HACKERS ATTACK TURKISH-ARMENIAN WEEKLY ‘AGOS’
Tert.am
14:56 ~U 12.02.10
The website for Turkey’s leading Armenian paper was hacked in the
early hours on Friday, reports The Journal of Turkish Weekly.
Hackers identifying themselves as "AK Hacker" took over the Agos
website and put up an image of Ogun Samast, the alleged murderer of
the former editor in chief of the daily, Hrant Dink. The image was
accompanied by a text that criticized opposition to the ruling party
and stated the act of hacking was "an action that will go on to spread
like poison to others who oppose the current powers."
The note also made a chilling threat given the murder of Hrant Dink:
"If you do not fix your reporting in the way we see fit, there will
be new Ogun Samasts and new Hrant Dinks."
Here’s a translation of the text, in part, on the hacked site:
"You either love or you leave it. Or like the traitor Hrant, you die
and disappear. You are you. You know yourself as much as we know you.
You lived through what you deserved and it will continue as such. This
act take on behalf of the Turkish flag, which is not on your website,
and in the name of the Turkish Republic, will continue to spread
like poison to others who oppose the current powers and everyone who
opposes will be affected as such.
"If you do not change your articles and your words and your actions
along the lines that we see fit, then there will be new Ogun Samasts
and new Hrant Dinks. Thinking you’re smart is your biggest ignorance.
Just as the traitors who have given up their Turkishness will one day
be expelled from the borders of this country, Turkey will be cleansed
thanks to the current powers in Turkey and all slander campaigns will
be unsuccessful and inconclusive from now on."
Agos journalist Sarkis Gureh, in speaking with Turkish TV station NTV,
said that they are preparing to appeal to lawyers and to take court
action. He said the act was disconcerting, while adding that he’s
"not afraid."
Well-known Turkish journalist from Turkish daily Radikal Oral Calislar,
in speaking with NTV, said that the state can immediately find those
behind the despicable act.
"There are threats in the text. Law enforcement bodies must get to
work immediately," he said.
Important to note that at this time, the Agos website is down.