Canada Free Press, Canada
Jan 22 2007
Turkey: "I shot the infidel" said Islamist killer
By Western Resistance
Monday, January 22, 2007
Yesterday, the 53-year old editor of Turkey’s only Armenian-language
magazine, Agos, was shot dead in the street as he left his offices.
He was hit three times in the head and neck, and died on the
sidewalk. His killer, a teenaged young man in a white cap, shouted "I
shot the infidel" as he ran off.
The editor, Hrant Dink, also owned the magazine. Two people were
arrested yesterday after the killing in central Istanbul, but were
later released. Three more people were arrested in the night.
Earlier, Hrant Dink was sentenced on 7 October 2005 to a six-month
suspended sentence by the Sisli Court of Second Instance in Istanbul
for breaking article 301 of the Turkish penal code, and "insulting
Turkish identity". Dink’s crime was to report in Agos of the effects
the Armenian massacre from the time of World War I made upon members
of the Armenian diaspora. Turkey denies that there was a "genocide"
and claims that in 1915, no more than 30,000 Armenians and Kurds
died, mostly of starvation. The Armenians were removed from their
homes in eastern Turkey by force, accused of collaborating with
invading Russian forces.
Dink appealed against the conviction of "insulting Turkish identity"
but it was upheld by a court in 2006. He was facing trial over
comments he made at a conference in 2002. That trial was initiated in
28 April 2005 at a court in the southeastern city of Sanliurfa.
Following his death, protesters gathered at the scene of the
shooting. One said: "Anyone who pretends this is a democracy is a
liar. A government that makes laws that target brave people like Mr
Dink should be ashamed to talk about freedom of speech – they are all
liars."
The Islamist prime minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said: "A
bullet has been fired at Turkish democracy and free speech."
Mr Dink was aware that he was a potential target for assassins. In
his last article, which is translated into English by the
French-based Collectif VAN he compared himself to a pigeon, whose
head swiveled about as he walked through Istanbul.
This is a section from the end:
Like a Pigeon
This much is crystal clear that those who tried to single me out,
render me weak and defenseless succeeded by their own measures. With
the wrongful and polluted knowledge they oozed into society, they
managed to form a significant segment of the population whose numbers
cannot be easily dismissed who view Hrant Dink as someone
"denigrating Turkishness."
The diary and memory of my computer are filled with angry,
threatening lines sent by citizens from this particular sector. (Let
me note here at this juncture that even though one of these letters
was sent from [the neighboring city of] Bursa and that I had found it
rather disturbing because of the proximity of the danger it
represented and [therefore] turned the threatening letter over to the
Sisli prosecutor’s office, I have not been able to get a result until
this day.)
How real or unreal are these threats? To be honest, it is of course
impossible for me to know for sure. What is truly threatening and
unbearable for me is the psychological torture I personally place
myself in. "Now what are these people thinking about me?" is the
question that really bugs me. It is unfortunate that I am now better
known than I once was and I feel much more the people throwing me
that glance of "Oh, look, isn’t he that Armenian guy?"
And I reflexively start torturing myself. One aspect of this torture
is curiosity, the other unease. One aspect is attention, the other
apprehension. I am just like a pigeon… Obsessed just as much what
goes on my left, right, front, back.
My head is just as mobile… and just as fast enough to turn right
away.
While Article 301, the offense of "insulting Turkishness" remains on
Turkey’s statute books, cynically invoked by Erdogan and his cronies
in the Justice Department, Turkey has place in the democracy of
Europe, where free speech should be the order of the day, seems
increasingly insecure.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
