Denver Post, CO
Jan 24 2007
Outrage over death of Turk
Article Last Updated: 01/23/2007 11:06:17 PM MST
The murder of a crusading newspaper editor in Turkey last week has
resulted in a flood of public outrage for this crossroads Eurasian
country struggling with democratic and political reforms.
Hrant Dink, a prominent voice for ethnic Armenians, was shot to death
by a hard- line nationalist because he dared to call the 1915 mass
killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks a "genocide." Turkish
authorities past and present have denied that characterization, and
it’s a crime in Turkey to call it that.
Dink’s funeral Tuesday brought 100,000 people to the streets of
Istanbul to pay their respects and to protest the persecution of free
speech.
Turkey, a democratic republic that is 99 percent Muslim, is trying to
join the European Union, and Dink’s murder underscores concerns that
current EU countries have about Turkey’s respect for rule of law and
human rights. There are fears the country will return to the killings
of intellectuals that were routine a decade ago.
The reaction of the Turkish officials so far has been heartening.
They quickly deployed top officials to oversee the murder
investigation, condemned the killing and permitted a large public
funeral with its attendant free speech.
Every country has its radicals and miscreants. How a country deals
with them is the measure of its civilization. The world will closely
watch how Turkey navigates these difficult times.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
