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  • Violent nationalism blights Turkey

    Violent nationalism blights Turkey

    Story from BBC NEWS:
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/ europe/7737413.stm

    Published: 2008/11/19 16:31:29 GMT


    Turkey is fiercely patriotic and proud of it. But the country's bid to
    join the European Union has sparked a nationalist backlash that has
    turned murderous, the BBC's Sarah Rainsford reports from Istanbul.

    Turkey's lethal nationalism

    Writer Hrant Dink was the first victim, killed last year because some
    in Turkey could not tolerate what he stood for. To nationalists, he was
    a traitor.

    In a country where every citizen is defined as a Turk, Hrant Dink
    defined himself as ethnic Armenian. That was already subversive to
    some. But Mr Dink went further.

    He wrote about the expulsion and killing of hundreds of thousands of
    Ottoman Armenians from eastern Turkey in 1915. To Armenians, and
    others, that was genocide - a claim Ankara vigorously denies.

    Hrant's cause

    Hrant Dink was convicted of insulting the Turkish nation. That is a
    crime here. Nationalist protesters surrounded his office shouting "Love
    Turkey or leave it!" and he received hundreds of death threats.


    Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.

    Rakel Dink on her husband and his murder

    Already low-profile, after Mr Dink's murder most Armenians retreated
    into scared silence. But almost two years on, his
    widow has decided to
    speak out.

    "Hrant was really affected by those protests," Rakel says, fighting
    back tears. "After that, we said only a miracle could help us live
    here."

    But the family stayed.

    "Hrant could never abandon his cause," says Rakel, explaining that he
    wanted to convince Turkey that diversity and dissent were a strength,
    not a threat.

    His killers disagreed.

    "I don't know if I should say this, but the origins of this murder go
    back to 1915," Rakel says.

    "An Armenian told the truth to the face of the Turkish state and the
    law. That's why Hrant was murdered. It offended them, it dishonoured
    them."

    Critical flashpoints

    To Turks, honour is everything. From childhood they learn of a glorious
    history: how a soldier - Mustafa Kemal Ataturk - forged a new nation
    from the ruins of the Ottoman Empire.


    Turkey needs time to adjust - the EU process may help, but my
    husband's death is their biggest loss
    Rakel Dink

    To most, the allegation their ancestors were guilty of genocide is an
    unacceptable slur.

    Turkey's justice minister underlined that view himself this week,
    defending his decision to allow the trial of another writer to proceed
    for referring to "genocide".

    "The man describes Turkey as a murderer state," Mehmet Ali Sahin is
    quoted as saying.

    It seems freedom of expression is no defence.

    "That is why they were against Hrant,"=2
    0Rakel says. "They could not
    digest what he was writing about, even though he used very soft
    language."

    But Turkey's drive to enter the EU has made nationalists feel
    threatened, and that has made them aggressive.

    The Armenian issue, and the treatment of millions of Kurds in Turkey,
    have become critical flashpoints.

    'Once-and-for-all fight'

    Almost 50 writers have been brought to trial since May for insulting
    the nation.


    "Democracy means questioning, it means self-critique - and this is the
    thing they [nationalists] would not like," explains Umut Ozkirimli,
    from Istanbul's Bilgi University.

    "For them, when you start questioning things you become a traitor."

    That is why Hrant Dink was murdered.

    It is also why at least 20 writers in Istanbul are now living with
    bodyguards.

    Oral Calislar is one of them. A close friend of Hrant Dink, he is also
    a well-known critic of the Turkish military - particularly its policy
    towards ethnic Kurds.

    He has had dozens of death threats. Now, wherever he goes his armed
    guard goes with him.

    "We want to change this country into a democratic country and the EU
    accession process is important for that," the journalist says.

    "I think because of that, some powers in the state want to shut our
    mouths."

    Mr Calislar is sure Mr Dink's murder is part of a far broader
    resistance to reform. He sees that deep within institutions of the

    Turkish state; groups clinging to power - and to their own vision of
    the republic.

    "This is a once-and-for-all fight. It's been going on in the closet for
    80 years, between those who want change and those who don't," Mr
    Ozkirimli agrees.

    "If the whole project of EU membership goes away, [then] the democratic
    forces will lose, and forever," he adds.

    'Ergenekon' trial

    In that battle for democracy, Hrant Dink was on the frontline. Now
    there is another sign the fight will be fierce.


    Eighty ultra-nationalists are currently on trial just outside Istanbul,
    accused of plotting to overthrow the government and block democratic
    reforms.

    The prosecutor claims the group - known as Ergenekon - planned a
    campaign of murder and violence. It was meant to create chaos - and
    force the military to step in and take control.

    Hrant Dink believed Turkey could change. His vision was of a truly
    democratic republic and the EU accession process was a vital part of
    that.

    To his widow, such change now looks a long way off.

    "[Turkey] doesn't want people to express their ethnic identity, or live
    freely. That doesn't fit the founding ideas of this country,' Rakel
    says.

    "Turkey needs time to adjust. The EU process may help, but my husband's
    death is their biggest loss."
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