HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST ASSASSINATED IN ISTANBUL

UNCLAS ISTANBUL 000038 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV TU SUBJECT: HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST ASSASSINATED IN ISTANBUL REF: A. 06 ISTANBUL 504 ¶B. 05 ISTANBUL 1780 ¶C. 05 ISTANBUL 1680 ¶1. Human rights activist and newspaper publisher Hrint Dink was assassinated at approximately 1500 local time outside the offices of the bilingual Turkish- and Armenian-language newspaper Agos. Television reporters on the scene less than one-half hour later report four spent bullet casings on the sidewalk. Dink reportedly received two bullets to the head. Police are seeking a suspect 18 to 19 years of age. No one is yet in custody according to live media reports. Dink was shot while exiting the building in the Osmanbey section of Istanbul. Collegues report his receiving threats against his life "for some time." ¶2. Dink is a graduate of the University of Istanbul, Department of Zoology with continuing education in philosophy. He began working as a columnist for Agos in 1966 and was currently the paper's editor-in-chief. In October 2005, Dink was convicted of breaking Turkey's Article 301 against insulting Turkishness. At the time of his death he was free pending further legal procedures (ref B). Dink was an articulate if controversial figure both in Turkey and within the Armenian diaspora. Most recently, in 2006 he was a vocal opponent of French legislation that would have criminalized the denial of the Armenian genocide. He was a longstanding activist on freedom of speech issues and active in a variety of civil society issues. JONES