“In Turkey you can be brought before a judge or tribunal for what you
write on Twitter or Facebook”
Agencia Prensa Armenia
On the 8th anniversary of Hrant Dink’s murder, Prensa Armenia
interviewed Nedim Åžener, a Turkish journalist that investigated
the large amount of evidence on the role of the police, close to the
Gülen Movement, in preparing the ground for the murder of Hrant Dink.
He spent a year at the high security prison in Silivri on charges of
being a member of an armed terrorist organization and he is currently
facing a possible sentence of 15 years in his trial.
What did Hrant Dink represent for the Turkish society? Was he
dangerous?
Hrant Dink was the peacemaker, the representative of peace for the
Turkish society, but it was dangerous for the Turkish state. In his
youth he had been persecuted accused of involvement in leftist and
pro-Armenian activities and after founding the Agos newspaper, he was
under close surveillance. All this proves that Dink was seen as
dangerous to the state. He wanted to prove that discussions in Turkey
about the Armenian Genocide were possible to make them in a language
of peace and empathy, but he was not allowed. Instead of friendship,
enmity and fear won.
Who was behind his murder?
The gang who pulled the trigger and the officials that the state had
on the street. We know all the names and years ago we wrote about
them. The intelligence service of the Police, the National
Intelligence Organization and the Border Police are responsible for
first-degree murder. A part of the research includes the members of
the Gülen community. Soon we will see progress on this issue, and that
will open the case again.
What was the role of Gülen in the construction of the repressive
apparatus in Turkey?
The seeds of fear in society were sown long before the growth of the
Gülen Movement. The Gülen community is the basis of today’s climate of
fear through the state bureaucracy, particularly the Police, the
intelligence, the Attorney General and through the media that they
handle. The news published in their media were the first to support
the police and prosecutors operations that filed charged against
journalists who were arrested and imprisoned as members of a terrorist
organization. In fact, after the documents that I wrote concerning
Ergenekon, the books about Fetullah Gülen, assassination of Hrant Dink
and the lies of intelligence, I was their target.
What is your opinion about the recent raids on journalists in Turkey?
Press freedom leads the list of the worst things that happen in
Turkey. The previous discussion was on this subject, but the events
show us that it is now a matter of freedom of expression. Not only
they accuse you for what you write in newspapers or books, but you can
also be brought before a judge or tribunal for what you write on
Twitter or Facebook. Therefore in Turkey the issue is not only of
press freedom but also of what society writes.
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