Following the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist and editor Hrant Dink in Istanbul, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ) and International Pen have issued strong condemnations. In particular, RSF is supporting calls for a demonstration which will be held outside the Turkish Embassy in Paris.

No doubt similar demonstrations will be held at Turkish Embassies and Consulates worldwide. Certainly, there should be.

Reporters Without Borders said it was deeply shocked by the murder of Hrant Dink, editor and columnist of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, who was gunned down by an unidentified man today outside his newspaper in Istanbul.

“This murder will distress and disturb all those who defend the freedom of thought and expression in Turkey and elsewhere,” the press freedom organisation said. “The Turkish government must weigh the extreme gravity of this crime and ensure that a thorough investigation identifies those responsible as quickly as possible.”

Reporters Without Borders added: “This will be a key test for a country that hopes to join the European Union. No one would understand if Turkey failed to do everything possible to shed light on this tragedy.”

[…]

Reporters Without Borders is supporting the call issued by the Coordinating Council of Armenian Organisations in France (CCAF) for a demonstration at noon tomorrow outside the Turkish embassy on Rue Ankara in Paris’ 16th district.

The CPJ has issued a News Alert. International Pen has also issued a reaction.

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.”

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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.

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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.

[…]

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.”

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The murder today, 19 January 2007, of Armenian-Turkish writer and editor Hrant Dink, the courageous and principled advocate for dialogue and understanding between the Armenian minority and the Turks, is an appalling act. Hrant Dink’s fellow writers worldwide express their profound shock at this terrible loss.

Dink, whose campaign against the law making it a crime to insult the Turkish State, particularly as it relates to the killings of Armenians in the early years of the last century, has paid the highest price with his own life.

Jiri Grusa, International President of International PEN, the world association of writers, called the murder “a symptom of old hatreds that threaten the relationship of all Turkish people to the democratic values shared in Europe and the world.” International PEN calls upon the Turkish government to do all in its power to apprehend Dink’s killer and welcomes Prime Minister Erdogan’s pledged commitment that those who ordered the killing be brought to justice.

Hrant Dink was well known to PEN members throughout the world and had received many awards for his courage, including, most recently, the Oxfam/Novib award for Freedom of Expression in November 2006. He was an honorary member of the English, American, Belgian Dutch and Norwegian PEN Centres, and friend to many more PEN Centres and individual PEN members around the globe. International PEN sends its condolences to Hrant Dink’s wife and children.

For details on Hrant Dink’s life and work, go to:
http://www.pen.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/962/prmID/172