Turkey charges editor for remarks

December 27, 2005
The Seattle Times
By LOUIS MEIXLER
The Associated Press

ISTANBUL, Turkey — A Turkish prosecutor has opened a new case against one of the country's leading Turkish-Armenians for comments he made about an earlier prosecution.

Hrant Dink, editor of the bilingual Armenian-Turkish newspaper Agos, was convicted in October of "insulting Turkishness" and received a six-month suspended sentence. The case became one of several prominent prosecutions over speech that prompted questions about Turkey's dedication to democracy from officials of the European Union, which Turkey is trying to join.

Defense lawyer Fethiye Cetin said Monday that Dink now faces charges of attempting to influence the judiciary, punishable by 4 ½ years in prison, for saying that he would leave the country if the case against him was not dropped.

A group of Turkish writers, academics, journalists and artists called on the government Monday to scrap the law making it a crime to insult Turkey, "Turkishness" or state institutions.
[...]
Three other journalists, including his son, also were charged with trying to influence the judiciary after they criticized Dink's conviction.

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