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DEATH OF PRO-ARMENIAN JOURNALIST IN TURKEY SPURS DEBATE
By John Telfeyan, The Breeze; SOURCE: James Madison University.
The Breeze via U-Wire
University Wire
February 8, 2007 Thursday
HARRISONBURG, Va.
On Jan. 19, Hrant Dink, the editor of the Armenian language newspaper
Agos and a Turkish citizen of Armenian heritage, was fatally shot
outside of his office in Istanbul. The gunman, Ogun Samast, was a
Turkish teenager under orders from a Muslim terrorist organizer. This
event creates a major stumbling block for the secular Turkish
governments bid to join the European Union.
In the following week, more than 1,000 protestors, who considered
Dink and Agos to be the voice of the Armenian community in Istanbul,
marched to the site of his murder to bring attention to and protest
against the restrictions on freedom of speech that Dink had been
fighting against when he was alive.
According to Aricle 301 of the Turkish law code, insulting
"Turkishness" is punishable by a three-year jail sentence. Dink
himself had been prosecuted under this law for -- among other things --
mentioning the Armenian genocide of 1915, where more than a million
Armenians in Turkey were massacred. Turkey is one of the only nations
with Western aspirations that does not acknowledge that the genocide
took place, and speaking of the genocide is therefore criminal.
The Turkish government first prosecuted Dink after a speech he made
in 2002 for comments he made about the Turkish national anthem. At
the time he was murdered, Dink was again being threatened with a
three-year jail sentence for other, equally "insulting" comments.
Though the Turkish prime minister has condemned the murders, the
assassination has shed light on the greater issue of freedom of speech
in Turkey. As speaker of the Armenian Parliament, Tigran Torosyan has
stated that Turkey should not"even dream about joining the European
Union" in light of the recent events; other officials who want to
keep Turkey out the European Union have started using this incident
as leverage.
Although Turkey is the most progressive Islamic country in the world,
secular according to its constitution, 99 percent of its population is
Muslim, predominantly Hanafist Sunni. The government is constantly torn
between the secular influence of Europe -- and its own constitution
-- and its devout people who are being led against their will to
uncomfortable new heights of liberalism against their will in order
for Turkey to join the European Union.
But extremists are still fighting against change, and those extremist
actions have spoken louder than the politician's words. Even the
judicial system is corrupt, to the point that honest laymen do not
receive fair trials and the majority of judges still carry a belief
that they are elite and should not be touchable by common journalists.
To its credit, the Turkish government -- a mere one hundred years old
-- has abolished torture, the death penalty and military interference
in politics. It has also increased women's and minority rights, but
without freedom of speech there will be nothing to keep the government
in check. As long as any criticism of the Turkish government is
punishable under Article 301, no press institution will be able to
act as a watchdog.
Dink fought for freedom of speech for four years, and he died for it.
Other journalists are picking up where he left off; more than 60
journalists have been prosecuted using Article 301, many of them
for recognizing the 1915 genocide. Dink, although adamant about
recognizing the Armenian genocide, was more concerned with freedom of
speech. Before his death changed his plans, he intended to travel to
France, where politicians are debating the prohibition of genocide
denial; Dink planned to deny the Armenian genocide out of principle
in protest of such encroachments on freedom of speech.
The European Union will continue to look disfavorably on Turkey's
application for entrance while laws like Article 301 are still
on the books. Some people in the European Union are already using
Turkey's civil liberty problems to try and keep them out. Hopefully
the attention -- small though it may have been in the West -- paid to
Dink's untimely death in the last few weeks will bring more awareness
about freedom of speech in Turkey before the European Union lets
them in.
By John Telfeyan, The Breeze; SOURCE: James Madison University.
The Breeze via U-Wire
University Wire
February 8, 2007 Thursday
HARRISONBURG, Va.
On Jan. 19, Hrant Dink, the editor of the Armenian language newspaper
Agos and a Turkish citizen of Armenian heritage, was fatally shot
outside of his office in Istanbul. The gunman, Ogun Samast, was a
Turkish teenager under orders from a Muslim terrorist organizer. This
event creates a major stumbling block for the secular Turkish
governments bid to join the European Union.
In the following week, more than 1,000 protestors, who considered
Dink and Agos to be the voice of the Armenian community in Istanbul,
marched to the site of his murder to bring attention to and protest
against the restrictions on freedom of speech that Dink had been
fighting against when he was alive.
According to Aricle 301 of the Turkish law code, insulting
"Turkishness" is punishable by a three-year jail sentence. Dink
himself had been prosecuted under this law for -- among other things --
mentioning the Armenian genocide of 1915, where more than a million
Armenians in Turkey were massacred. Turkey is one of the only nations
with Western aspirations that does not acknowledge that the genocide
took place, and speaking of the genocide is therefore criminal.
The Turkish government first prosecuted Dink after a speech he made
in 2002 for comments he made about the Turkish national anthem. At
the time he was murdered, Dink was again being threatened with a
three-year jail sentence for other, equally "insulting" comments.
Though the Turkish prime minister has condemned the murders, the
assassination has shed light on the greater issue of freedom of speech
in Turkey. As speaker of the Armenian Parliament, Tigran Torosyan has
stated that Turkey should not"even dream about joining the European
Union" in light of the recent events; other officials who want to
keep Turkey out the European Union have started using this incident
as leverage.
Although Turkey is the most progressive Islamic country in the world,
secular according to its constitution, 99 percent of its population is
Muslim, predominantly Hanafist Sunni. The government is constantly torn
between the secular influence of Europe -- and its own constitution
-- and its devout people who are being led against their will to
uncomfortable new heights of liberalism against their will in order
for Turkey to join the European Union.
But extremists are still fighting against change, and those extremist
actions have spoken louder than the politician's words. Even the
judicial system is corrupt, to the point that honest laymen do not
receive fair trials and the majority of judges still carry a belief
that they are elite and should not be touchable by common journalists.
To its credit, the Turkish government -- a mere one hundred years old
-- has abolished torture, the death penalty and military interference
in politics. It has also increased women's and minority rights, but
without freedom of speech there will be nothing to keep the government
in check. As long as any criticism of the Turkish government is
punishable under Article 301, no press institution will be able to
act as a watchdog.
Dink fought for freedom of speech for four years, and he died for it.
Other journalists are picking up where he left off; more than 60
journalists have been prosecuted using Article 301, many of them
for recognizing the 1915 genocide. Dink, although adamant about
recognizing the Armenian genocide, was more concerned with freedom of
speech. Before his death changed his plans, he intended to travel to
France, where politicians are debating the prohibition of genocide
denial; Dink planned to deny the Armenian genocide out of principle
in protest of such encroachments on freedom of speech.
The European Union will continue to look disfavorably on Turkey's
application for entrance while laws like Article 301 are still
on the books. Some people in the European Union are already using
Turkey's civil liberty problems to try and keep them out. Hopefully
the attention -- small though it may have been in the West -- paid to
Dink's untimely death in the last few weeks will bring more awareness
about freedom of speech in Turkey before the European Union lets
them in.