AZG Armenian Daily #078, 30/04/2005
Diaspora
HRANT DINQ ACCUSED OF ‘INSULTING TURKS’
‘I Am a Turkish Citizen, but I Am No Turk’
Hrant Dinq, editor of Istanbul-based Akos Armenian newspaper, was informed
from Urfa Public Prosecutor’s Office that a suit has been instituted against
him. If the charge brought against him is proved, he will be sentenced to 3
years of imprisonment.
Dinq said in the interview to Azg that he was charged with “Insulting the
Turks.” Particularly, Dinq said that during one of the conferences in Urfa,
2002, he complained about the word combination “my heroic nation” in the
anthem of Turkey.
“I said that I am against this sentence, as it is nationalistic. Besides
Turks, Greeks, Armenians and other nations also live in Turkey. I said that
I am from a different nation and it is not easy for me to utter this word
combination,” Dinq said.
Hrant Dinq also spoke against the sentence “I am a Turk, I am honest and
hard working,” which the children pronounce in all the schools of Turkey
before each lesson. “I said during the conference that I am an Armenian, I
am no Turk, I am merely a Turkish citizen,” he said in the interview to Azg.
Hrant Dinq doesn’t think that the suit instituted against him is connected
with his activities. “It doesn’t concern the recent events. I don’t think
this is a serious suit. Certainly, I can be charged but I am not guilty,” he
said. Mr. Dinq said that he is unlikely to leave for Urfa himself to
participate in the trial. He will hire a lawyer, instead.
Particularly lately, when the talks on Turkey’s membership to EU became more
active, Dinq is being invited to many conferences, including to those held
in Europe. He is being cited in almost all the articles about the Armenian
Genocide and the Turkish-Armenian relations published in the Western press.
By Tatoul Hakobian