TURKISH-ARMENIAN JOURNALIST CONDEMNED TO 6 MONTHS CONDITIONAL SENTENCE
Pan Armenian
08.10.2005 19:58 GMT+04:00
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ An Istanbul court on Friday sentenced Turkish
Ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, editor of the bilingual
Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, to a six-month suspended sentence
for “insult to the Turkish national identity.” This means that
“the ethnic Armenian journalist will not be taken into custody,
if he does not repeat what he has done.” In an article published
last year Dink has addressed Armenians, urging them “to give up
animosity against Turks, which poisons blood.” In the opinion of
Agos editor Karin Karakashli, the court has interpreted these words
out of the context and arrived at a conclusion that “Turkish blood,
in Dink’s words, is poisoned.” Mr. Dink himself denied the accusation,
considering it a political act. In his words, he would bring the case
to Turkey’s Supreme Court and to the European Court of Human Rights
if necessary. “If I am unable to come up with a positive result,
it will be honorable for me to leave this country,” H. Dink stated,
reported RFE/RL.