NEWSPAPERS AND AUTHORITIES BICKER OVER DINK MURDER
Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Feb 6 2007
Truth may be the second casualty after the fatal shooting of editor
Hrant Dink outside the offices of his own newspaper on Jan. 19.
Newspapers competing to cover the story have come up with different
version of events.
In comments published in the press, Justice Minister Cemil Cicek
warned of a campaign of deliberate misinformation and of the dangers
that the police enquiry is now turning into "a war of retribution."
However, newspaper watchdogs blame the authorities themselves for
not providing a reliable stream information about a story vital to
the public interest. "It is apparent there is a power game within
the security apparatus and that reporters are having a hard time
uncovering the truth. Add to this a traditional governmental lack of
transparency, and you end up with information and allegations flying
about in the air," according to Yavuz Baydar, ombudsman for Sabah
newspaper. The Istanbul police have now urged caution in newspapers’
attempt to depict a second assailant at the scene of the crime.
Several papers have identified a man photographed at the time Dink’s
body was being placed in the ambulance as Yasin Hayal, a person
who confessed to having recruited 17-year-old Ogun Samast to commit
the crime.
Aykut Cengiz Engin, an Ýstanbul state prosecutor, said the man in the
picture taken by The Associated Press was in fact a police officer
from the homicide bureau.
Radikal newspaper, which has a record of pursuing stories to do
with state corruption, declared itself "happy to be corrected"
when its account of preferential treatment for Samast after he was
arrested proved to be untrue. The paper cited eyewitness accounts
in Ýstanbul’s Bayrampaþa Prison that he was given special bedding,
kebabs to eat and a room all of his own. Penal authorities in say
that Samast was being held in isolation in deference to his age. Far
from having silk embroidered quilt covers, he was denied any bedding
at all out of fear he might use it to do himself harm.
Vakit, a newspaper of the religious nationalist right, has accused a
cartel of media bosses of conspiring to muddy the waters around the
crime. Such an interpretation, however, is just not fair, according
to Radikal columnist Professor Haluk Þahin. Many of the leaks were
the work of institutions trying to outmaneuver their organizational
rivals. "The Turkish media is intensely competitive, and there is great
pressure to be first with the news even at the expense of confirming
that the story is a hundred percent accurate," Þahin said.
Ombudsman Baydar: "The main problem is that there is not a regular
flow of information from a central authority, say, a police
spokesperson. This leaves eager reporters and honest editors adrift.
They have no reference whatsoever to compare all other information
that comes to them.
He added that certain segments of press, due to the "sensitive"
character of the assassination, were willing to play along with certain
circles that put politics before the rule of law. "It is hard to tell
if the ‘honest’ segments of press will win in the end, but for sure
we will find out a lot about the crime itself," Baydar said.
Editorial writers have also come in for criticism. There is now a
petition circulating among academics in the United States accusing
among others Hurriyet Editor-in-Chief Ertuðrul Ozkok of intemperate
remarks about Zaman columnist Etyen Mahcupyan. Mahcupyan, like Dink,
is of Armenian origin.
The petition refers to press coverage as "irresponsible," "unethical"
and "dangerous." A proposed draft of the petition warns that Mahcupyan
has been quoted selectively in order to misrepresent his message.
Milliyet columnist Hasan Pulur likened Mahcupyan to an Armenian who
once struck a helpless Turkish officer as he was being led away by
a guard of allied soldiers when Istanbul was under foreign occupation.
The officer told the man to "hit him again" but that he would get
what was coming to him in the end. The fear is that by questioning
Mahcupyan’s patriotism, the press is setting him up as a potential
target as well.
–Boundary_(ID_wQ7RgP8JSz4aO4DS+0FYMA)–