AFTER ERGENEKON CASE PRESSURE ON ARMENIANS DECREASED

news.am
Feb 23 2010
Armenia

"According to individuals and organizations focusing on human rights
and marginalized groups in Turkey, official pressure against them
continues despite the Ergenekon case," reads Hurriyet Daily News &
Economic Review.

The source refers to Etyen Mahcupyan – chief editor of weekly Agos
newspaper and a columnist for the daily Taraf. According to him,
threats to Agos decreased after investigation on Ergenekon case
launch. Mahcupyan reckons that it is impossible "to determine whether
an individual committed the attack or an organization until whoever
is responsible is apprehended", the source says.

"We have the usual number [of threats against Agos] via e-mail, so
they do not count," newspaper quotes Mahcupyan. However, he also notes
that the number of threats increases before April 24 and decreases
whenever the Kurdish problem is in focus.

In his turn, political scientist Baskin Oran underlines that threats
against him reduced considerably. "When the mechanism called the ‘deep
state’ provokes people, individual reactions and insults increase
incredibly," he told the Hurriyet Daily News.