Tweet
Murder of Journalist in Turkey Threatens Democracy
Toronto Daily News, Canada
Jan 22 2007
Armenian Genocide expert Peter Balakian says that the assassination
of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in Istanbul was more than
a senseless murder.
The assassination of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in
Istanbul was more than a senseless murder, according to Colgate
University professor and Armenian Genocide expert Peter Balakian -
it was yet another example of how far Turkey is from being a democracy.
Balakian, author of New York Times bestseller and Raphael Lemkin
Prize winner The Burning Tigris; the Armenian Genocide and America's
Response, is available to comment on Dink's death.
"As editor of Agos, a weekly Armenian newspaper, Dink held a uniquely
important place in Turkish society, so his slaying was particularly
significant," said Balakian. "If Turkey wishes to go forward as a
democracy, it must find a way to embrace Dink's legacy."
Eighteen journalists have been killed in Turkey in the last six years,
and 77 are on trial now, he said, but violence toward intellectuals
begins, in the modern period, for Turkey with genocide of the Armenians
in 1915.
"Turkey has a long history of punishing its writers, thinkers,
artists, and ethnic minorities," he explained. "On April 24, 1915,
at the beginning of the Armenian Genocide which claimed more than a
million lives, the Ottoman government rounded up more than 250 Armenian
leaders in Constantinople (Istanbul) and transported them out of the
city. Most of them were killed, making it easier for the government
at that time to carry out its planned extermination and exile of the
rest of the Armenian population. Dink now joins those martyrs."
Political violence of this nature increased when Turkey began its
accession to the European Union in recent years, said Balakian,
and it is definitely not random. "The ruling party's attempts to
meet the EU's conditions - among them, more freedom of expression,
equal treatment of minorities, and an end to official government
denial of the Armenian Genocide - amplified the resistance of extreme
nationalists and the military to such reforms," he said.
Because of Dink's standing, Balakian believes the slaying will
reverberate beyond Turkey. "His death is emblematic of the struggle
for freedom of thought and expression people face under violent and
repressive societies and governments all over the world."
Of Dink himself, Balakian commented: "Despite Turkey's penal code -
which mandates prison sentences for a long list of offenses that
constitute the crime of 'insulting Turkishness' - Dink persisted in
publishing articles and speaking openly about subjects that are taboo
in Turkey, most notably the Armenian Genocide of 1915 committed by
the government of the Ottoman Empire. For doing so he was put on trial
last year, and threats against his life had increased dramatically in
the last few weeks. Yet no amount of brutality and danger diminished
his courage; he continued to work toward his goal, which was to help
achieve a peaceful reconciliation between ethnically Armenian and
Turkish society."
Toronto Daily News, Canada
Jan 22 2007
Armenian Genocide expert Peter Balakian says that the assassination
of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in Istanbul was more than
a senseless murder.
The assassination of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in
Istanbul was more than a senseless murder, according to Colgate
University professor and Armenian Genocide expert Peter Balakian -
it was yet another example of how far Turkey is from being a democracy.
Balakian, author of New York Times bestseller and Raphael Lemkin
Prize winner The Burning Tigris; the Armenian Genocide and America's
Response, is available to comment on Dink's death.
"As editor of Agos, a weekly Armenian newspaper, Dink held a uniquely
important place in Turkish society, so his slaying was particularly
significant," said Balakian. "If Turkey wishes to go forward as a
democracy, it must find a way to embrace Dink's legacy."
Eighteen journalists have been killed in Turkey in the last six years,
and 77 are on trial now, he said, but violence toward intellectuals
begins, in the modern period, for Turkey with genocide of the Armenians
in 1915.
"Turkey has a long history of punishing its writers, thinkers,
artists, and ethnic minorities," he explained. "On April 24, 1915,
at the beginning of the Armenian Genocide which claimed more than a
million lives, the Ottoman government rounded up more than 250 Armenian
leaders in Constantinople (Istanbul) and transported them out of the
city. Most of them were killed, making it easier for the government
at that time to carry out its planned extermination and exile of the
rest of the Armenian population. Dink now joins those martyrs."
Political violence of this nature increased when Turkey began its
accession to the European Union in recent years, said Balakian,
and it is definitely not random. "The ruling party's attempts to
meet the EU's conditions - among them, more freedom of expression,
equal treatment of minorities, and an end to official government
denial of the Armenian Genocide - amplified the resistance of extreme
nationalists and the military to such reforms," he said.
Because of Dink's standing, Balakian believes the slaying will
reverberate beyond Turkey. "His death is emblematic of the struggle
for freedom of thought and expression people face under violent and
repressive societies and governments all over the world."
Of Dink himself, Balakian commented: "Despite Turkey's penal code -
which mandates prison sentences for a long list of offenses that
constitute the crime of 'insulting Turkishness' - Dink persisted in
publishing articles and speaking openly about subjects that are taboo
in Turkey, most notably the Armenian Genocide of 1915 committed by
the government of the Ottoman Empire. For doing so he was put on trial
last year, and threats against his life had increased dramatically in
the last few weeks. Yet no amount of brutality and danger diminished
his courage; he continued to work toward his goal, which was to help
achieve a peaceful reconciliation between ethnically Armenian and
Turkish society."