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Agence France Presse -- English
March 9, 2007 Friday 12:46 PM GMT
Two Turks fined for insulting, threatening Armenian patriarch
A Turkish court on Friday fined two men for insulting and threatening
via e-mail Patriarch Mesrob II, the spiritual leader of the tiny
Armenian community, the Anatolia news agency reported.
Gokmen Akman was given a fine of 1,287 Turkish liras (910 dollars,
690 euros) on charges of both insulting and threatening the
patriarch, while Hasan Ezer was sentenced to pay 77 Turkish liras (55
dollars, 40 euros) for just insulting Mesrob II, the report said.
According to the indictment, the two men sent e-mails to the
patriarch in October 2004 which read "We will finish you off" and "We
will drive you crazy."
Turkey's 80,000-strong Armenian community, which lives mainly in
Istanbul, generally keeps a low profile for fear of becoming a target
for ultranationalists in the row over the World War I massacres of
Armenians under the Ottoman Empire.
Armenians describe the 1915-1918 massacres as genocide, a label that
Turkey -- the Ottoman Empire's successor -- fiercely rejects.
In January, ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, hated for his
views on the Armenian massacres, was shot dead outside his office in
a murder which prosecutors believe was the work of
ultra-nationalists.
Since then, anxiety has engulfed the Armenian community, and in
recent interviews Mesrob II has said that his office had been
receiving threats.
On Wednesday, one of two men charged by an Istanbul court for firing
outside an Armenian church at the weekend claimed that his real
target had been the patriarch.
March 9, 2007 Friday 12:46 PM GMT
Two Turks fined for insulting, threatening Armenian patriarch
A Turkish court on Friday fined two men for insulting and threatening
via e-mail Patriarch Mesrob II, the spiritual leader of the tiny
Armenian community, the Anatolia news agency reported.
Gokmen Akman was given a fine of 1,287 Turkish liras (910 dollars,
690 euros) on charges of both insulting and threatening the
patriarch, while Hasan Ezer was sentenced to pay 77 Turkish liras (55
dollars, 40 euros) for just insulting Mesrob II, the report said.
According to the indictment, the two men sent e-mails to the
patriarch in October 2004 which read "We will finish you off" and "We
will drive you crazy."
Turkey's 80,000-strong Armenian community, which lives mainly in
Istanbul, generally keeps a low profile for fear of becoming a target
for ultranationalists in the row over the World War I massacres of
Armenians under the Ottoman Empire.
Armenians describe the 1915-1918 massacres as genocide, a label that
Turkey -- the Ottoman Empire's successor -- fiercely rejects.
In January, ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, hated for his
views on the Armenian massacres, was shot dead outside his office in
a murder which prosecutors believe was the work of
ultra-nationalists.
Since then, anxiety has engulfed the Armenian community, and in
recent interviews Mesrob II has said that his office had been
receiving threats.
On Wednesday, one of two men charged by an Istanbul court for firing
outside an Armenian church at the weekend claimed that his real
target had been the patriarch.