[A-List] Turkish-Armenian Journalist Shot Dead

[Sabri Oncu <sabri_oncu@xxxxxxxxx>]

Turkish-Armenian Journalist Shot Dead

ISTANBUL, Turkey, Jan. 19, 2007 
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(CBS/AP) A journalist who faced constant threats and protests as one of the
most prominent voices of Turkey's shrinking Armenian community was shot to
death Friday at the entrance to his newspaper's offices, police said. 

Hrant Dink, a 53-year-old Turkish citizen of Armenian descent, had gone on
trial numerous times for speaking out about the mass killings of Armenians by
Turks at the beginning of the 20th century. He had also received threats from
nationalists, who viewed him as a traitor. 

In October 2005, he was convicted of trying to influence the judiciary after
the bilingual Turkish-Armenian newspaper he edited, Agos, ran stories
criticizing a law making it a crime to insult Turkey, the Turkish government or
the Turkish national character. 

He was given a six-month suspended sentence. 

The conviction was rare even in a country where trials of journalists,
academics and writers have become common. Most of the cases, including that of
the Nobel Prize-winning novelist Orhan Pamuk, were either dropped on a
technicality or led to acquittals. 

Dink cried during an interview with The Associated Press last year as he talked
about some of his countrymen's hatred for him, saying he could not stay in a
country where he was unwanted. 

"I'm living together with Turks in this country," Dink told the AP. "I don't
think I could live with an identity of having insulted them in this country ...
if I am unable to come up with a positive result, it will be honorable for me
to leave this country." 

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned Dink's death as an attack against
Turkey's unity and promised to catch those responsible. 

Erdogan said two suspects had been arrested, but offered no details. 

"Once again, dark hands have chosen our country and spilled blood in Istanbul
to achieve their dark goals," Erdogan said at a news conference. 

The prime minister said he had assigned top officials from the Justice Ministry
to the case and that they were on their way to Istanbul from the capital,
Ankara. 

Can Dundar, Dink's friend and fellow journalist, said he wished Dink had left
the country as he once promised he would in the face of the threats, protests
and legal proceedings against him. 

"Hrant's body is lying on the ground as if those bullets were fired at Turkey,"
Dundar told private NTV television. 

Turkey's relationship with its Armenian community is fraught with tension and
painful memories of a brutal past. Much of Turkey's once-sizeable Armenian
population was killed or driven out of the country from 1915-1923 in what an
increasing number of countries are recognizing as the first genocide of the
20th century. 

Turkey acknowledges that large numbers of Armenians died but vehemently denies
it was genocide, saying the overall figure is inflated and the deaths occurred
in the civil unrest during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. 

Turkey, which is overwhelmingly Muslim, and Armenia, which claims to be the
first country to official adopt Christianity, share a border, but it is closed
and the two countries have no formal diplomatic relations. 

Dink's body was covered with a white sheet in front of the newspaper's
entrance. NTV said four empty shell casings were found on the ground and that
he was killed by two bullets to the head. 

Workers at the newspaper, including Dink's brother, who has also been put on
trial in Turkey, wept and consoled each other near his body. 

Fehmi Koru, a columnist at the Yeni Safak newspaper, said Dink's slaying was
aimed at destabilizing Turkey. "His loss is the loss of Turkey," Koru said. 

Dink had complained in a letter that he received no responses even after
complaining to authorities about threats of violence made to him, NTV reported.


A colleague at Dink's newspaper, Aydin Engin, said Dink had attributed the
threats to elements in the "deep state," a Turkish term that implies shadowy,
deeply nationalist and powerful elements in the government. 




 
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