Author: Zargarian Hambik

Independent Online, South Africa –
Feb 1 2007

Old question revisited after journo’s murder

February 01 2007 at 03:58PM

By Christopher Torchia

Have Turkish institutions been infiltrated by a shadowy "deep state"?

The slaying of a prominent ethnic Armenian journalist has renewed
debate about whether a network of renegade agents within the state,
driven by hardline nationalism, is targeting reformists and other
perceived enemies.

Skeptics say the claim fans conspiracy theories and only creates a
bogeyman for Turkey’s ills.

Whatever the truth, the investigation into the murder of Hrant Dink –
who was loathed by nationalists because he urged Turks to recognise
the mass killings of Armenians during World War I as genocide – is
under scrutiny despite its seeming success. Seven suspects, including
the teenager who allegedly pulled the trigger and the man accused of
supplying the gun, have been arrested since the killing two weeks
ago.

Uneasy questions are being raised about who holds the levers of power
in a nation where tensions between secularists and Islamists, and
liberals and rightists, have created deep faultlines in society.

The consensus among many government critics is that the plot to kill
Dink involved more than a few nationalists, and that a professional
group with considerable resources at its disposal may have played a
role. Police say they have uncovered no evidence suggesting a wider
conspiracy, and investigators have promised to follow all tips
despite scepticism about how aggressively they will do so.

The idea of "deep state," or "derin devlet" in Turkish, has been
around for decades. One definition says it is a clandestine group
within the security and intelligence services, as well as the state
bureaucracy, that resists change, sometimes violently.

Another theory says it is not a single group, but a set of beliefs
that espouses the centrality of the state in politics, and whose
protectors include the judiciary and the educational system. The
expression is so common that Turks often joke about it, blaming some
unforeseen development in the workplace or daily life on the "deep
state."

Little hard evidence has emerged that a "deep state" exists, but even
Turkey’s prime minister has given the idea credence.

"The ‘deep state’ has become a tradition. It is a term that has been
used since the Ottoman period," Erdogan told reporters on Sunday
aboard an airplane bound for an African Union summit in Ethiopia.

"We can describe it as gangs inside a state organisation, and this
kind of structure does exist. Our state and our nation have paid a
high price because we have not been able to crack down on such
networks," the daily Zaman newspaper quoted the prime minister as
saying.

The topic is so murky that Yeni Safak, an Islamist newspaper, once
addressed the cloak-and-dagger concept with a reference to the
signature introduction of fiction’s most famous spy, James Bond. "My
name is State, Deep State," read the title of a 2005 column.

The prominence of "deep state" in the Turkish imagination exposes
concerns about the accountability of the military and other
institutions in a nation that seeks to seal its modern status by
joining the European Union, a bid that is virtually on hold because
of a dispute over divided Cyprus.

The military has staged three coups in modern Turkey, and remained
influential after ceding control to civilian governments. Supporters
view it as a guardian of secular values, a vital tool in the fight
against separatist rebels in Kurdish-dominated areas, and the
champion of Turkish Cypriots whose government is unrecognised by any
other nation.

Dink, who was shot outside his Istanbul office on January 19, had
been prosecuted under a broadly defined law that bans the denigration
of Turkish identity, and he had suggested that judicial rulings
reflected behind-the-scenes allegiance to the state rather than the
rights of citizens.

"The great force, which was just there to bring me down and which let
its existence be felt at all stages of the case with methods unknown
to me, was again behind the curtain," Dink, 52, wrote obliquely in
one of his last columns in Agos, the weekly Turkish-Armenian
newspaper that he founded.

Dink said he received constant threats for his espousal of minority
Armenian rights, and he criticised top authorities for apparent
indifference.

"Other opponents of the bureaucracy have suffered a similar fate,"
said David L Phillips, a friend of Dink who served as chairman of the
Turkish-Armenian Reconciliation Commission and is now executive
director of The Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity, based in New
York City. "The ‘deep state’ has a history of eliminating its
opponents."

One case that fuelled speculation about the "deep state" was the 1996
Susurluk scandal, named after the town where a car crash revealed
alliances between state officials and mobsters. Passengers who died
in the wrecked Mercedes included Istanbul’s No. 2 police officer and
a fugitive hit man.

A probe confirmed suspicions that officials were using radical
nationalists and criminals to intimidate or kill perceived enemies. A
1997 government report accused some police and politicians of hiring
hit men to target journalists, Kurdish rebels and Armenian activists
since the 1980s.

Erdogan pledged an investigation "at full speed" into Dink’s killing
and his government removed the governor and police chief of Trabzon,
the city on the Black Sea coast that is home to suspects in the
murder.

A year ago, a Turkish teenager shot dead a Roman Catholic priest in
Trabzon; investigators believed that attack was linked to Islamic
anger over the publication in European newspapers of caricatures of
the Prophet Mohammed.

Erdogan, a moderate whose Islamic-rooted Justice and Development
Party is distasteful to some in the secular military, has indicated
that authorities need to tackle more than just youthful triggermen
likely to get relatively lenient sentences if prosecuted as minors.

But Justice Minister Cemil Cicek was ambivalent in an address to the
Ankara Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday.

"It is not a legal definition, but a political one," Cicek said.
"Whether there is a ‘deep state’ or not depends on where you stand in
politics."

Nationalists have speculated that reformists targeted Dink to create
a liberal backlash. The killing has stirred the debate on possible
amendments to Article 301 and, according to the conspiracy theory,
could make it easier for U.S. lawmakers to pass a resolution urging
the U.S. government to recognise the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians
in the last years of the Ottoman empire as genocide. – South Africa
Press Agency SAPA

An act of protest in front of the Russian Embassy

ArmRadio.am
31.01.2007 16:00

At the initiative of `Sargis Tkhruni’ student union of the
Social-Democratic Hnchakian Party, representatives of a number of
youth NGOs and youth wings of political parties held an act of protest
in front of the Russian Embassy in Armenia. The latter conveyed
letters to the Russian Embassy, demanding to undertake urgent steps to
prevent the murders of Armenians in Russia by nationalists.

According to the President of the Union Narek Galstyan, they are ready
to struggle for the rights of their compatriots wherever they are `
Russia, Armenia or somewhere else. `Armenians are killed in Russia on
the basis of xenophobia. Those who declare that the crimes are of
common nature play the game of nationalist organizations,’ he said.

Participants of the act of protest urge representatives of all youth
organizations to join them. They are sure that in this case it will be
possible to launch a real struggle against the crimes, which, they are
confident, are the result of ethnic discrimination.

Anatolia News Agency, Turkey
Jan 30 2007

TURKISH MP, SWEDISH MINISTER DISCUSS CONTROVERSIAL PENAL CODE
PROVISION

Ankara, 30 January: The Swedish minister for EU affairs, Cecilia
Malmstroem and her accompanying delegation visited the Turkish
parliamentary human rights inquiry commission chairman, Mehmet
Elkatmis, in Turkish parliament on Tuesday [30 January].

"Amendment to Article 301 of Turkish Penal Code is inevitable because
of defects in practice. Our government is looking on it with favour.
Our prime minister asked non-governmental organizations their
opinions on this matter. Problem has its source in practice, not the
article itself," said Elkatmis upon a question by Malmstroem
regarding Article 301.

Elkatmis said remarks for criticism are not considered crime
according to the last paragraph of Article 301, however, he claimed
that this article is being applied incorrectly by judicial
authorities.

Elkatmis said his commission visited Hrant Dink (editor-in-chief of
the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, who was shot dead outside his
newspaper’s office in Istanbul on 19 January) in previous years.

"We visited prominent people of minorities. We went to Agos weekly
and met Hrant Dink. We listened to his problems and we informed our
ministers about what was required to be done according to information
we got," he added.

Swedish Minister Cecilia Malmstroem said they were impressed with the
reforms on human rights and freedom carried out by Turkey in recent
years.

Arka News Agency, Armenia
Jan 30 2007

SPEAKER OF ARMENIAN PARLIAMENT CONGRATULATES CITIZENS ON 15TH
ANNIVERSARY OF ARMENIAN ARMY

YEREVAN. January 30. /ARKA/. Speaker of the Armenian parliament
Tigran Torosyan congratulated the citizens on the 15th anniversary of
the Armenian Army.
"Fifteen years ago it could seem impossible that fighting squads
defending Artsakh would have transformed into the best and efficient
army in the region for such a short period.
"The delight and pride for the existence of the army having overcome
all the trials of was and peace is another occasion to commemorate
the sons of the Armenian people that passed a self-sacrificing way in
the name of freedom, integrity of our homeland and establishment of
the guarantor of our people’s peaceful life – the National Army,"
Torosyan said.
"I congratulate our people, military officers and soldiers on the
glorious holiday," the Speaker’s message says. R.O. -0–

Anatolian Times, Turkey
Turkish Press
Jan 30 2007

Press Review

ERDOGAN: `ARTICLE 301 COULD BE CHANGED’

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday traveled to Ethiopia to
attend an African Union Summit set to discuss climate change. Erdogan
is expected to brief the gathering on Turkey’s efforts to fight
global warming. Speaking to reporters before his departure, Erdogan
responded to a recent declaration by Bogazici University professors
calling for the abolition of Article 301 after the murder earlier
this month of Hrant Dink, a Turkish journalist of Armenian descent,
saying that the government wasn’t thinking of doing away with the
article altogether. `Many countries have similar laws,’ said Erdogan.
`You need to look at all sections of the law carefully and not ignore
them.’ Erdogan further stressed that he had urged the academics to
rethink their proposal and that they would understand that it is not
coherent. The premier added, however, that the government was open to
suggestions for changes to the article and that he had discussed the
issue with non-governmental organizations. `But the NGOs couldn’t
reach agreement among themselves,’ added Erdogan. /Sabah/

The New Anatolian, Turkey
Jan 30 2007

Sea change needed on Ankara’s foreign policy plate
Cem Sey30 January 2007

Next week Washington will witness a wave of high-level visitors from
Turkey. Both Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, the chief of the General Staff,
and Abdullah Gul, the foreign minister, will be in the U.S. capital.

At the same time there are several problems on the plates of both
countries. Most of them are defined from the view of Ankara: the
terrorist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, Kirkuk,
and the Armenian problem.

For Turkey’s part, there may be clarity on these questions. At least
the majority of the Turkish public seems to share the same ideas in
these areas:

"The PKK has to be eliminated militarily, Kirkuk should never be part
of a Kurdish entity, and the U.S Congress shouldn’t pass any
resolutions claiming there was a genocide of the Armenians." This may
be sum up these "clear" ideas in the Turkish public.

But seen from outside, none of these "clear ideas" seems so clear.

Americans — and even Europeans — understand that the presence of
the PKK just over the border is disturbing Turkey. The Americans have
other problems in Iraq to deal with, though, and they don’t need any
more. This dilemma ties their hands in terms of military action
against the PKK. Not only that they can’t fight the PKK, but also
that they can’t tolerate any cross-border Turkish military operation,
because the Kurds are their only real allies in Iraq. The Kurds in
Iraq are very suspicious about any Turkish military action on their
soil. Probably, therefore, U.S. diplomacy will try to bring Turkish
and Kurdish officials together to work out this problem. Which, in
turn, is seen in Ankara as a delaying tactic.

Kirkuk is definitely an Iraqi city. So Turkey really isn’t in any
position to influence decisions about its future, and it seems to
almost everybody else in the world as normal that this question
should be dealt with, as foreseen in the Iraqi constitution. The U.S.
may listen to Turkey. Even the Iraqis could listen to what Ankara has
to say about Kirkuk. But nobody believes that Turkey could or should
do more than just express its opinion. But Turkey, in fact, says
nothing. Ankara is just warning or sometimes even issuing threats.
What Turkey wants in Kirkuk to happen, is — at least for the public
— not clear.

The Armenian question is a question only in Turkey. Everywhere else
not only politicians but also the public believe that there was a
genocide of Armenians in Anatolia. This is nothing new and won’t
change in the future. Even if a committee of historians were
assembled someday, the result would really be no different. So
outside Turkey not condemning the genocide is seen as a great
courtesy to Turkey, and one which becomes more disturbing as time
passes.

So one can say that nobody really understands what Turkey wants.

In all of these problems Turkey can and has to take some steps
forward to change the political climate in which it operates.

Further reforms to ease future steps on the PKK issue — like
preparing a sincere amnesty for PKK members and lowering the 10
percent hurdle in the election laws, and so allowing the political
entities preferred by the Kurdish part of the population to take
seats in the Turkish Parliament — would change the mood of all other
parties involved.

Turkey very often states that it has profound national interests in
Kirkuk. This phrase alone doesn’t persuade anybody to think about
steps other than applying the Iraqi constitution. If Ankara wants to
stop these developments, it has to explain what these interests are
and has to find some other logical reason than stopping the emergence
of a Kurdish political entity in the region.

And on the Armenian question, Turkey has to move forward again.
Pragmatic politicians and diplomats know that you have to talk to
your foes to solve the problems you have with them. Thus, Turkey has
to begin talks with Yerevan to open the border. It’s at the
negotiating table that you mention your conditions. If Turkey can
bring itself to take this step, then the international community will
be truly shocked. Because nobody believes that Turkey can talk to the
Armenians. Everybody believes it’s the denial policy that prevents
Turkey from negotiating with its difficult neighbor.

Next week, unless Gul and Buyukanit have some kind of pragmatic
approaches to present, they won’t they be able to seriously change
anything. I doubt very much this will happen.

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Jan 30 2007

Erdogan: Failure to root out `deep state’ costs Turkey dearly

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey has paid a heavy
price for not effectively cracking down on the `deep state,’ or, as
he described it, `gangs within state institutions.’

The prime minister, speaking to a group of journalists en route to
Ethiopia on Sunday night, also said his government would deal with
the Hrant Dink murder case effectively and that the investigation
into the case would continue at full speed.
Two top officials in Trabzon, where Dink’s suspected murderer comes
from, were removed from the office last week and Erdogan implied
that more officials could be removed from their posts in other
provinces. Asked if the Dink murder could be linked to the upcoming
presidential election, Erdogan said, `That’s possible.’
Dink’s murder on Jan. 19 by a teenage gunman is likely to exacerbate
political tension ahead of the upcoming presidential and
parliamentary elections. The murder has already raised concerns over
rising nationalism in Turkey, where politicians try to court
nationalist votes for a stronger standing in the polls, and has
revived debates over `deep state,’ a term invented in recent years to
refer to undercover activities involving some state officials and
criminal gangs.
`The deep state has become a tradition, it is a term that has been
used since the Ottoman period,’ Erdogan told reporters. `We can
describe it as gangs inside a state organization, and this kind of
structure does exist. Our state and our nation have paid a high price
because we have not been able to handle crack down on such networks.’

Erdogan also said the government had limited capacity to cope
with the phenomenon and said the joint efforts of the government,
judiciary and legislative organs of the state were necessary to deal
with it.

`Government determined to shed light on Dink murder’
According to the prime minister, the removal of Trabzon’s mayor and
police chief was the first step in the government’s efforts to fully
resolve the Dink murder. `The removal of the mayor and chief of
police and the dispatch of inspectors are part of efforts to lay the
groundwork for this investigation. Work is under way at full speed,’
he said, adding that the justice and interior ministries were working
carefully on the case.
Asked whether the lack of proper steps to shed light on the bombing
of a bookstore in the southeastern town of Şemdinli in November
might have paved the way for new cases, Erdogan said: `The
results in the Şemdinli case might not have pleased everyone.
The court made a decision, but the final decision has not been made.
There have been many crime gang cases since Şemdinli. The issue
of gang connections within state organizations must be determinedly
addressed.’
In July, two noncommissioned officers were found guilty and sentenced
to serve 39 years and 10 days in prison in connection with the
bombing, which left two people dead and led to increased tension in
southeastern Anatolia, where residents claimed the state was involved
in the bombing. But in October, the chief prosecutor of the Supreme
Court of Appeals asked the court to invalidate the ruling due to a
flawed investigation and trial.
Asked if the Dink murder could be somehow linked to the upcoming
presidential elections, Erdogan said: `This election will take
place in Parliament, but there could be attempts to influence it.
Most recently, there was an incident on the Gelibolu Lapseki ferry.
It looked like an individual act. I wonder if it was. [The hijacker]
is a former sergeant dismissed from service. I don’t know how the
judicial process proceeds. You cannot just say it was an individual
act and forget about it.’
Erdogan was referring to a brief hijacking on Saturday night of
a ferry in the Dardanelles by a man who said he had hijacked the
vessel to protest banners carried in Dink’s funeral last Tuesday.
Many mourners carried black-and-white banners reading `We are all
Armenians’ and `We are all Hrant Dink’ at the funeral.

They threw eggs at me in Trabzon
Asked to elaborate on problems related to state officials appointed
to posts in the Black Sea region, Erdogan said: `We are dealing
with sensitivity with the situation in the Black Sea. Terrorism tends
to spread toward the coastlines. The mayors, police chiefs and
gendarmerie commanders must work effectively and in coordination with
each other. … It is no coincidence that Trabzon was chosen. My fellow
`citymen’ threw eggs at me while I was delivering a speech. And the
man walked in from one door and out another. He was apprehended,
taken into custody and then released. I encounter very offensive
language.’

Meaning of nationalism
Asked to comment on the recent rise of nationalism in Turkey,
Erdogan said one’s commitment to nationalism must be measured on
the basis of the service they offer to the nation. `It is very
important how you understand nationalism. Real nationalism isn’t just
saying you love your nation. It is serving your nation.’
`If you love your country, tell me, what have you done? Show us what
you have done; I am showing you. There is an unparalleled development
in the country. I say this with confidence,’ he said. `As far as
serving the nation is concerned, we are more nationalistic. The other
is just nationalism in words. `Love it or Leave it.’ Can one say
that? What does it mean? If you love it, you can stay, if you don’t
you have to leave. Do you own this country? Isn’t this
discrimination? You cannot use such expressions in the name of
nationalism.’

Changes in election time possible
Asked whether parliamentary elections, scheduled for November, could
be held at an earlier date, Erdogan said changes in the date
were possible. `What we want is to have a democratic, undisputed
election and get the results as soon as possible,’ he said.

30.01.2007

MUSTAFA ÜNAL ADDİS ABADA

ARMENIA MAY RECEIVE TO $12 MLN IN 2007 WITHIN FRAMES OF AMERICAN
ASSISTANCE PROGRAM "MILLENNIUM CHALLENGES"

Yerevan, January 30. ArmInfo. Armenia my receive to $12 mln in 2007
within the frames of the American assistance Program "Millennium
Challenges", the Director General Executive of Millennium Challenge
Account – Armenia, Ara Hovsepyan, told ArmInfo.

According to him, it is scheduled to allocate $2,201 mln in
January-March, 2007. The assignments will be carried out every
quarter. Receipt of $4,5 mln was laid by Armenia’s budget of
2007. However, these are the approved programs, while the real amount
of assignments with taking into account the presently considered
programs my grow, A. Hovsepyan said. According to him, it is scheduled
to allocate the greatest transfer of $75 mln to Armenia in 2009 within
the frames of the "Millennium Challenges" Program.

The Fiscal Agent is responsible for this program fulfillment. The
Glocoms com American Company and the America Consulting Company will
come out as a Fiscal Agent.

To note, the "Millennium Challenges" Program has been officially
lunched in Armenia in September, 2006. The total cost of the Program
makes up $235 mln. The Program will directly impact 750,000 farmers
or 75% of the rural population and is expected to reduce the rural
poverty rate by 6% and boost annual incomes by 34%. The two main
components of the Program are the construction of roads and
irrigation.

Posted on Sun, Jan. 28, 2007

Teens from former Soviet Union countries compare freedoms

Five 16-year-olds studying in area schools
By Russ Keen
American News Writer

Five 16-year-old girls from four former Soviet Union countries engaged in
debate last week in Aberdeen about who has more freedom – Aberdeen-area teens
or teens from their countries.
"At home, we can use cell phones in school," said Marina Pavlik of Russia
and an exchange student at Aberdeen Central High School, where students cannot
use cell phones.
But area teens enjoy more freedom in student-teacher relationships because
they are more casual than back home, the girls said.
Easier clases: Classes are a breeze here, they said.
"I get straight A’s and I don’t study," said Olga Ivasyna of Moldova, a
student at Hitchcock-Tulare High School in Tulare. "I have more fun here."
The girls said most of what they’re being taught here they already learned
in their native lands. At home, classes are more structured and rigorous, they
said. Students rise when a teacher enters a classroom, and lessons require
lots of homework – from three to five hours a night, they said.
"But we do more creative work here," Pavlik said, such as team projects ina
classroom. "It is more fun."
Their U.S. counterparts seem to have little homework, and the studying they
do takes place during study hours at school.
"Kids here don’t have time to study," Pavlik said."They are working,
baby-sitting or playing basketball."
At home, people do not take jobs until they are 18 to 20 years old, the
girls said.
Drinking: Teens in their countries have more freedom to drink alcohol.
Drinking before the age of 18 is more acceptable there than here, they said,
partly because teens cannot drive until they’re 18.
It’s common for 14-year-olds to drink at social occasions, said Yevheniya
Voytenko of Ukraine, a student at Warner High School.
"It is not a big deal," Pavlik said. "It is just a social thing."
In the U.S., it seems many teens who drink do so to get drunk, while that’s
not the case in nations of the former Soviet Union, they said.
Quiet, safe places: The best thing about the Aberdeen area is the quiet and
the relative absence of crime, said Ella Baghramyan of Armenia. Being ableto
leave cars and homes unlocked is unbelievable, said Anna Maksimkina of
Russia. All five students are from cities larger than Aberdeen.
The worst thing about the area is all the fast food, Baghramyan said.
All the girls have studied English for at least three years, and one
has studied it for eight. Their fluency in English is one reason they
are among about 1,000 high school students from former Soviet Union
countries selected from 16,000 applicants to study in the United
States this school year through the Program of Academic Excellence, or
PAX.
The competition was tough, the girls said.
Vickie Moser of Leola, who coordinates PAX exchanges in the area, said she
is looking for host families for the 2007-08 school year. She can be reached
at (605) 439-3656.
Maksimkina is living with the Gordon and Sharon Goetz family of Aberdeen;
Pavlik is with the SueAnn and Gregg Yonkovich family of Aberdeen; Voytenkois
with the Pam and Glen Armstrong family of Warner; Ivasyna is with the Deanand
Holly Bottum family of Tulare; and Baghramyan is living with the Bob and
Kathy Zerr family of Aberdeen.
Ivasyna said she felt somewhat bored when she first came to the
Tulare-Hitchcock area. But the boredom passed quickly.
"We have learned how to create fun with the things we have," she said.
New friends and host families will be hard to part with come summer, the
girls said.
"I don’t want to go home at all," Maksimkina said.

© 2007 American News and wire service sources.

L’Express
25 janvier 2007

L’Arménien que les Turcs pleurent

Demetz Jean-Michel; Ortaq Nükte V.

Avec Hrant Dink, abattu devant son journal, à Istanbul, la Turquie
perd l’un des plus ardents avocats de la démocratie et du dialogue
entre les communautés. Sa mort peut-elle servir à désarmer les
haines?

"Nous sommes tous Hrant, nous sommes tous des Arméniens": la foule
n’est qu’un seul cri sur l’avenue de Sisli, un quartier européen
d’Istanbul. Hagards, ils se sont rués sur les lieux, le 19 janvier, à
l’annonce de la funeste nouvelle. Hrant Dink a été abattu. Trois
balles en pleine tête, ici, juste devant le siège du journal Agos, un
magazine fondé en 1996, rédigé en turc et en arménien pour servir de
pont entre les communautés et qu’il dirigeait. "C’est 1915 qui se
poursuit, pleure un vieillard arménien, face à l’immense portrait
affiché sur la façade du siège de l’hebdomadaire. Combien
sommes-nous, aujourd’hui, au milieu des 70 millions de Turcs?"

Comme en écho, dans la rue, des milliers de voix de toutes origines
scandent: "Les Arméniens ne sont pas seuls." La notoriété de ce
journaliste d’origine arménienne dépassait, en effet, le cercle de la
minorité chrétienne (60 000 membres). Car, des colonnes d’Agos aux
plateaux de télévision, Dink plaidait avec une même fougue en faveur
de la démocratisation de la Turquie. Il voulait amener ses
compatriotes et les pouvoirs publics à accepter la réalité du
génocide arménien de 1915. Par la pédagogie et le dialogue. Et non
par la pression. Ce qui le mettait en porte à faux avec le discours
revanchard et culpabilisateur d’une partie de la diaspora. De la
proposition de loi adoptée, cet automne, par l’Assemblée nationale
française sous la pression du lobbying de ses coreligionnaires il
disait ainsi à L’Express: "C’est une loi imbécile."

Dink avait foi en la démocratie. Seule une Turquie démocratique
serait capable, estimait-il, de regarder en face son passé. Imposer à
son pays une reconnaissance forcée du caractère génocidaire des
événements de 1915 n’aurait aucun sens. Dès lors, lier l’adhésion de
la Turquie à l’Union européenne à un chantage sur la reconnaissance
du génocide lui paraissait une absurdité. "L’opinion turque n’est pas
négationniste, répétait-il. Elle ne sait pas ce qui s’est passé."
Alors, il racontait la réalité des massacres, jusqu’à pousser ses
auditeurs turcs aux larmes. Dans le même esprit, il comptait sur la
future contagion démocratique d’une Turquie entrée dans l’Union pour
corriger les travers de la république voisine d’Arménie, où sévissent
la corruption et l’arbitraire.

Dink était l’un des porte-enseignes de la réforme libérale. C’est
pourquoi des intellectuels arméniens, musulmans, athées se sont
retrouvés autour de sa dépouille. Et c’est pourquoi l’opinion turque
est bouleversée. "Avec Hrant est morte une part de moi, une partie de
nous tous", écrit Ismet Berkan, directeur du quotidien libéral
Radikal. "Quand j’ai appris le meurtre, j’ai pleuré et je pleure
encore – pour lui ou pour mon pays, je ne sais pas, témoigne
l’éditorialiste de Sabah Fatih Altayli. Pour son confrère de
Milliyet, Semih Idiz, "la seule façon de surmonter un peu de cette
honte serait d’organiser pour lui des adieux nationaux en présence du
président, du Premier ministre, des principaux partis d’opposition et
du chef de l’armée".

Un assassinat qui vise à isoler le pays

Qui porte la responsabilité de son assassinat? La police a vite
arrêté un adolescent instable de 17 ans, Ogün Samast, originaire de
Trabzon, l’antique Trébizonde, un bastion de l’ultranationalisme, sur
la mer Noire. Celui-ci est passé aux aveux. La police enquête sur ses
liens éventuels avec un groupuscule extrémiste. Mais cette
arrestation ne suffit pas à dissiper la colère des intellectuels.
Professeur à l’université du Moyen-Orient à Ankara, Ihsan Dagi
incrimine ainsi toute une rhétorique qui, à propos de Chypre ou de la
question arménienne, a "exacerbé le nationalisme, l’intolérance,
l’agressivité". Journaliste conservatrice, proche du gouvernement
issu du courant islamiste, Nazli Ilicak n’en réclame pas moins une
attitude exemplaire – la démission du ministre de la Justice, par
exemple. Ce dernier, Cemil Cicek, avait stigmatisé, l’an dernier, à
Istanbul, lors d’une conférence consacrée à la question arménienne –
une première! – "ceux qui poignardent le peuple dans le dos". Le
dimanche 21 janvier, Ohran Pamuk, Prix Nobel de littérature 2006, a
été encore plus direct: "Nous sommes tous responsables, a-t-il
déclaré, mais au premier chef ceux qui ont défendu l’article 301."
C’est sur la base de cet article du Code pénal, punissant de prison
ceux qui portent "atteinte à l’identité turque", que Dink et d’autres
intellectuels ont été poursuivis par des procureurs proches des
milieux nationalistes, gardiens autoproclamés de l’héritage
d’Atatürk, le père de la nation. Un article scélérat, contraire à
l’esprit des lois européen mais que le gouvernement Erdogan n’a
jamais osé abolir, par crainte, justement, d’une réaction de ces
milieux kémalistes présents dans l’Etat profond, c’est-à-dire
l’appareil des forces de sécurité.

La mort de Dink servira-t-elle de catalyseur pour la suppression de
l’article 301? Au-delà, pourrait-elle désarmer les haines? "Hrant se
battait sur un double front, rappelle le politologue Baskin Oran. Il
ne pouvait s’empêcher de dire que la diaspora arménienne fournissait,
par cet esprit de vengeance qu’il refusait pour lui-même, la moitié
des munitions dont les nationalistes turcs avaient besoin."

La Turquie des ultras peut, en tout cas, célébrer sa victoire.
L’assassinat de Dink vise à isoler le pays. Les radicaux
nationalistes veulent à tout prix saborder l’adhésion d’Ankara à
l’Union européenne. Ils ont marqué un point. Sur le fond, pourtant,
le meurtre de Dink laisse les Européens en proie à une question
ouverte: pour désarmer le nationalisme turc, faut-il faire entrer la
Turquie dans l’Union? Ou, pour s’en prémunir, la laisser en dehors?

Hrant, mon ami

Nükte V. Ortaq est la correspondante de L’Express en Turquie. Proche
de Hrant Dink, elle livre ici son émotion.

"Ecrire ces quelques lignes m’est terriblement difficile. Comme il
m’est difficile de croire que je n’aurai plus ces conversations
passionnées avec Hrant. Comment accepter de ne jamais plus recueillir
ces réflexions fulgurantes qui, toujours, m’ouvraient un nouvel
horizon? Hrant était unique parce qu’il était toujours positif,
constructif. Pendant toutes ces années, avec une énergie sans fin, il
m’a expliqué, à moi, une femme turque, le calvaire du peuple arménien
sur ces terres. Il parlait au coeur pour atteindre la raison. Le
voici, maintenant, qui gît, froid, vidé de son sang, le corps
recouvert par des feuilles de journal. Nous n’avons pas su le
protéger des nationalistes exaltés et des racistes ignorants. Pour
cela, je demande pardon à tous les Arméniens. Aurons-nous l’énergie
et le courage pour continuer sur le chemin qu’il a ouvert?" – N. V.
O.

Ses dernières lignes

Hrant Dink se savait parfaitement menacé. Depuis longtemps. Voici ce
qu’il écrivait dans son dernier éditorial, publié par le journal
Agos.

"Je dois avouer que j’ai plus que perdu confiance dans le concept de
"loi" et de "système judiciaire" en Turquie […] La justice ne
défend pas les droits du citoyen mais ceux de l’Etat […] Il est
évident que ceux qui voulaient me mettre à l’écart, m’affaiblir et me
priver de défense ont atteint leur but. La mémoire de mon ordinateur
est pleine de messages de colère et de menaces émanant de citoyens
issus d’un cercle plein de rage. Dans quelle mesure ces menaces
sont-elles réelles? Il m’est impossible de le savoir […] L’année
2007 sera probablement encore plus difficile pour moi. Les procès
continueront, de nouvelles accusations seront portées devant les
tribunaux. Qui sait quelles nouvelles injustices il me faudra
affronter?"