Author: Antonian Lara

IPI Deplores Callous Murder of Journalist in Istanbul

International Press Institute (press release), Austria
Jan 22 2007

22 January 2007

On Friday, 19 January, the Turkish-Armenian journalist, Hrant Dink,
was murdered outside the offices of the newspaper he founded.

The journalist, who worked for the weekly newspaper Agos, was
apparently shot twice in the head and once in the neck.

Dink was a popular journalist who has faced legal problems for his
articles about the massacre of Armenians during the First World War.

These comments have frequently tested harsh Turkish restrictions on
discussing this topic, which prohibit "insulting Turkishness." In July,
Dink lost an appeal over a suspended six-month prison sentence handed
down for an article discussing the massacre.

Aside from this criminal case, Dink was also facing prosecution for a
second article condemning his conviction. Turkish prosecutors believe
it was an attempt to influence the administration of justice.

The reason for the Turkish government’s desire to prosecute journalists
and writers who discuss the Armenian massacre is related to the
terminology used. Since the event occurred, the Turkish government
has refused to accept the term "genocide," while a number of other
countries have recognised the term in relation to the incident.

On 20 January, Turkish police arrested a young man suspected of
carrying out the murder. According to newspaper reports, he is believed
to belong to the youth wing of a right-wing nationalist party.

Commenting on the murder, IPI Director Johann P. Fritz, said, "This
is a terrible event for Turkish press freedom. It sends the inevitable
signal to all Turkish media that, if you discuss the Armenian massacre
in the same terms as Dink, you face not only constant harassment from
the authorities, but the possibility of assassination."

"In order for Turkey to take its rightful place among other democratic
nations, it must do away with all laws that inhibit discussion and
dialogue about the massacre of Armenians during the First World War."

"While the investigation has yet to be carried out, it seems probable
to me that the continued existence of the dated notion of ‘Turkishness’
encourages others to take the law into their own hands and commit
violence."

"I think the time has now come for the government to realise that
such laws have no place in a modern society. I would also hope that,
following Dink’s murder, there is an open discussion about these
issues leading to an agreement by all sides to consign such laws to
Turkish history," Fritz added.

UNESCO Deplores Killing of Journalists, Media Workers in Turkey, Iraq

NewsBlaze, CA
Jan 22 2007

Condemning the killings of journalists in Iraq and Turkey, the head
of the United Nations body mandated to protect press freedom today
once again stressed the vital role played by the media in establishing
democracy and the rule of law.

Those murdered in recent days included Hrant Dink, editor of the
Turkish Armenian-language weekly Agos, and at least six Iraqi reporters
and media workers.

"Freedom of expression is a fundamental human right and press freedom,
its corollary, is a cornerstone of democracy and rule of law,"
UNESCO Director-General Koiro Matsuura said in a statement
on Mr. Dink’s killing. "I welcome the speed with which the Turkish
authorities investigated this case, proof of their determination not
to let this heinous crime go unpunished," he added.

Mr. Matsuura has repeatedly deplored the murder of Iraqi media
workers in recent months. "I am horrified by the number of Iraqi
journalists who are paying with their lives for their professional
commitment to the fundamental human right of freedom of expression,"
he said in his latest statement.

"Both government officials and media practitioners agree on the
essential role of press freedom in the reconstruction of Iraq,"
he added, recalling the declaration adopted by participants at the
International Conference on Freedom of Expression and Media Development
in Iraq, which UNESCO hosted earlier this month.

"They also agree on the need to investigate and bring to justice those
guilty of crimes against journalists, I now hope that the authorities
on the ground will cooperate in making this wish a reality."

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported that Khudr Younis
al-Obaidi, a reporter for the Al-Diuwan newspaper, was killed by
unknown gunmen on 15 January in Mosul, in the north of Iraq.

According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), several employees of
the governmental daily Al Sabah were killed from 12 to 16 January.
Two, whose names have not been revealed, were kidnapped from the Al
Sabah’s offices in Baghdad on 12 January and found with their throats
cut the next day. Yassin Aid Assef, a correspondent for the daily,
was killed by a bomb on 14 January while covering a story in Baghdad.
The next day journalist Falah Khalaf Al Diyali was shot dead by
unidentified gunmen in Ramadi, west of Baghdad.

According to RSF’s tally, 146 journalists and media assistants have
been killed since the United States-led coalition invaded Iraq in
March 2003.

Source: United Nations

Agence France Presse — English
January 20, 2007 Saturday

Armenian churches to mourn slain journalist

Armenian churches throughout the world will hold special remembrance
services on Sunday for slain Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink,
church authorities said.

"Dink’s untimely death has shocked all of us. We condemn this murder,
which took away a talented and brave son of his people, with profound
indignation," Armenian patriarch Karekin II said in a statement on
Saturday.

The press service of the Armenian Church said a special memorial
service for Dink would be held Sunday in all Armenian churches,
including the main cathedral of Echmiadzin.

Outside of Armenia, there are also many Armenian churches spread
across Europe the Middle East and the United States attended by a
large diaspora of ethnic-Armenians.

Committee to Protect Journalists – CPJ Press Freedom Online, NY
Jan 19 2007

Turkish-Armenian editor murdered in Istanbul

New York, January 19, 2007 – The Committee to Protect Journalists
condemns the murder today of a prominent Turkish-Armenian editor
outside his newspaper’s offices in Istanbul. Hrant Dink, 52, managing
editor of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, was shot three
times in the neck, according to the Turkish television channel NTV.

Dink had received numerous death threats from nationalist Turks who
viewed his iconoclastic journalism, particularly on the mass killings
of Armenians in the early 20th century, as an act of treachery. In a
January 10 article in Agos, Dink said he had passed along a
particularly threatening letter to Istanbul’s Sisli district
prosecutor, but no action had been taken.

`Through his journalism Hrant Dink sought to shed light on Turkey’s
troubled past and create a better future for Turks and Armenians.
This earned him many enemies, but he vowed to continue writing
despite receiving many threats,’ said CPJ Executive Director Joel
Simon. `An assassin has now silenced one of Turkey’s most courageous
voices. We are profoundly shocked and saddened by this crime, and
send our deepest condolences to Hrant Dink’s family, colleagues, and
friends.’

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned Dink’s death as an
attack against Turkey’s unity and promised to catch those
responsible, according to international news reports. Police
identified the assailant as a young man dressed in a white hat and a
denim jacket, and they detained two people as part of their
investigation, NTV reported.

`This murder must not go unpunished as have previous slayings of
journalists,’ said CPJ’s Simon. `We call on the Turkish authorities
to do all in their power to ensure that those responsible are brought
to justice swiftly.’

In the last 15 years, 18 other Turkish journalists have been killed
for their work, many of them murdered, making it the eighth deadliest
country in the world for journalists, CPJ research shows. The last
killing was in 1999. More recently, journalists, academics, and
others have been subjected to pervasive legal harassment for
statements that allegedly insult the Turkish identity, CPJ research
shows.

Dink, a Turkish citizen of Armenian descent, had been prosecuted
several times in recent years – for writing about the mass killings of
Armenians by Turks at the beginning of the 20th century, for
criticizing lines in the Turkish national anthem that he considered
discriminatory, and even for commenting publicly on the cases against
him. His office had also been the target of protests.

In July 2006, Turkey’s High Court of Appeals upheld a six-month
suspended prison sentence against Dink for violating Article 301 of
the penal code in a case sparked by complaints from nationalist
activists. His prosecution stemmed from a series of articles in early
2004 dealing with the collective memory of the Armenian massacres of
1915-17 under the Ottoman Empire. Armenians call the killings the
first genocide of the 20th century, a term that Turkey rejects.

Ironically, the pieces for which Dink was convicted had appealed to
diaspora Armenians to let go of their anger against the Turks. The
prosecution was sharply criticized by the European Union, which
Turkey is seeking to join. Dink said he would take the case to the
European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, to clear his
name.

Dink was one of dozens of writers who have been prosecuted in the
past two years under controversial penal code provisions that
criminalize statements deemed as insulting to the Turkish identity,
particularly in regard to the Armenian killings, CPJ research shows.
The local press freedom group Bia said at least 65 cases have been
launched against journalists, writers and academics. The EU has urged
Turkey to reform its laws to eliminate such prosecutions.

Dink edited Agos for all of the newspaper’s 11-year existence. Agos,
the only Armenian newspaper in Turkey, had a circulation of just
6,000 but its political influence was vast. Dink regularly appeared
on television to express his views.

In a February 2006 interview with CPJ, Dink said Turkish nationalists
had targeted him for legal harassment. `The prosecutions are not a
surprise for me. They want to teach me a lesson because I am
Armenian. They try to keep me quiet.’ Asked who `they’ are, Dink
replied, `the deep state in Turkey’.

He was referring not to the Islamist-based government of Prime
Minister Erdogan, but to the secular nationalist forces supported by
sections of the army, security forces, and parts of the justice and
interior ministries. The nationalists, political heirs of Mustafa
Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, still exert considerable
influence in Turkey.

Dink said in the CPJ interview that he hoped his critical reporting
would pave the way for peace between the two peoples. `I want to
write and ask how we can change this historical conflict into peace,’
he said.

In the interview, Dink said he did not think the tide had yet turned
in favor of critical writers – `the situation in Turkey is tense’ – but
he believed that it ultimately would. `I believe in democracy and
press freedom. I am determined to pursue the struggle.’

The New York Times
STEPHEN KINZER
A journalist’s dangerous mission
By Stephen Kinzer | January 20, 2007

THE LAST TIME I met Hrant Dink, the Turkish-Armenian journalist who
was murdered in Istanbul yesterday, I felt a sudden need to do more
than just exchange pleasantries. This was several months ago, and we
were sampling one of Turkey’s great delights, dinner aboard a boat
cruising the Bosphorus. Life for Dink, however, had become less than
delightful. He was being fiercely denounced by the ultra nationalist
press, and seemed subdued and preoccupied.

I pulled him aside and told him how important his work was, how much
support he had in Turkey and beyond, and what a journalistic hero he
had become. "I understand," he replied simply. "I do not stop."

Dink was in the forefront of a growing number of Turks who want their
government to admit that leaders of the crumbling Ottoman Empire
directed a mass slaughter of Armenians in 1915. These are the same
Turks who want their country to break away from its authoritarian past
and complete its march toward full democracy.

Some Turkish nationalists, however, feel deeply threatened by their
country’s progress toward modernity. During the 1980s, they gunned
down the country’s leading journalists. In the 1990s they concentrated
their fire on Kurdish nationalists, hundreds of whom were killed by
death squads that acted with absolute impunity.

In recent years, many Turks had allowed themselves to believe those
bad days were over. But with an election campaign approaching,
nationalist rhetoric is again surfacing in political speeches and
militant newspapers. Much of it contains ugly insinuations that
Armenians, Kurds, and members of other minority groups threaten
Turkey’s national unity and its very survival.

Rare is the government official or military officer who condemns this
rhetoric. Some not only encourage it but protect accused killers from
prosecution. That has emboldened radicals and led them to believe that
the state tacitly supports them.

By their silence, and by failing to condemn attacks like a bombing
evidently staged by army officers in the Kurdish town of Semdinli 14
months ago, Turkish political leaders and military commanders helped
set the stage for yesterday’s murder. In his weekly newspaper, Agos,
which was published in both Turkish and Armenian, Dink wrote as he
pleased, refusing to observe unwritten taboos that shackle the Turkish
press. He was charged several times with the Orwellian crime of
"insulting Turkishness." On one occasion he was convicted, although
his six-month sentence was suspended. Each time he appeared in court,
a crowd of ultra nationalists staged a violent scene, showering him
with abuse and trying to assault him.

This was the same gang that screamed insults at the Nobel
Prize-winning novelist Orhan Pamuk when he was brought to trial last
year. Dink attended Pamuk’s trial in a show of solidarity, driving the
militants to new heights of fury.

Turkish nationalists believed they won a great victory when, at the
end of last year, the European Union suspended talks aimed at making
Turkey an EU member. They still hope to turn back the democratic tide
that is engulfing their country. Some apparently believe that if they
cannot do it by indicting free thinkers, they can do it through
murder. This attack has generated revulsion across Turkey. It will
undoubtedly galvanize the country’s large and increasingly bold corps
of human rights advocates.

Their first step may be to intensify their campaign for repeal of the
notorious Article 301 of the Turkish penal code, which places a series
of restrictions on free press. To achieve that, and to finish
reshaping Turkey’s political system, will not be easy. Turkey is being
torn by an epochal crisis of identity. The old and oppressive
political tradition is dying, but its death throes are becoming
disturbingly violent.

Political leaders, and their colleagues in uniform, seem to believe
they can tolerate and even make use of ultranationalist
ideologues. Yesterday’s murder shows how dangerous that course
is. Reports from Istanbul suggest that the man who committed the
murder was very young, perhaps a teenager. His arrest will not calm
outraged Turks. Their anger is directed not simply against the man who
pulled the trigger, but also against those who created the venomous
climate that made this crime possible.

Turkey’s violent ultra nationalist fringe, long supported by elements
in the police and military, aims not only to kill journalists but also
to stop the progress of Turkish history. No government has tried
seriously to crush it. Yesterday’s murder, and the wave of anger it
has set off, gives Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan a chance to do
so.

Stephen Kinzer is a former chief of the New York Times bureau in
Istanbul and author of "Crescent and Star: Turkey Between Two Worlds."

Christian Broadcasting Network, VA
Jan 19 2007

Armenian Journalist Killed by Gunman
By Benjamin Harvey
Associated Press Writer
January 19, 2007

CBNNews.com – ISTANBUL, Turkey – A journalist who faced constant
threats and protests as one of the most prominent voices of Turkey’s
shrinking Armenian community was shot to death Friday at the entrance
to his newspaper’s offices, police said.

Hrant Dink, a 53-year-old Turkish citizen of Armenian descent, had
gone on trial numerous times for speaking out about the mass killings
of Armenians by Turks at the beginning of the 20th century. He had
also received threats from nationalists, who viewed him as a traitor.

In October 2005, he was convicted of trying to influence the
judiciary after the bilingual Turkish-Armenian newspaper he edited,
Agos, ran stories criticizing a law making it a crime to insult
Turkey, the Turkish government or the Turkish national character.

He was given a six-month suspended sentence.

The conviction was rare even in a country where trials of
journalists, academics and writers have become common. Most of the
cases, including that of the Nobel Prize-winning novelist Orhan
Pamuk, were either dropped on a technicality or led to acquittals.

Dink cried during an interview with The Associated Press last year as
he talked about some of his countrymen’s hatred for him, saying he
could not stay in a country where he was unwanted.

"I’m living together with Turks in this country," Dink told the AP.
"I don’t think I could live with an identity of having insulted them
in this country. if I am unable to come up with a positive result, it
will be honorable for me to leave this country."

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned Dink’s death as an
attack against Turkey’s unity and promised to catch those
responsible.

Erdogan said two suspects had been arrested, but offered no details.

"Once again, dark hands have chosen our country and spilled blood in
Istanbul to achieve their dark goals," Erdogan said at a news
conference.

The prime minister said he had assigned top officials from the
Justice Ministry to the case and that they were on their way to
Istanbul from the capital, Ankara.

International Herald Tribune, France
Jan 20 2007

Turkish journalist honored as authorities search for his killer
The Associated PressPublished: January 20, 2007

ISTANBUL, Turkey: The killing of prominent journalist Hrant Dink put
Turkey in a mood of shock, shame and self-reflection – and prompted
an emotional outpouring of support for a man whose life was largely
defined by battles with those who saw him as an enemy of his nation.

Dink, an ethnic Armenian newspaper editor who faced numerous trials
and venomous insults for saying the killing of Armenians by Turks in
the last century was genocide, was shot several times Friday
afternoon by an unidentified assassin. He died a violent and public
death in broad daylight on the sidewalk outside his paper’s office on
a busy street in Istanbul.

Though the motives for the killing remained unclear, most Turks
assumed Dink was targeted and killed for his comments on genocide,
which nationalists said were insults to Turkey’s honor and
threatening to its unity.

Dink, a Turkish citizen of Armenian descent, was no stranger to
hatred directed against him.

"Fascists were attacking me with racist curses," he wrote in his last
newspaper column, dated Jan. 10. "They were humiliating me with
banners. Hundreds of threats via e-mail, phone calls and letters were
pouring down and they were increasing day by day in number … I was
in the most embarrassing situation a man can experience."

He said he considered leaving Turkey, but then, "I know myself.
After three days abroad, I miss my country. … We would stay and
resist."

Turkey’s media was unanimous in claiming Dink as one of its own after
the slaying – an irony for a man who constantly struggled to shake
himself of the label of traitor.

"Hrant Dink is Turkey," ran the headline in the daily Milliyet.

"The greatest betrayal," Sabah newspaper said of the killing.

"Armenian journalist Dink slain, Turkey appalled," Zaman’s English
paper said.

Dink was critical of both Turkey and of the Armenian Diaspora’s harsh
stance against it. He said he would stay here in the hopes that cases
he opened at the European Court of Human Rights would be resolved in
his favor, and do something to improve his country.

"When a positive verdict is declared, I will surely be happier, and
then this will mean that I will never have to leave my country," he
wrote.

Turkey’s relationship with its Armenian minority has long been
haunted by memories of a brutal past. Much of Turkey’s
once-influential Armenian population was killed or driven out
beginning around 1915 in what an increasing number of countries are
recognizing as the first genocide of the 20th century.

Turks vehemently deny that their ancestors committed genocide,
however, and saying so is tantamount to treason here.

Photographs of the man believed to be Dink’s killer were broadcast on
television Saturday along with pleas to help track him down. The man
appeared to be thin, in his late teens or early 20s, with an angular
face and a wisp of a mustache. One photograph captured him running,
tucking a gun into his waistband.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to track the killer down
and to expose the motives and planners behind the crime.

"The bullets aimed at Hrant Dink were shot into all of us," he said
Saturday in one of several televised comments on the killing.

Public sentiment seemed to be one of disgust at the crime, and many
newspapers adopted an ashamed and frustrated tone in talking of the
killing.

"In this era, Turkey is a country where the Rev. Andrea Santoro is
murdered!" wrote columnist Taha Akyol in Milliyet, referring to the
killing last year of a Catholic priest as he prayed in his church in
Turkey. "It’s a country where the moderate Armenian journalist Hrant
Dink is murdered! It’s a country that puts writers on trial!"

"Assassination? What a cold, distant word," wrote Perihan Magden in
an emotional column addressed to Dink in Radikal. "They sacrificed
you, good man."

Ismet Berkan, editor-in-chief of Radikal, complained of a "murderous
nationalist atmosphere" that led to Dink’s death.

"We created this atmosphere knowingly, step-by-step," he wrote. "The
most painful thing is this: to know that Hrant is neither the first
nor the last."

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said Turkey was
the eighth deadliest country in the world for journalists. Turkey’s
Zaman newspaper said 62 journalists had been "assassinated" in the
nation’s 84-year history.

Dink’s funeral is scheduled for Tuesday at the Meryem Ana church,
after which he will be buried at the Balikli Armenian cemetery in
Istanbul.

Paris-Normandie, France
18 janvier 2007 jeudi

Danse Hayastan samedi A EVREUX;
L’art de vivre du ballet arménien Navasart

par CoderckMaryse

Notre volonté est de faire connaître notre pays d’origine et son
esprit festif autrement qu’à travers les événements tragiques que
l’on connaît pour mettre l’accent sur la culture arménienne,
soulignent avec passion les représentants de l’Association normande
de solidarité arménienne (Ansa) organisatrice de l’événement Hayastan
à Evreux. Il s’agit du tout nouveau spectacle du ballet Navasart qui
fte ses 40 ans à l’occasion de l’année de l’Arménie en France. Une
création originale dont la première sera donnée à Paris les 3 et
4mars au Palais des Congrès (avant une tournée en France).

Des artistes bénévoles

Vous aurez la Bourgogne comme terre d’Asile. Depuis ces mots
prononcés par Saint-Loui au XIIIe siècle déjà, beaucoup de familles
victimes des génocides et notamment ceux perpétrés par les Turcs en
1915, se sont installées en France et en Normandie. L’Ensemble
Navasart met en scène l’histoire contrastée de cette nation
arménienne en qute de liberté, d’autonomie culturelle et spirituelle
avec toujours cette foi en la danse et la musique élevées au rang
d’art de vivre.

Composé de trente-cinq artistes bénévoles, danseurs et musiciens au
professionnalisme internationalement reconnu, l’ensemble s’accompagne
de musiciens aux instruments traditionnels restituant toute l’me de
la culture arménienne. Le spectacle est conçu comme une fable
dynamique à l’image de la troupe. Dans un esprit de communauté, ils
sont tous passionnés par l’Arménie, la musique transcendant leur
existence ce qui explique également leur vraie notoriété en Arménie
et ailleurs. C’est un des temps forts de cette année de l’Arménie en
France, souligne le président d’Ansa, Vahram Seraidarian.

Maryse Codec

l A 20 h 30 samedi 20 janvier au Cadran, boulevard de Normandie.
Tarifs : 2 8 et 25Û.Réservations au02.32.29.63.32.

HRAYR KARAPETIAN DOES NOT EXCLUDE THAT ARFD CAN APPEAR IN OPPOSITION
AFTER PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS

YEREVAN, JANUARY 19, NOYAN TAPAN. "ARFD has already worked out its
preelection platform that will be published soon. It includes spheres
of foreign politics, economics, social life, etc." Hrayr Karapetian,
leader of ARFD parliamentary faction, said this at the January 19
press conference. He declared that ARFD attaches great importance to
holding of free elections and is ready to create a united headquarters
on control over the elections together with other political forces,
including the opposition. As H.Karapetian affirmed, ARFD does not
conduct negotiations with any political force on creation of a
preelection bloc, as the party’s general meeting made a decision that
ARFD will run for the parliamentary elections independently. At the
same time, he did not exclude that ARFD can appear in opposition after
the elections. "For us, the most important is the country leadership’s
political line’s coinciding with our political approaches and
tasks. Coming to power is not an end in itself for us," H.Karapetian
declared. In his words, President L.Ter-Petrosian had offered ARFD
much more posts than the party has now, but due to the fact that the
political course of the first President did not coincide with the
approaches of ARFD, the latter preferred to pass to the radical
opposition. As regards the current power, the MP declared that its
political course on main issues coincides with party’s tasks. As
regards "Bargavach Hayastan party’s standing close to the President"
and possibility of political jealousy by ARFD, H.Karapetian assured:
"We are not jealous of any one and especially when the matter concerns
the President. We do not think that country’s future should be
connected with personalities."

The editor of the Armenian newspaper of Istanbul ‘Agos’ Hrant Dink is killed

19.01.2007 18:34

YEREVAN (YERKIR) – A prominent Turkish-Armenian journalist was shot
to death Friday, according to CNN Turk.

He is Hrant Dink, editor of the Armenian-Turkish language weekly Agos
magazine. He was shot dead in front of the Istanbul newspaper as he
was leaving.

Described as a "well-known commentator on Armenian affairs," Dink in
2005 had been "convicted to a six-month suspended sentence on charges
of ‘insult to the Turkish state,’ " according to Pen American Center —
the writers’ group that promotes free expression.

"This is just one of a number of cases brought out against him in
recent months in an apparent campaign of harassment against him.

"Some of the trial hearings have been marred by violent scenes inside
and outside the courtrooms, instigated by nationalist activists
calling for Dink to be punished," a profile on Pen’s Web site said.

Dink was one of the most prominent voices of Turkey’s shrinking
Armenian community.

A 53-year-old Turkish citizen of Armenian descent, had gone on
trial numerous times here for speaking out about the mass killings
of Armenians by Turks at the beginning of the 20th century. He had
received threats from nationalists, who viewed him as a traitor.

Dink was a public figure in Turkey, and as the editor of the bilingual
Turkish-Armenian newspaper Agos, one of its most prominent Armenian
voices.

In an earlier interview with The Associated Press, Dink had cried
as he talked about some of his fellow countrymen’s hatred for him,
saying he could not stay in a country where he was unwanted.

Private NTV television said police were searching for the suspected
murderer, believed to be a teenager wearing a white hat and a denim
jacket, but the identity and motivation of the shooter were unknown,
AP reported.

Dink’s body could be seen covered with a white sheet in front of the
newspaper’s entrance. NTV said four empty shell casings were found
on the ground and that he was killed by two bullets to the head.

Fehmi Koru, a columnist at the Yeni Safak newspaper, said the murder
was aimed at destabilizing Turkey.

"His loss is the loss of Turkey," Koru said.