Author: Jilavian Emma

Turkish prosecutor says no link found yet between Dink murder, terror groups

Anatolia News Agency, Turkey
Jan 22 2007

ISTANBUL (A.A) -22.01.2007 -Investigators have found no connection
with any known terrorist groups so far in relation with the murder
of journalist Hrant Dink, an Istanbul chief prosecutor said on Monday.

"At this moment, there is no finding that would suggest the murder has
any relation or link to any known ideological or separatist terrorist
organization," Chief Prosecutor Aykut Cengiz Engin told the AA.

Dink, a prominent Turkish Armenian journalist and editor-in-chief of
the bilingual Agos weekly, was killed by a gunman last Friday outside
his newspaper offices in Istanbul.

Engin yet sounded cautious on the possibility that the incident might
be an organized act of crime.

At least seven people, who were suspected of involvement in the murder,
were also being questioned, Istanbul Police Chief Celalettin Cerrah
said earlier today.

The detainees included a man with the initials Y.H., who was convicted
of staging a bomb attack on a Mc Donald’s restaurant in the Black
Sea city of Trabzon in 2004.

Hürriyet, Turkey
Jan 21 2007

Suspect in Hrant Dink’s murder: I said my Friday Prayer and shot him

Ogün Samast, suspected of murdering Hrant Dink, Editor-in-chief of
Agos newspaper, said in the statement to Samsun police following his
arrest, `I shot him after I said my Friday Prayer’.

Hrant Dink’s murder suspect was arrested yesterday night in Samsun
after his father recognised his son on camera footage and informed
the police. Brought to Istanbul this morning, Samast was interrogated
by police. Four other suspects were arrested in in Trabzon and
brought before Istanbul police for questioning.

Samast admitted to murdering Dink in his first statement given in
Samsun. This is what he reportedly said his statement: `I read the
news on the internet. I saw that he said, `I’m from Turkey, but
Turkish blood is dirty’. That is why I decided to kill him. I do not
regret it.’

followthemedia.com , Switzerland
Jan 21 2007

They’re Killing The Journalists
Michael Hedges January 22, 2007

Hrant Dink, gunned down in Istanbul, became the latest journalist
murder victim to attract world-wide media coverage. The day-time
Friday shooting on a busy `European side’ of Istanbul street, his
newspaper office in sight, became a call to outrage. Perhaps editors
could not resist the AP and AFP photos of the sheet covered body,
boots and blood visible. Instant death: instant pictures.
Hrant Dink founded the bi-lingual Agos newspaper in 1986 to tell the
story of Armenians living in Turkey. He faced threats, trials and
punishment for `offending Turkishness,’ the crime of raising the
subject of Armenian genocide nearly a century ago. He told a recent
interviewer that his head swiveled `like a pigeon’ as he walked
through the streets, always alert to possible threats.

By Saturday Turkish police arrested a primary suspect, Ogun Samast,
and three or six or eight others. A closed circuit television camera
a short distance from the crime scene snapped a photo of a young man,
fitting witness descriptions, stuffing something under his shirt,
below his belt. Perhaps it was the weapon that had fired 2 or 3 or 4
bullets at close range into the head and neck of Hrant Dink. The
young mans’ photo was shown on all national television channels and
he was identified by his distraught father. The young man is 16 or 17
years old from the northern Turkey city Trabson. When captured on a
bus a gun was in his possession. Live television showed paramilitary
police examining the gun and dropping it in an evidence bag.

Witnesses on that busy Istanbul street reported the young man said or
shouted `I have killed the Armenian’ or `I have killed the
non-Muslim.’ Police reported Sunday that Samast admitted the
shooting.

`I read on the Internet that he said ‘I am from Turkey but Turkish
blood is dirty’ and I decided to kill him … I do not regret this,’
he told interrogators, according to CNN Turk.

Media coverage in Turkey and Armenia eclipsed all else. Universally,
Turkish media expressed shock. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdogan took to television saying, `The bullets aimed at Hrant Dink
were shot into all of us."

`TV networks broadcast the clips from Istanbul street protests
against the killing of the Armenian journalists,’ said RFE/RL Yerevan
bureau chief Harry Tamrazian in an email to ftm Friday night. `But
this is just a first day and I imagine there will be protests also in
Yerevan streets, as well as in the European capitals and US cities
where there are large Armenian communities.’

Other recent high-profile murders of journalists include Anna
Politkovskaya, shot to death in Moscow last October, Walid Hassan
shot to death in Iraq in November and Roberto Marcos Garcia, shot to
death in Mexico in November. All had the misfortune of investigating
and reporting. The World Association of Newspapers (WAN) tally of
media employees killed in 2006 shows 110 deaths, nearly a 100%
increase over 2005.

Whether a teenager with a gun or a crazy with a cause, they’re
killing the journalists.

nk22012007.htm

Associated Press
Jan 21 2007

Prosecutor: Teen admits killing editor

By BENJAMIN HARVEY, Associated Press Writer

ISTANBUL, Turkey – A teenage boy has confessed to fatally shooting an
ethnic Armenian journalist outside his newspaper office in a brazen
daytime attack, a prosecutor said Sunday.

Ogun Samast, who is either 16 or 17 years old, was caught in the Black
Sea city of Samsun late Saturday, a day after Hrant Dink was gunned
down in Istanbul. Police said the youth was captured following a tip
from his father after his pictures were broadcast on Turkish
television.

The slaying highlighted the precarious state of freedom of expression
in a country that is vying for European Union membership.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan praised the swift work of police,
saying "this is a lesson to those who want to shoot at freedoms …
to those who don’t want calm to reign in Turkey."

Chief prosecutor Ahmet Cokcinar told The Associated Press that the
teenager had confessed to killing Dink during initial questioning in
Samsun. He refused to give any further details.

Most Turks assume Dink, the 52-year-old editor of the Turkish-Armenian
newspaper Agos, was targeted for his columns saying the killing of
ethnic Armenians by Turks in the early 20th century was genocide.
Nationalists consider such statements an insult to Turkey’s honor and
a threat to its unity, and Dink had been showered with insults and
threats.

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

Turkey acknowledges that large numbers of Armenians died but
vehemently denies it was genocide, saying the overall figure is
inflated and the deaths occurred in the civil unrest during the
collapse of the Ottoman Empire.

Istanbul prosecutor Aykut Cengiz Engin told reporters that authorities
were investigating whether Samast acted alone or had ties to a group.

The suspect’s uncle Faik Samast told private NTV television that he
didn’t think his nephew – a high-school drop out – was capable of
shooting Dink on his own.

"He didn’t even know his way around Istanbul," Samast said. "This kid
was used."

Police detained six other suspects, including Yasin Hayal, who was
convicted in the bombing of a McDonald’s restaurant in the Black Sea
city of Trabzon in 2004, Turkish news reports said.

Armenpress

HRANT DINK’S MURDER NOT TO GIVE A BOOST TO EFFORTS TO
OPEN TURKISH-ARMENIAN BORDER

YEREVAN, JANUARY 20, ARMENPRESS: Ruben Safrastian,
the director of the Institute for Oriental Studies, an
affiliation of the National Academy of Sciences,
doubted today that the murder of Hrant Dink, the chief
editor of Agos weekly in Istanbul, may give an extra
boost to international efforts aimed at opening of the
Turkish-Armenian border.
Safrastian argued that the murder would deepen
further the existing opinions. Safrastian’s views were
echoed by Alexander Iskanderian, head of the
Yerevan-based Caucasian Media Institute.
Safrastian said despite the extensive talk about
the possibility of reopening the border this is not in
sight yet. "Talk about opening the border is not
frank. Not a single Turkish political force, not a
document adopted by Ankara has ever spoken in favor of
the open borders," he argued, adding also that Turkish
major businesses are not interested in it either.
Safrastian said the authorities in Yerevan should
demand that Ankara secure the safety of Turkey’s
Armenian community. "After all, under the Lozanne
Treaty, Turkey is committed to protect the remnants of
what was once a huge Armenian community," he said.
In a related development a Nikol Aghbalian students
union, affiliated closely with the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation, called a news conference
today to condemn the assassination of Hrant Dink.
"Hrant Dink’s appalling murder is yet another
evidence that Turkey can not tolerate even its own
citizens who want to build a true democratic state,"
the union said in a statement that was undersigned by
all students organizations of Armenia.
"This murder was not only a crime against a
champion of freedom of speech but also a revival of
anti-Armenian hysteria in a country that planned and
carried out the first genocide of the last century,"
it said.

Anatolia News Agency, Turkey
Jan 19 2007

Armenian patriarch condemns journalist’s killing

Istanbul, 19 January: Mesrob II, patriarch of the Armenians in
Turkey, said regarding killing of Hrant Dink, editor-in-chief of
bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, that it was a disgraceful
assassination, targeting international relations and tranquillity
atmosphere in Turkey.

At a news conference, Mesrob II noted that he condemned and damned
person or persons who staged this attack.

Stating that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and he had a
phone conversation, Mesrob II noted that Erdogan offered his
condolences to him on the phone.

Mesrob II indicated that he fully believed that Turkish state would
capture those who staged the attack.

Athens News Agency, Greece
Jan 20 2007

Gov’t condemns murder of Turkish journalist

Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyiannis on Saturday deplored the murder
of Hrant Dink, a Turkish journalist of Armenian descent.

Dink had worked for the fundamental right to freedom of speech,
Bakoyiannis said in a statement.

"This cold-blooded murder runs contrary to the Turkish people’s
efforts to win a future in Europe," the statement said.

"Greece unreservedly condemns any act of violence or terrorism,
and hopes for a swift resolution and punishment for the
perpetrators," it added.

Dink, editor of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, was
shot in broad daylight as he left his office in Istanbul on Friday.

Measures to improve the situation of women in the South Caucasus

Strasbourg, 17.01.2007 – A report aimed at improving the situation of
women in the South Caucasus has just been adopted by the Committee on
Equal Opportunities for Women and Men of the Parliamentary Assembly of
the Council of Europe (PACE).

According to the rapporteur, Vera Oskina (Russia, EDG), the situation is
worrying on several counts, the first of these being the participation
of women in political life: the parliamentarians deplored the current
levels of representation in the parliaments concerned – 4.6% in Armenia,
10.5% in Azerbaijan and 9.4% in Georgia – and recommended an increase
in the minimum rate of female representation.

Concerning discrimination in the workplace, the parliamentarians have
called for a narrowing of the gap in salaries between women and men for
example, particularly in the private sector, as well as protection for
pregnant women against the loss of their job. In the health field, the
parliamentarians called for measures to reduce the number of abortions
and pregnancies among girls, through affordable or if necessary free
contraception.

Finally, the parliamentarians want the authorities of the countries
concerned to realise that violence against women exists, especially
domestic violence, a subject that is still largely taboo. Other aspects
covered include refugee and displaced women, and women in prison. The
committee wants the debate to be put on the agenda of the PACE spring
session.

Link to the draft (provisional) resolution and recommendation.
< FeaturesManager/defaultArtSiteView.asp?ArtId=3D594 >

Des mesures pour améliorer la situation des femmes dans le Caucase du
Sud

Strasbourg, 17.01.2007 – La Commission sur l’égalité des chances
pour les femmes et les hommes de l’Assemblée parlementaire du Conseil
de l’Europe (APCE) vient d’adopter un rapport qui a pour objectif
d’améliorer la situation des femmes dans le Caucase du Sud.

Selon la rapporteuse Vera Oskina (Russie, GDE), la situation est
préoccupante à plusieurs titres. Tout d’abord la participation des
femmes à la vie politique : les parlementaires ont déploré le
niveau de représentation actuelle dans les parlements concernés –
4,6% en Arménie, 10,5% en Azerbaïdjan et 9,4% en Géorgie- et
recommandent d’augmenter le taux minimal de représentation.

En matière de discriminations dans le domaine de l’emploi, les
parlementaires ont, entre autres, plaidé en faveur d’une réduction
de l’écart des rémunérations entre les femmes et les hommes,
notamment dans le secteur privé et en faveur d’une protection des
femmes enceintes contre la perte de l’emploi.

Dans le domaine de la santé, les parlementaires ont appelé à une
réduction des taux élevés d’avortement et de fertilité des
jeunes filles, grce à l’accès à une contraception abordable,
voire gratuite si nécessaire. Enfin les parlementaires souhaitent voir
les autorités de ces pays sensibilisées à l’existence de la
violence à l’encontre des femmes, en particulier la violence
domestique, sujet à ce jour largement tabou.

D’autres aspects abordés comprennent les femmes réfugiées et
déplacées ainsi que les femmes en prison. La Commission demande
d’inscrire ce débat à l’ordre du jour de la session de printemps de
l’APCE.

Lien sur le projet (provisoire) de résolution et de recommandation.
< FeaturesManager/defaultArtSiteVoir.asp?ArtId=3D594 >

ED004b07

50 TEACHERS FIRED AS A RESULT OF EDUCATION SYSTEM OPTIMIZATION OFFERED JOBS IN THE COUNTRY

Yerevan, January 16. ArmInfo. The teachers who became "victims" of
the education system optimization have been offered jobs in villages
against big compensation, says the chief of the State Employment
Service Sona Haroutyunyan.

There are just 50 vacancies in the regions and as many as 7,000
fired teachers.

Those who will agree to go to the country will get a one-time $1,500
compensation, $900 more for moving and high wages and houses.

Preference will be given to teachers who can teach more than two
school subjects.

Haroutyunyan says that in 2006 65 jobless teachers agreed to go
to the country, while 518 people agreed to exercise their right
of re-qualification. Meanwhile, 1,600 people are still outside the
program for fired teachers rehabilitation.

PanARMENIAN.Net

GUAM Going to Accomplish Peacekeeping Party Formation Till February End
12.01.2007 13:45 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The preparation work for the formation of the GUAM
peacekeeping party will be accomplished till the end of February, said
Ivan Androsenko, the head of the department of international relations
at the Ukrainian Defense Ministry. In his words, presently the GUAM
general staffs are considering issues regarding the structure,
organization, number and format of the personnel. The discussions will
be followed by a meeting of the representatives and signing of a
resulting document. The provision of the peacekeeping forces will be
ratified upon signing of this document,’ added he.

According to Androsenko, the sides are speculating on the recurrent
venue of the meeting. It will be either Baku or Kishinev. Androsenko
added that the Defense Ministers are expected to meet upon the
conclusion of the resulting agreement, reports APA.