Massive commemoration of murdered journalist
ISTANBUL – In a march in the Turkish metropolis Istanbul, about forty thousand people commemorated the Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink, who was assassinated exactly five years ago on Thursday. There was a lot of anger about the verdict of the judge last Tuesday, when he classified the murder as an act of individuals, rather than as an organized crime of …
Life imprisonment for ordering Dink murder
ISTANBUL – A Turkish ultranationalist has been sentenced to life imprisonment on Tuesday for ordering the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink. Yasin Hayal and nineteen others were however cleared of terrorism charges.
Dink was assassinated in front of the office of his newspaper in Istanbul on 19 January 2007. He was controversial among nationalist Turks, because he called the …
‘Dink murder impossible in present-day Turkey’
ISTANBUL – Almost five years on there is still a lot that is not clear about the shadowy network that ordered the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink. However a start has been made in dealing with the ‘deep state’, the ‘state within the state’ that is widely held responsible for the killing. Thursday marks five years since Dink was …
Denderleeuw – ‘We won!’ An employee of the Kurdish channel RojTV, broadcasting under a Danish license, enters the newsroom with a phone in his hand. He is on the line to Denmark, where the judge just announced the verdict in a case against RojTV, which is accused by the Turkish government of being a terrorist channel. Then everybody cheers: ‘We …
Uludere victims’ families don’t want compensation
GÜLYAZI – The families of the 34 boys and young men killed last week in a bombing bythe Turkish air force, will not consider accepting the compensation the Turkish government is offering them. Prime Minister Erdogan announced on Tuesday that within a few days he would pay the families of the men, who were smuggling across the Iraqi border when …
French bill doesn’t help genocide debate in Turkey
ISTANBUL – In Turkey it is feared that the bill passed today in France making it illegal to deny the Armenian genocide of 1915 will damage the level of debate on the topic in Turkey. The debate had been slowly making progress over the last couple of years. Calling the Armenian genocide ‘genocide’ no longer leads to a conviction by …
ISTANBUL – Early Tuesday morning in several Turkish cities a total of at least eighteen journalists were detained. The raids are part of an investigation of people who are active in Kurdish political and public organisations, which has been going on for years. One of the detained journalists is Mustafa Özer, photographer for the international press agency AFP.
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Turkey: from one dictatorship to the other
The AKP government of Prime Minister Erdoğan has effectively decreased the once unlimited power of the army. The power of the judiciary was strengthened. But now that power has too strong a grip on society.
Why did you visit wounded demonstrators in hospital? Why did you give interviews to so many TV and radio stations? Why did you attend that press …
Stop labelling PKK-fighters as terrorists
Turkey is bombing PKK camps in Northern-Iraq in retaliation for the killing of soldiers by the PKK. The first civilian deaths have been reported. The EU doesn’t protest the violence, because the PKK is on the EU list of terrorist organizations. But the label ‘terrorist’ contributes to maintaining the crux of the problem, which is the still unsolved Kurdish issue. …
Violence hampers solution to Kurdish question
ISTANBUL – Amid increasing PKK violence and Turkish bombings of PKK camps in Northern Iraq last night, a solution to the Kurdish question seems further away than ever. It is not only increasing violence that hampers a solution, but also legal action against Kurdish politicians adding to the rising tensions.
PKK violence started increasing last month, when thirteen Turkish soldiers were …
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