Prosecutors launch probe into Dink funeral slogans

Today’s Zaman
23.02.07

The prosecutor’s office for Istanbul’s Þiþli district has launched an
investigation into Þiþli Mayor Mustafa Sarýgül and the committee that
organized the funeral for journalist Hrant Dink, the slain editor of
the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, for the slogans "We are all
Armenian; We are all Hrant Dink," according to a report from Milliyet
daily.

The slogans were printed on posters and chanted by marchers during
Dink’s funeral procession through downtown Istanbul. Last month,
hundreds of thousands of Turks poured into the streets of Istanbul
after Hrant Dink’s murder, many chanting, "We are all Hrant Dink; We
are all Armenian," in an unprecedented display of solidarity. The
slogans angered ultranationalist circles and drew criticism from even
moderately nationalistic groups.

A reporter for a local daily in the northern city of Sinop, Mete
Çaðdaþ, filed a complaint to the local prosecutor’s office in
Sinop. Çaðdaþ’s application accused Þiþli Mayor Mustafa Sarýgül and
the funeral organizers of turning the atmosphere at the funeral into
one for a fallen "militant," a term used subjectively in this case to
discredit the legitimacy of the protests.

The application read: "Those in the procession chanted, ‘We are all
Hrant; We are all Armenian,’ and carried banners with the same
expressions. Is this not racism?"

Çaðdaþ’s complaint also claimed that the slogan "Murderer 301,"
suggesting that anti-free speech penal code Article 301 under which
Dink had been tried and convicted was a major factor behind the
killing, was itself an insult to the Turkish Penal Code, which in turn
was a violation of the law. Mayor Sarýgül and the organizers were also
blamed for not having unfurled any flags of the Republic of Turkey,
the complaint file noted.

According to Milliyet’s report, the chief prosecutor’s office in Sinop
had no jurisdiction in the case and relayed the file to the Þiþli
chief prosecutor’s office in late January. Þiþli prosecutors launched
an investigation which might end up in a law suit against the
organizers or in dismissal. In either case, the Þiþli office will have
to make a statement clarifying its opinion of the funeral slogans.

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