Regnum, Russia
Jan 26 2007

European Court of Human Rights entertains Hrant Dink’s claim

The European Court of Human Rights entertained a claim of
Armenian-language Agos newspaper (Istanbul) editor Hrant Dink, who
was killed in Istanbul on January 19. Dink presented the claim after
he was sentenced to half-a-year imprisonment for `offending the
Turkish identity.’ Turkish news agencies informed on it, saying that
because of Dink’s death, the court turned to his family that is
decide whether to support the claim.

The European Court of Human Rights said that Hrant Dink’s claim point
out to violation of four articles of the European Convention on Human
Rights.

Hrant Dink was repeatedly besieged by Turkish courts for `offending
Turkish identity’ and was subjected to repressions by Turkish
authorities. In particular, Dink wrote in Akos newspaper that
`Turkish hostility poisons blood of Armenians,’ for which he was
tried in July 2005 `for insulting national dignity of the Turks.’

The verdict was pronounced by court of original jurisdiction
interpreting Dink’s words as `the Turks have dirty blood.’ However,
Turkish Court of Appeal decided that charges against Dink were
brought because of misinterpretation and exculpated them.
Nevertheless, on July 11, 2006, Turkish Criminal Court of Appeal
supported the sentence against Dink. Later, at an interrogation,
Dink’s killer accused the journalist of stating that `the Turks have
dirty blood.’

It is worth mentioning, Dink repeatedly received threats. In one of
his last interviews, Dink said that it was nonsense to misinterpret
his words like that.

Earlier, international institutions announced more than once that
Turkey should change Article 301 of its Criminal Code, under which
Turkish courts of various instances convicted many culture and public
figures, journalists, writers, particularly, for mentioning the
Armenian Genocide. In its turn, the European Union urged Ankara to
exclude the article from the criminal code, saying it violates basic
human rights and freedoms. Changing the article was one of
preconditions for Turkey’s accession into the EU.