AGOS, Istanbul
Nov 2009
19 Kasım 2009
`Defense petition’ of fined general
The general, sentenced to pay compensation for insulting Hrant Dink,
dropped offensive hints in his defense petition too.
Retired Brigadier General Dursun Ali Karaduman has been sentenced to
pay two thousand Turkish lira as moral indemnities for having insulted
Hrant Dink during a funeral shortly after Dink’s murder, during which
time the general was serving as Gendarmerie Regional Commander in
Giresun.
In the lawsuit, filed by the Dink family, retired Brigadier General
Dursun Ali Karaduman’s defense included harsh accusations and attacks.
Despite the fact that Dink’s murder stirred Turkey and the world to
outrage, Karaduman insulted Dink during a funeral he attended in April
2007, and shortly thereafter at another funeral in June 2007, where he
read the following poem mentioning Dink’s name: `Oh, great world, I
also died / Of course none of you heard about it / And just a day
before Dink / But you did not hear, or see, or care (…) Yet my name
was pure and Turkish (¦) I died in my homeland to protect my nation
from the stateless / I am a Turk, my name is Turkish, but no one got
to learn my name.’
Grigoryan said that he has repeated those bellicose statements
numerous times, but he is sure the statement made on November 20, by
its nature, differs from previous statements.
`Why does Dink come to mind?’
In Karaduman’s defense statement, there are accusations and
implications that go even further than the funeral comments in
dispute. `Today the U.S. Senate, French Assembly, British House of
Lords, EU Parliament in Brussels, and Armenia did not condemn those
who killed you. They raise their voices only when traitors are
killed,’ said Karaduman, but claimed that he meant `PKK terrorists,’
and asked, `Why does a Turkish citizen, Hrant Dink, come to mind when
Armenia is mentioned here? Don’t Armenia and the Armenian diaspora
have demands for land from Turkey? Do they not demand compensation?’
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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
