ARTICLE 301 STRIKES AGAIN: PUBLISHER CONVICTED OF

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ISTANBUL 001780 SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/11/2015 TAGS: PREL PHUM TU SUBJECT: ARTICLE 301 STRIKES AGAIN: PUBLISHER CONVICTED OF "INSULTING TURKISH IDENTITY" REF: A. ANKARA 5233 ¶B. 04 ISTANBUL 374 ¶C. ISTANBUL 1680 Classified By: CONSUL GENERAL DEBORAH K. JONES FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D) ¶1. (C) Summary: Citing Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code (TPC),an Istanbul court October 7 convicted publisher Hrant Dink of "insulting Turkish identity" and issued a six-month suspended sentence. This case, resulting from a 2004 article in Dink's Agos newspaper, was brought by the same Sisli prosecutor who charged author Orhan Pamuk with a similar offense (ref a),and vividly illustrates the ability of nationalist lawyers and judges to impede free speech despite legal reforms. Many in civil society have vocally supported Dink, both on principle and on substance, a relatively new and promising phenomenon. End summary. ¶2. (SBU) Dink, publisher of the Istanbul-based bi-lingual Turkish and Armenian Agos newspaper, is active in a variety of civil society initiatives. Most recently, he spoke at the "Alternative Armenian Conference" (ref b),where he passionately conveyed to the audience the attachment Armenian citizens of Turkey feel to Anatolia. In an October 12 meeting with poloff, Dink said he has had some 20 criminal cases opened against him for his work throughout the years; this is the first time he has been convicted. What Did He Say? -------------- ¶3. (U) In January and February 2004, Dink published an eight-part series in Agos which concluded with a focus on Armenian identity. Dink wrote that Armenians seem unable to form a healthy identity because it is "bound to whether or not...Turkish people recognize the genocide...Henceforth the time has come to remove oneself from this mistake and get the 'Turk' distanced from this active role within the Armenian identity." ¶4. (SBU) The language that drew the Istanbul Sisli district prosecutor's wrath was Dink's message, delivered in somewhat obscure prose, that Armenians should get over their obsession with the Turkish "genocide" question by identifying with the reality of an Armenian nation. Dink told us this language urges the Armenian diaspora to replace its obsession with Turks, trauma, and "genocide" with a rediscovery of what it means to be Armenian. The actual phrase was: "the clean blood that will fill the vacuum of poisonous blood emerging through the lack of the 'Turk' is present in the noble vein that will be established by the Armenian with Armenia. It is only necessary to be aware of this existence." The Court Takes Action -------------- ¶5. (SBU) The prosecutor pressed charges under TPC Article 301 claiming Dink's article was tantamount to equating Turkish blood with poison. Under Article 301, a person who explicitly insults being a Turk, the Republic of Turkey, or the Turkish Parliament faces a prison term from six months to three years. During deliberations, the court appointed an independent panel of experts to study the text. The panel concluded that the offending sentence, taken in context of the entire series, did not constitute an insult to Turkish identify. Nevertheless, the court convicted Dink and handed down a six-month suspended sentence (the prosecutor had asked for three years). ¶6. (U) Under the terms of his suspended sentence, Dink will not be imprisoned unless he commits the same offense within the next five years. Dink said his lawyer has already filed an appeal in the case. The Turkish press reported October 13 that the Union of Turkish Jurists -- which had filed suit to have the "Alternative Armenian" conference postponed in September -- has now filed a suit with the appeals court in Ankara arguing that Dink should be issued a harsher sentence. Reactions -------------- ¶7. (C) Dink told us he is overwhelmed by the support he has received following the verdict, although throughout the trial he maintained a low profile. A variety of well-wishers have visited his office, and three separate support petitions are circulating through "list serves" made up of human rights activists and Turkish and Armenian academics working together in the United States. Dink told us he even received a call from an old man in Sivas who said he would pray for him during his five daily trips to the mosque. ¶8. (C) Though he had not heard from any government officials, Dink said AKP's Bursa MP, Ertugrul Yalcinbayir, and Istanbul's Bakirkoy District CHP Mayor had both called with messages of support. Dink was also bolstered by EU Enlargement Commissioner Rehn's mention of his case in a media interview this past weekend and by calls from EU member embassy representatives. An EU visitor coming to Turkey next week sought an appointment, but Dink will be in Paris, meeting with Armenian organizations in France who are mobilizing a campaign to support him. Still Angry About Sabiha? -------------- ¶9. (C) Dink believes that there may be (unspecified) forces beyond the prosecutor at work in this case. "It all started with Sabiha Gokcen last year," he said, referring to an article published in Agos in February 2004 implying that Gokcen, the adopted daughter of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, was of Armenian descent. At the time, the claim was reprinted by the daily Hurriyet newspaper and generated a series of vicious and insulting reactions by a variety of columnists and statist and nationalist organizations. (ref c). What Next? -------------- ¶10. (C) Also looming for Dink is the February 2006 continuation of a court case brought against him in Urfa following his presentation at a December 2002 conference on multiculturalism. This case accuses him of insulting the state, and it is unclear what impact the October 7 conviction and suspended sentence will have on its outcome. That Urfa case likely will go to appeal, too, if he is convicted, and both could eventually land in the European Court of Human Rights. ¶11. (C) Comment: Dink is a controversial figure, both in Turkey and within the Armenian diaspora, which he often has accused of being too harsh and hardline. Ironically, the message leading to his conviction was, he asserts, intended not to insult Turks, but rather to encourage Armenians to move on from their obsession with alleged "genocide" to finding their place in history. ¶12. (C) Comment, cont'd: Perhaps most noteworthy about Dink's conviction has been the spirited public defense of this controversial iconoclast that followed. A number of journalists and professors have averred that few would have rallied to Dink's defense five years ago, either on substance or on principle. While such support does not yet extend to, for example, a DEHAP activist recently sentenced to six months in prison for greeting colleagues in Kurdish at the opening of a meeting, public attitudes in support of free speech and the democratic process itself are beginning to change for the better. End comment. JONES