Main focus of Monday, January 22, 2007

The murder in Turkey of the journalist Hrant Dink

Last Friday, Turkish Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was murdered in Istanbul. European papers ask which forces were at work behind the attack. They consider what this murder reveals about the state of democracy in Turkey - and about Turkey's readiness for Europe.

Libération - France

"[Hrant Dink] has been assassinated in order to shut up those who share his struggle in Turkey", laments the Turkish academic Ahmet Insel, his friend and comrade in the struggle for freedom of expression. "He was stigmatised as an 'Armenian traitor', because he defended, with courage and passion, the advent of a democratic Turkey, proudly recognising and appropriating its cultural multiplicity. He wanted Turkey to turn the page on nationalism and authoritarianism, courageously facing up to and banishing the demons haunting its history. Hrant fought for a Turkey where religious, ethnical and racial distinction would no longer be a factor of stigmatisation. He was aware that, in this current state of affairs, the European prospect, was the only way to succeed in this transformation." (22/01/2007)

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Postimees - Estonia

The death of Hrant Dink reminds Erkki Bahovksi of the murder of Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya last October. Both cases triggered basic criticism of the state of democracy in their respective countries. But Erdogan – unlike Putin – immediately condemned the crime: "The murders of Anna Politkovskaya and Hrant Dink, or actually the reactions to these deeds, have shown who belongs to Europe and who not. Naturally, Turkey has problems: the issue of Cyprus remains unresolved, as does the facing up to the Armenian genocide. But as opposed to Russia, Turkey is on the right track. You can't say Turkey merely wishes to create a good impression in order to get into the EU. The Turks are much more convinced that Europe brings them the values through which their country can develop itself further. But no one really knows where Russia is heading." (22/01/2007)

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ABC - Spain

"There is not much point in the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemning the assassination and calling it an act of terrorism threatening the democratic balance of Turkish society", considers the daily. "It is time for Turkey, if it wants to be considered a real democracy, to go beyond gestures that, frankly, are only for the benefit of Western onlookers and for this country to do what democratic decency demands: the derogation of the awful Article 301 of the Turkish penal code that turns Turkish identity into a dangerous combination excluding certain religions and minorities. It does indeed seem implausible that a country aspiring to become part of Europe should maintain a law that allows it shut up, for example, those who denounce the persecution of Christian Armenians or Greeks ... ." (22/01/2007)

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More from the press review on the subject » EU enlargement, » Domestic Policy, » Turkey

Die Welt - Germany

"The fatal bullets aimed at Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink were fired 'against Turkey,' said Prime Minister Erdogan. This catch phrase is being repeated throughout Turkish society, from General Staff Chief Büyükanit to the news media," writes Boris Kalnoky, commenting: "In fact, the opposite is true. Dink was the victim of Turkish society; it was society that fired the shots. The media had reported on the many trials against Dink. And so he was marked as a traitor. Because he said things that one is not allowed to say in Turkey: That the founder of modern Turkey, Atatürk, adopted an Armenian orphan girl (Dink himself was an orphan), and that there was a genocide against the Armenians... Now everyone who used to shove him into a corner wants to be called 'Hrant Dink': politicians, bureaucrats and opinion leaders. None of them will ever experience personally what it means to be hunted by Turkish society." (22/01/2007)

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All available articles from » Boris Kalnoky

Der Standard - Austria

Jürgen Gottschlich calls the murder of Hrant Dink a "catastrophe... for Turkey's democratic, EU-oriented civil society in general, but especially for the future of the Armenian minority... After the attack, neither Armenians in Turkey nor activists for democracy will have the courage to confront the Turkish people - who are ideologically blinded in so many ways, and historically uninformed - with uncomfortable truths. Unfortunately, it seems the killers will - at least temporarily - have achieved their goal of stifling internal Turkish debate on the genocide, a debate that had entered broader circles despite legal pressures against it." (22/01/2007)

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Dagbladet Information - Denmark

The newspaper holds the entire Turkish nation morally responsible for the murder of Hrant Dink. Since the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire in 1920, Turkey has feared a further break up, the paper writes, concluding that Dink's murder lays bare the national trauma that hinders the country from unambiguously committing to democracy: "Anyone who openly criticizes Atatürk in Turkey or tells the truth about the genocide against the Armenians risks losing their job, receiving threatening letters and being brought to court. Ultimately, this can be blamed on the outrageous slowness with which the Turkish government removes paragraphs making criticism of the official historical record illegal. Hrant Dink criticized the official Turkish historiography. That is why he died." (22/01/2007)

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