ANKARA: FM Gul: We are all from Trabzon

[Antonian Lara]

Today's Zaman, Turkey
Feb 22 2007

FM Gül: We are all from Trabzon


"We're all from Trabzon," said Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül
at an Ýstanbul meeting on Wednesday to support Trabzon residents in
their efforts to improve the image of the city.
"We have always been proud of Trabzon," Gül said at the Atatürk
Cultural Center, where the Trabzon Foundation and the Association for
Trabzon Residents have organized a four-day conference in order to
give a thorough picture of Trabzon.
An unemployed youth from Trabzon, Ogün Samast, 17, has been charged
with killing Hrant Dink, an ethnic Armenian writer, in Ýstanbul last
month. The man who confessed to inciting Samast, Yasin Hayal, is also
from Trabzon. In 2004 he was behind the bombing of a restaurant in
the town.
Last year, a 16-year-old boy was jailed for shooting dead an Italian
Catholic priest as he prayed in his church in Trabzon.
The people of Trabzon should not be led to anger over recent
incidents, "These are the kind of events that can happen anytime,
anywhere," Gül said.