Committee to Protect Journalists – CPJ Press Freedom Online, NY
Jan 19 2007
Turkish-Armenian editor murdered in Istanbul
New York, January 19, 2007 – The Committee to Protect Journalists
condemns the murder today of a prominent Turkish-Armenian editor
outside his newspaper’s offices in Istanbul. Hrant Dink, 52, managing
editor of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, was shot three
times in the neck, according to the Turkish television channel NTV.
Dink had received numerous death threats from nationalist Turks who
viewed his iconoclastic journalism, particularly on the mass killings
of Armenians in the early 20th century, as an act of treachery. In a
January 10 article in Agos, Dink said he had passed along a
particularly threatening letter to Istanbul’s Sisli district
prosecutor, but no action had been taken.
`Through his journalism Hrant Dink sought to shed light on Turkey’s
troubled past and create a better future for Turks and Armenians.
This earned him many enemies, but he vowed to continue writing
despite receiving many threats,’ said CPJ Executive Director Joel
Simon. `An assassin has now silenced one of Turkey’s most courageous
voices. We are profoundly shocked and saddened by this crime, and
send our deepest condolences to Hrant Dink’s family, colleagues, and
friends.’
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned Dink’s death as an
attack against Turkey’s unity and promised to catch those
responsible, according to international news reports. Police
identified the assailant as a young man dressed in a white hat and a
denim jacket, and they detained two people as part of their
investigation, NTV reported.
`This murder must not go unpunished as have previous slayings of
journalists,’ said CPJ’s Simon. `We call on the Turkish authorities
to do all in their power to ensure that those responsible are brought
to justice swiftly.’
In the last 15 years, 18 other Turkish journalists have been killed
for their work, many of them murdered, making it the eighth deadliest
country in the world for journalists, CPJ research shows. The last
killing was in 1999. More recently, journalists, academics, and
others have been subjected to pervasive legal harassment for
statements that allegedly insult the Turkish identity, CPJ research
shows.
Dink, a Turkish citizen of Armenian descent, had been prosecuted
several times in recent years – for writing about the mass killings of
Armenians by Turks at the beginning of the 20th century, for
criticizing lines in the Turkish national anthem that he considered
discriminatory, and even for commenting publicly on the cases against
him. His office had also been the target of protests.
In July 2006, Turkey’s High Court of Appeals upheld a six-month
suspended prison sentence against Dink for violating Article 301 of
the penal code in a case sparked by complaints from nationalist
activists. His prosecution stemmed from a series of articles in early
2004 dealing with the collective memory of the Armenian massacres of
1915-17 under the Ottoman Empire. Armenians call the killings the
first genocide of the 20th century, a term that Turkey rejects.
Ironically, the pieces for which Dink was convicted had appealed to
diaspora Armenians to let go of their anger against the Turks. The
prosecution was sharply criticized by the European Union, which
Turkey is seeking to join. Dink said he would take the case to the
European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, to clear his
name.
Dink was one of dozens of writers who have been prosecuted in the
past two years under controversial penal code provisions that
criminalize statements deemed as insulting to the Turkish identity,
particularly in regard to the Armenian killings, CPJ research shows.
The local press freedom group Bia said at least 65 cases have been
launched against journalists, writers and academics. The EU has urged
Turkey to reform its laws to eliminate such prosecutions.
Dink edited Agos for all of the newspaper’s 11-year existence. Agos,
the only Armenian newspaper in Turkey, had a circulation of just
6,000 but its political influence was vast. Dink regularly appeared
on television to express his views.
In a February 2006 interview with CPJ, Dink said Turkish nationalists
had targeted him for legal harassment. `The prosecutions are not a
surprise for me. They want to teach me a lesson because I am
Armenian. They try to keep me quiet.’ Asked who `they’ are, Dink
replied, `the deep state in Turkey’.
He was referring not to the Islamist-based government of Prime
Minister Erdogan, but to the secular nationalist forces supported by
sections of the army, security forces, and parts of the justice and
interior ministries. The nationalists, political heirs of Mustafa
Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, still exert considerable
influence in Turkey.
Dink said in the CPJ interview that he hoped his critical reporting
would pave the way for peace between the two peoples. `I want to
write and ask how we can change this historical conflict into peace,’
he said.
In the interview, Dink said he did not think the tide had yet turned
in favor of critical writers – `the situation in Turkey is tense’ – but
he believed that it ultimately would. `I believe in democracy and
press freedom. I am determined to pursue the struggle.’