INTL JOURNALISTS GROUP CONDEMNS EXTREME-RIGHTIST TIT

The New Anatolian, Turkey
April 2 2007

The international journalist group, Reporters Without Borders (RSF),
over the weekend wrote out a bitter statement on Turkey condemning the
death threats made against a radio broadcaster while several Turkish
intellectuals offered solidarity with the radio against threats by
a mysterious extreme right group.

The employees of Istanbul-based Ozgur Radyo received death threats late
on Friday from the Turkish Vengeance Brigade (TIT), an establishment
gained considerable reputation due to its self-proclaimed war against
Kurdish people, in the form of an email.

The RSF also called on the government to take the safety of journalists
more seriously. "In the light of previous tragic events in Turkey,
especially the murder of newspaper editor Hrant Dink, it is vital
that the authorities take measures to protect Ôzgur Radyo’s staff,"
the organisation said on Saturday.

"Stop broadcasting separatist programmes," the email reportedly said.

"We are watching you and we know where your homes are. This message
is our last warning. The Turk has reawakened and the Turk’s rage
will annihilate those who aim to divide the motherland. If you do not
stop betraying Turkey, your end will be the same as the others. Your
destiny will be the same as that of the other traitors."

The TIT made threats against the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos the day
after Dink, its editor, was gunned down outside its offices. The group
was responsible for the May 1998 attack on Akin Birdal, the former
head of the Human Rights Association (IHD), and for death threats
against lawyer Eren Keskin and singer Ferhat Tunc.

A TIT member, Semih Tufan Gunaltay, received a 19-year prison sentence
from an Ankara assizes court in 1999 for the attempted murder of
Birdal, who was shot eight times but survived. After serving four and a
half years of the sentence, Gunaltay was released under an amnesty law.

Five journalists were give police protection on the orders of Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after Dink’s murder. They are Etyen
Mahcupyan (Agos’ new managing editor and a columnist for the daily
Zaman), Ahmet Hakan Coskun (Hurriyet), Soli Ozel (Sabah), Fehmi Koru
(Yeni Safak) and Ismet Berkan, the managing editor of the daily
Radikal.

Nobel literature laureate Orhan Pamuk and fellow author Elif Safak,
who was acquitted on a charge of "insulting national identity" in his
novel "The Bastard of Istanbul," have also been placed under police
protection. But threats have continued to me made against academics,
editors and reporters, some of who are still without protection.

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