18 GO ON TRIAL IN TURKEY FOR KILLING OF JOURNALIST
Sabrina Tavernise – The New York Times Media Group
The International Herald Tribune, France
July 3, 2007 Tuesday
Young men charged in the murder of a Turkish-Armenian newspaper
editor went on trial here Monday in what has been described as a test
of the rule of law in Turkey, where authors can be prosecuted for
"insulting Turkishness."
The editor, Hrant Dink, was shot and killed in front of his office
in January. A Turkish teenager was arrested and charged with the crime.
The brazenness of the killing was compounded by links with the Turkish
authorities: Shortly after the murder, a video surfaced showing the
alleged killer posing with the Turkish police in a Black Sea town.
The verdict in the trial will have broad implications for free speech
in Turkey, where an article of the criminal code allows jail time
for "insulting Turkishness." A number of authors, including Dink,
have been charged with it, although few have been put in jail.
Dink, 52, was a vocal proponent of improving Turkey’s relations with
Armenia, its northern neighbor. The countries have suffered strained
ties since Turkey carried out what many term genocide against Armenians
during the First World War. He ran afoul of nationalist Turks when he
called that massacre genocide, a characterization Turkey has refused
to acknowledge.
The trial on Monday was a closed proceeding because some of the
18 defendants are minors. It took place inside a yellow four-story
courthouse in central Istanbul. In a square nearby, demonstrators
held placards and chanted slogans in support of Dink.
The teenager accused of shooting Dink exercised his right to remain
silent in the hearing Monday, according to Reuters, which cited
a lawyer for Dink’s family, Fethiye Cetin. Other suspects made
statements.
The trial is expected to last for several weeks. Liberal Turks were
generally skeptical that the trial would result in justice for Dink,
who had been broadly despised by the Turkish state.
"The judgment will not be free," said Aydin Ozipek, an economics
student at Fatih University in Istanbul. "There is a ruling class of
people who want everybody to be the same – no Kurds, no Armenians,
no head scarves."
International human rights associations called the trial a test for
the judiciary in Turkey.
"Hrant Dink’s murder trial is a critical test of the Turkish
judiciary’s independence," said Holly Cartner, Europe and Central Asia
director at Human Rights Watch. "We will be closely watching how the
court handles any evidence that may implicate the security forces."