YOUTUBE VIDEO ALLEGEDLY PRAISING JOURNALIST’S KILLER PROVES POPULAR
By C. Onur Ant, Associated Press Writer
Associated Press Worldstream
September 24, 2007 Monday 2:54 PM GMT
A homemade video clip set to a popular folk song that allegedly
praises the suspected killer of an ethnic Armenian journalist has
received hundreds of thousands of hits on the popular video-sharing
Web site YouTube.
A radio DJ says the month-old song quickly rose to become one of the
most requested songs on his show after word of the YouTube clip spread.
But a human rights group has asked prosecutors to take action against
the folk singer and the songwriter for allegedly inciting ethnic
hatred and violence. Prosecutors have launched an investigation into
the video that shows Hrant Dink’s dead body, followed by a heroic
pose of his suspected teenage killer, who will stand trial next week.
Folk singer Ismail Turut who describes himself as a Muslim and a
nationalist denies any links to the making of the YouTube video and
says he does not approve of Dink’s murder.
But the lyrics of the controversial song, written by Arif Ozan go: "If
someone betrays his own country, he will be taken care of immediately."
Dink was slain outside his newspaper in January. He had been criticized
for calling the mass killings of Armenians early in the century in
the hands of Ottomans a "genocide" in defiance of the official Turkish
line and was being prosecuted for insulting the Turkish identity.
Although thousands of Turks marched at his funeral to condemn the
killing, some extreme nationalists view the teenage killer and his
alleged accomplice as heroes for punishing the journalist who they
feel betrayed the nation.
"He (Turut) must apologize," said Riza Dalkilic, head of Istanbul
branch of the Human Rights Association who filed the complaint. The
group is known for its advocacy of minorities and freedom of
expression.
Turut said he had nothing to do with the YouTube clip and insisted his
song is harmless. He was speaking a day after he and the writer of the
song testified to a prosecutor to explain the meaning of their work.
"Even if I have 40 heads and they chop off all of them, I will not
apologize for even a letter (of the song)," said Turut. "Who has been
subject to the slightest of harm because of my song?"
The killings of Armenians constitutes a shadowy part of Turkish
history that predates the modern republic.
Up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed from 1915 to 1917 in what
Armenians and others say was a genocide. Turkey insists the numbers
are inflated and that the killings occurred during a time of civil
unrest during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.
The slain journalist is not the only Turkish intellectual hated for
expressing his opinion. Nobel literature laureate Orhan Pamuk is
reviled by many Turks, mostly ultra-nationalists, for talking about
the killings of ethnic Armenians and Kurds. He reportedly received
many death threats.
The European Union, which Turkey is vying to be a member of, has
asked Ankara to remove restrictions on freedom of expression such as
the penal code article which bars insulting the Turkish identity.
Despite grumbling by some Cabinet members regarding the article,
a sweeping change seems unlikely in the short term.
Ironically, Turut and Arif also say their song should be tolerated
if freedom of expression really exists.
"I feel like a victim in my homeland for defending some of our values"
Turut said. "Don’t I have the right to freedom of expression?"
Associated Press reporter Volkan Sarisakal in Istanbul contributed
to this report.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
