Trial in Editor’s Killing Opens, Testing Rule of Law in Turkey
Jul 2, 2007
New York Times, United States
By SABRINA TAVERNISE
Published: July 3, 2007
ISTANBUL, July 2 — Eighteen young men charged in the assassination of the newspaper editor Hrant Dink went on trial here on Monday in what has been described as a test of the rule of law in Turkey.
Mr. Dink, a Turkish citizen of Armenian descent, was shot dead in front of his office on Jan. 19. A day later, a Turkish teenager, Ogun Samast, was arrested and charged with the murder. The government has brought charges against 17 other people.
Mr. Dink, the editor of Agos, a bilingual newspaper, challenged the official Turkish version of the 1915 Armenian genocide, which holds that hundreds of thousands of Armenians perished because of hunger and suffering in World War I.
But he was working to mend relations between Turkey and Armenia and had even taken issue with Armenians who insisted that Turkey’s entry into Europe hinge on its acknowledgment of genocide.
The trial’s verdict will have broad implications for free speech. Ultranationalist Turks have used an article of the country’s criminal code that forbids “insulting Turkishness” to push the government to bring charges against Turkish writers, including Orhan Pamuk, the Nobel Prize-winning novelist. Mr. Dink received a suspended sentence under the statute. His supporters argue that a limp prosecution of his killing will embolden nationalists.
At the trial, closed to the public because some of the defendants were minors, Mr. Samast exercised his legal right to silence, said Fethiye Cetin, a lawyer for Mr. Dink’s family, according to the state-run Anatolian News Agency.
Four defendants, Erhan Tuncel, Yasin Hayal, Ersin Yolcu and Ahmet Iskender, testified, and two others asked for lawyers before speaking, Ms. Cetin said.
Mr. Samast previously confessed to the killing, according to Turkish authorities, saying he had been angered by Mr. Dink’s columns on Armenian history and had come to Istanbul from the Black Sea town of Trabzon to kill him.
A crowd of Mr. Dink’s supporters stood a short distance from the mustard-colored courthouse, which was used as a military court for years but is now a criminal court as part of a legal reform in preparation for Turkey’s bid to join the European Union.
His lawyers’ main concern is that the trial will not get to the heart of the hate crime they say was highly organized by a network of ultranationalist Turks in collaboration with Turkish authorities. Shortly after the killing, a video surfaced showing the main suspect posing with Turkish police officers. Security officials were fired over the incident.
“The gang does not consist of these suspects only,” Ms. Cetin said of the 18 defendants, according to the news agency. “It is far more planned and organized. There is almost an intentional misconduct of the gendarmerie and police in this incident.”
Lawyers for the defendants say the attention to the case will make a fair trial impossible.
Liberal Turks are skeptical that the trial will result in justice for Mr. Dink. The country’s establishment, which encourages nationalism, was deeply suspicious of him.
“The judgment will not be free,” said Aydin Ozipek, an economics student at Fatih University in Istanbul. “There is a ruling class of people who want everybody to be the same — no Kurds, no Armenians, no head scarves.”
In a petition to the court to allow him to take part in the trial, Mr. Dink’s brother, Hosrof Dink, described their childhood in an orphanage and a lifetime of discrimination.
“We thought we were born as human beings,” he wrote in the petition, circulated by a group of his brother’s supporters. “In time, against our will, we were given many identities; we were labeled.”
The trial, he said, “will be between the people who believe in the rule of law and the people who say: ‘We are the law. We are the state.’ ” His request to take part was granted.
The court worked well into the evening, then adjourned until Oct. 1. Charges continue against all 18 defendants, but only eight were kept in custody, Turkish television reported.
Sebnem Arsu contributed reporting.
New York Times, United States
By SABRINA TAVERNISE
Published: July 3, 2007
ISTANBUL, July 2 — Eighteen young men charged in the assassination of the newspaper editor Hrant Dink went on trial here on Monday in what has been described as a test of the rule of law in Turkey.
Mr. Dink, a Turkish citizen of Armenian descent, was shot dead in front of his office on Jan. 19. A day later, a Turkish teenager, Ogun Samast, was arrested and charged with the murder. The government has brought charges against 17 other people.
Mr. Dink, the editor of Agos, a bilingual newspaper, challenged the official Turkish version of the 1915 Armenian genocide, which holds that hundreds of thousands of Armenians perished because of hunger and suffering in World War I.
But he was working to mend relations between Turkey and Armenia and had even taken issue with Armenians who insisted that Turkey’s entry into Europe hinge on its acknowledgment of genocide.
The trial’s verdict will have broad implications for free speech. Ultranationalist Turks have used an article of the country’s criminal code that forbids “insulting Turkishness” to push the government to bring charges against Turkish writers, including Orhan Pamuk, the Nobel Prize-winning novelist. Mr. Dink received a suspended sentence under the statute. His supporters argue that a limp prosecution of his killing will embolden nationalists.
At the trial, closed to the public because some of the defendants were minors, Mr. Samast exercised his legal right to silence, said Fethiye Cetin, a lawyer for Mr. Dink’s family, according to the state-run Anatolian News Agency.
Four defendants, Erhan Tuncel, Yasin Hayal, Ersin Yolcu and Ahmet Iskender, testified, and two others asked for lawyers before speaking, Ms. Cetin said.
Mr. Samast previously confessed to the killing, according to Turkish authorities, saying he had been angered by Mr. Dink’s columns on Armenian history and had come to Istanbul from the Black Sea town of Trabzon to kill him.
A crowd of Mr. Dink’s supporters stood a short distance from the mustard-colored courthouse, which was used as a military court for years but is now a criminal court as part of a legal reform in preparation for Turkey’s bid to join the European Union.
His lawyers’ main concern is that the trial will not get to the heart of the hate crime they say was highly organized by a network of ultranationalist Turks in collaboration with Turkish authorities. Shortly after the killing, a video surfaced showing the main suspect posing with Turkish police officers. Security officials were fired over the incident.
“The gang does not consist of these suspects only,” Ms. Cetin said of the 18 defendants, according to the news agency. “It is far more planned and organized. There is almost an intentional misconduct of the gendarmerie and police in this incident.”
Lawyers for the defendants say the attention to the case will make a fair trial impossible.
Liberal Turks are skeptical that the trial will result in justice for Mr. Dink. The country’s establishment, which encourages nationalism, was deeply suspicious of him.
“The judgment will not be free,” said Aydin Ozipek, an economics student at Fatih University in Istanbul. “There is a ruling class of people who want everybody to be the same — no Kurds, no Armenians, no head scarves.”
In a petition to the court to allow him to take part in the trial, Mr. Dink’s brother, Hosrof Dink, described their childhood in an orphanage and a lifetime of discrimination.
“We thought we were born as human beings,” he wrote in the petition, circulated by a group of his brother’s supporters. “In time, against our will, we were given many identities; we were labeled.”
The trial, he said, “will be between the people who believe in the rule of law and the people who say: ‘We are the law. We are the state.’ ” His request to take part was granted.
The court worked well into the evening, then adjourned until Oct. 1. Charges continue against all 18 defendants, but only eight were kept in custody, Turkish television reported.
Sebnem Arsu contributed reporting.
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
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