeatedly
staged provocative and sometimes violent protests at trials, creating
a threatening atmosphere in the courtroom. The organization calls
on the Turkish authorities to ensure that all necessary measures
are taken to ensure the protection both of the defendants, their
lawyers and supporters in such cases, and of the course of justice
itself."

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