Reuters , UK
Jan 19 2007
FACTBOX-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink
Fri 19 Jan 2007 10:00 AM ET
Jan 19 (Reuters) – Facts about Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant
Dink, shot dead in Istanbul on Friday: * Dink, born in Malatya,
southeast Turkey in 1954, was a member of Turkey’s small ethnic
Armenian community, and a Turkish citizen.
* He was editor-in-chief of the bilingual Turkish and Armenian weekly
Agos ().
* Dink had been convicted of insulting Turkishness — under the
controversial article 301 of Turkey’s penal code — and handed a
six-month suspended sentence in 2005. The case was prompted by an
article he wrote in which he referred to an Armenian nationalist idea
of ethnic purity.
The European Union has repeatedly called on Ankara to change the law
and the government has promised to revise it.
* Of his conviction, Dink told Reuters: "I may be paying the price
for this, but Turkish democracy will gain from it, I hope."
* Armenians have long campaigned for recognition of the alleged
genocide of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World War One, but Dink
opposed the French parliament’s passing of a law banning denial of
the Armenian genocide. He said he would even be ready to go to prison
in France in defence of free speech.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
