US embassy cable - 05ISTANBUL1780

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, Istanbul 
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