TURKEY SHOULD STOP PROSECUTING AUTHOR

Associated Press Worldstream
June 18, 2009 Thursday 2:24 PM GMT

Turkey should stop prosecuting the author of an investigative book
about the murder of well-known ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant Dink,
a media watchdog said Thursday.

Author Nedim Sener, himself a journalist, said earlier this month he is
facing up to 28 years in prison if convicted in two cases on charges
of obtaining classified documents and insulting government officials
by claiming an intelligence coverup over the 2007 killing of Dink.

The killing led to international condemnation and a debate within
Turkey about free speech.

Sener’s book, "Dink Murder and Intelligence Lies," claims police
and military officials ignored tips about the 2007 killing before
it occurred.

The government has launched an investigation into the allegations.

Miklos Haraszti, the media freedom representative of the Vienna-based
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said "justice must
not be degraded into an act of revenge by the criticized authorities."

"What he did was critically assess the events leading up to Hrant
Dink’s murder, and the deficiencies afterwards in the handling of the
case and in the prosecution of the perpetrators," Haraszti wrote in
a letter to Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

A Turkish government spokesman declined to comment on the criticism.

Dink was shot outside his offices on Jan. 19, 2007, in an alleged
nationalist killing because he had campaigned for better relations
between Turkey and Armenia. He had been prosecuted several years
before his death for describing the early 20th-century mass killings
of Armenians as genocide.

He was hated by nationalists, who deny the deaths constituted genocide.

Turkey also denies that, saying the Armenians killed during World
War I had been victims of civil war and unrest.

Haraszti also urged Turkey to reform laws that restrict free speech.

"By dropping the charges against Sener, Turkey could now stop punishing
the messengers of unwelcome news, and instead carry out much-needed
legal reform to ensure freedom of expression," Haraszti said.