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Yeni ªafak, Turkey
Jan 19 2007
Turkish-Armenian editor shot dead in Istanbul
A Turkish-Armenian editor, who had been convicted of insulting
Turkey's identity over his comments on Armenians, was shot dead
outside his newspaper office in Istanbul on Friday.
A Turkish-Armenian editor, who had been convicted of insulting
Turkey's identity over his comments on Armenians, was shot dead
outside his newspaper office in Istanbul on Friday.
Turkish broadcaster NTV said Hrant Dink, a controversial writer and
journalist, was shot by an unknown assailant as he left his newspaper
Agos around 1300 GMT in central Istanbul.
A colleague of Dink's confirmed he had died. Police released no
further information.
Last year Turkey's appeals court upheld a six-month suspended jail
sentence against Dink, a Turkish-born Armenian, for referring in an
article to an Armenian nationalist idea of ethnic purity without
Turkish blood.
The court said the comments went against an article of Turkey's
revised penal code which lets prosecutors pursue cases against
writers and scholars for "insulting Turkish identity".
Dink was one of dozens of writers who have been charged under laws
against insulting Turkishness, particularly over issues related to an
alleged genocide of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World War One.
Turkey denies genocide was committed.
The government has promised to revise the much criticised article of
the penal code. The European Union has repeatedly called on Ankara to
change the law.
Dink was editor-in-of chief of the bilingual Turkish and Armenian
weekly Agos.
Fehmi Koru, a columnist at the Yeni Safak newspaper, said the murder
was aimed at destabilizing Turkey.
"His loss is the loss of Turkey," Koru said.
Jan 19 2007
Turkish-Armenian editor shot dead in Istanbul
A Turkish-Armenian editor, who had been convicted of insulting
Turkey's identity over his comments on Armenians, was shot dead
outside his newspaper office in Istanbul on Friday.
A Turkish-Armenian editor, who had been convicted of insulting
Turkey's identity over his comments on Armenians, was shot dead
outside his newspaper office in Istanbul on Friday.
Turkish broadcaster NTV said Hrant Dink, a controversial writer and
journalist, was shot by an unknown assailant as he left his newspaper
Agos around 1300 GMT in central Istanbul.
A colleague of Dink's confirmed he had died. Police released no
further information.
Last year Turkey's appeals court upheld a six-month suspended jail
sentence against Dink, a Turkish-born Armenian, for referring in an
article to an Armenian nationalist idea of ethnic purity without
Turkish blood.
The court said the comments went against an article of Turkey's
revised penal code which lets prosecutors pursue cases against
writers and scholars for "insulting Turkish identity".
Dink was one of dozens of writers who have been charged under laws
against insulting Turkishness, particularly over issues related to an
alleged genocide of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World War One.
Turkey denies genocide was committed.
The government has promised to revise the much criticised article of
the penal code. The European Union has repeatedly called on Ankara to
change the law.
Dink was editor-in-of chief of the bilingual Turkish and Armenian
weekly Agos.
Fehmi Koru, a columnist at the Yeni Safak newspaper, said the murder
was aimed at destabilizing Turkey.
"His loss is the loss of Turkey," Koru said.