DINK’S ASSASSINATION IS THE RESULT OF THE "DANGEROUS THINKING" IN TURKEY
PanARMENIAN.Net
24.01.2008 GMT+04:00
Though Hrant Dink was assassinated firstly because of his political
views, namely regarding the Armenian Genocide, his ethnical belonging
was of no less significance in his assassination.
It’s already been a year since the day of the assassination of the
editor-in-chief of "Agos", yet its details are still unclear. Dink
was killed by Turkey, which is the successor of the Ottoman Empire
with all its intolerance towards "the infidels". Taner Akcam, who
left for the USA in 1971 for some political motives, puts the blame
for Dink’s murder on "the submerged state".
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ "The submerged state" is an underground organization
and a part of the security services and officials, who are strictly
against the democratization of Turkey. "Dink’s assassination is the
result of the "dangerous thinking" in Turkey," said Akcam.
Indeed, "dangerous thinking" is widely spread in Turkey, no matter
how hard the Turks deny this fact in front of the whole world. This
is also inherited from the Ottoman Empire, and is expressed not only
through assassinations and persecutions of those having different way
of thinking, but also in "made up" right of dictating its conditions
to the entire world. And the most surprising and unpleasant thing is
that the world sometimes gives up to it, and the case with blackmailing
the US is a good example of the above mentioned. When in 2003 Turkey
didn’t allow the U.S. troops to Iraq through its territory, America
didn’t complain and didn’t say a word about the "national interests
and security of the soldiers." Four years have passed since then;
Resolution 106 about the Armenian Genocide committed in the Ottoman
Empire has been presented to the House of Representatives. And what
happened, was that Turkey immediately started to threaten the security
of the troops in Iraq, the very troops that were not allowed through
its territory in 2003. The interesting thing is that the Resolution
itself was proposed to the House of Representatives in two weeks
after Hrant Dink’s assassination.
Meanwhile the police department in Istanbul fighting against
terrorism arrested 50 people, among which there is the member of the
Parliament of Azerbaijan, the retired general Vali Kicik, "Aksam"
contributor Guler Komurcu, lawyer Kemal Kerinciz and contributor of
press-association of Turkish Orthodox Church Sevgi Erenerol. They were
arrested for being involved in the assassination of the editor-in-chief
of "Agos" Hrant Dink, in armed attack on the judges, and in attempt
on the lives of the monks in Trabzon and Izmir.
At present the arrested are being interrogated by the police. It is not
known yet whether or not accusations are brought against them. One of
the leaders of the ruling parties the Justice and Development Dengir
Mir Mehmed Firat announced that the police have held a significant
operation.
Turkey demonstrates "commitment" to Dink’s case to the world community
and first of all to Europe.
Parliamentary Commission has been established, lawyers speak out
against the police; in other words everything is as it should be in
democratic countries.
However, Turkey is omitting one important circumstance: Istanbul is
not the entire Turkey; moreover, it is not Turkey at all. "There are
two Turkeys: European, situated on Taksim Square, which has about
50 thousand people, or may be a little more, and the other part of
Turkey, consisting of 70 million people, who really practice Islam
and consider themselves the followers of the Ottoman Empire. So one
shouldn’t speak seriously of European values in Turkey," thinks the
political scientist Alexander Iskandaryan.
The trial proceeding on the assassin (assassins) of Hrant Dink will be
followed by harsh verdict, after which in the eyes of Europe Turkey
will look a "normal" country. But the trouble is that in Europe,
unlike the USA, the value of the Turkish democracy is quite clear,
and the article 301 of the Turkish Criminal Code assures this in the
best way possible.
Though Hrant Dink was assassinated firstly because of his political
views, namely regarding the Armenian Genocide, his ethnical belonging
was of no less significance in his assassination. Orhan Pamuk, Taner
Akcam and many others proved to be luckier than Dink; they left the
country. Hrant Dink in his last interview which was held two days
before his assassination, said: "If I give up and leave the country,
it will be a disgrace to everybody. My ancestry lived in this country,
my roots are in this country and I have the right to die in the
country I was born in."
In answer to the question whether it is bad being Armenian in
Turkey, he answered: "If one holds his tongue, he is unlikely to
have problems. But for me it was even difficult at school to sing
in the school choir about how proud I am to be Turkish. Of course
there are things to be proud of in our country, but still I am not
Turkish. The representatives like to refer to the fact that there
are many children’s orphanages and Armenian schools in the country.
However, they prefer to keep silent about the fact that many of the
schoolchildren are fired for being involved in political life…"