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ANKARA: Extreme parties point finger at foreign circles for murder

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  • ANKARA: Extreme parties point finger at foreign circles for murder

    The New Anatolian, Turkey
    Jan 27 2007


    Extreme parties point finger at foreign circles for Dink murder

    The New Anatolian / Ankara
    27 January 2007


    Two extreme parties of opposite poles on Friday reiterated a
    much-uttered claim over the murder of journalist Hrant Dink, which
    blames the assassination on international circles.

    Ultranationalist Grand Unity Party (BBP) deputy leader Edip Ozbas
    claimed that Westerners encouraged the killing, while the Labor Party
    (IP), a socialist party which has recently begun to employ an
    ultranationalist approach, blamed the U.S. and NATO for the murder.

    Ozbas said Dink's murder enabled certain circles to reveal the poison
    they had amassed against Turkey. "We believe that the independent
    judiciary will shed light onto the incident, but we know that the
    primary power behind the Dink murder and all others are Westerners
    who put pressure on Turkey to adopt European Union acquis."

    "Those who now unleash allegations against the BBP and its leader
    Yazicioglu for his stance will have to account for their claims
    soon," said the party official also expressing their willingness to
    fight for Turkish Penal Code (TCK) Article 301 in the face of
    Westerners who want to see it annulled.

    Another BBP member, Okkes Sendiller, condemned people who reopened
    the Article 301 debate, in a written statement that also criticized
    Cabinet ministers and Nobel Prize-winning Turkish author Orhan Pamuk
    for comments criticizing the article.

    "This nation has the right to curse at those who are trying to
    realize a regulation to enable cursing at Turkish national values,"
    he said. He added that Pamuk overstepped the line once more with
    calls to lift Article 301.

    Sendiller also criticized Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's visit
    to offer condolences to Turkish Armenian Patriarch Mesrob II
    Mutafyan.

    IP: Culprit is US, NATO

    IP leader Dogu Perincek's target was more distant compared to that of
    the BBP; he claimed that the U.S. and NATO -- branding it a crony of
    the U.S. -- engineered Dink's murder.

    Perincek, in a letter to Mutafyan, claimed that the assassination was
    part of a bigger plan to spark turmoil and chaos in the country.

    He also linked the killing to an Armenian genocide bill about to be
    debated in the U.S. House of Representatives.

    He also criticized the funeral ceremony for the journalist, which he
    claimed was turned into a demonstration against Turkey, and asked
    Mutafyan why he failed to prevent this.

    "We expect you, the leaders of the Turkey's Armenian community, not
    to guide the bullets targeting Turkey but to sweat along with all
    members of this country to prevent foreign powers from dissolving
    Turkey," the IP leader said.
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