PROSECUTOR OPENS PROBE INTO TURUT’S RACIST SONG
Today’s Zaman, Turkey
18.09.2007
The İstanbul Chief Prosecutor’s Office has begun an investigation
into a song and video broadcast on YouTube eulogizing the suspects
in the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink.
İsmail Turut Full of ultra-nationalistic, religious, anti-American
and anti-Israel, images, the video set to folk singer İsmail
Turut’s song, "Don’t Make Any Plans," is threatening, showing the body
of the slain editor of the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos to the lyrics,
"If a person betrays the country, he is finished off." The video also
contains symbols of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), including
its flag and photographs of its buildings.
The İstanbul Police Department prepared a file consisting of the
video and related news before sending it to the Chief Prosecutor’s
Office for investigation, the Anatolia news agency reported.
Meanwhile İstanbul Press Prosecutor Nurten Altinok said the
investigation will involve both an inquiry into those who posted the
video on YouTube and the lyrics, regarding whether or not they relate
to a crime.
Turut and lyricist Ozan Arif will also be investigated. Meanwhile
the İstanbul First Criminal Court decided to block access to the
video on the Internet. However several more videos have already made
their way onto the site, uploaded by dozens of users.
Asked by Today’s Zaman whether or not Dink’s family plans to file a
lawsuit, Dink’s lawyer Fethiye Cetin said the song involves upsetting
lyrics for the whole of Turkish society, not only the bereaved
family. "It is not up to Dink’s family to file a lawsuit. It’s a
public case because the lyrics violate several articles of the Turkish
Penal Code (TCK). I call on prosecutors to open an investigation,"
Cetin said.
A prominent member of Turkey’s Armenian community, Dink campaigned
for Turkish-Armenian reconciliation but was hated by nationalists
for describing the killings of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire as
genocide — a charge that Turkey rejects. Dink’s murder shocked the
nation and more than 100,000 people marched at his funeral, chanting,
"We are all Hrant, we are all Armenian."
Footage leaked to the media at the time showed officers posing with
the hit man as he held a Turkish flag, unleashing accusations that some
officials may secretly approve of the murder. The video set to Turut’s
song also shows a re-enactment of the pictures of Dink’s alleged
murderer posing in front of the Turkish flag after he was captured.
Turut, a Black Sea regional folksinger, was quoted by the NTV news
channel as saying, "I don’t care about the charges. … We try
to attract attention to the games being played with the Black Sea
region. I have similar songs in my other recordings. I received a lot
of congratulatory messages after my recording was released a week
ago. However, when I mentioned Armenians in the song, you started
screaming and you became Armenians. I think 99 percent of the public
shares my views. I don’t have any problems with Armenians but with
the ones who have a problem with being a Turk. I don’t like Dink but
I am against his murder."
The Human Rights Association (İHD) and Association of Human
Rights and Solidarity for Oppressed Peoples (MAZLUM-DER) have announced
that they will collectively file a lawsuit against Turut and Arif. A
small party known for its democratic stance, the Strong Turkey Party
(GTP), has already filed a criminal complaint with the Şişli
Prosecutor’s Office relating to Turut, Arif and the makers of the
video on the basis of inciting hatred in society.
Containing images of well-known figures such as Nobel laureate Orhan
Pamuk, US President George W. Bush, Russian President Vladimir Putin,
Kurdistan Workers’ Party’s (PKK) captured leader Abdullah Ocalan,
former Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, Turkish Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, writer and artist Zulfu Livaneli, singers
Selda Bagcan and Ahmet Kaya, and former Parliament Speaker Bulent
Arinc, the video makes ultra-nationalist targets of the people it
features. According to news reports, the nature scenes shown in the
clip are from the Black Sea city of Samsun.
Asked by Today’s Zaman about the perceived association between the
video and the MHP, General Secretary Cihan Pacaci said he had not seen
the video: "I don’t understand why you ask me such a question. Anybody
can take a picture of our buildings and broadcast it. It’s wrong to
associate the MHP with the video."
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress