Turkey isn't contented with Hrant Dink's murder and now Dink's son is being chased

PanARMENIAN.Net - Dink was murdered by 17-year-old nationalist Ogyun Samast, who grounded the committed crime with "Dink's insult to Turkishness". It seemed that after the crime, which would have tragic outcomes for any country fighting its way to Europe, the attitude towards the Armenian-Turkish Press would change. However, the Office of Public Prosecutor in Istanbul thinks that "Agos" has once again violated provisions of the Article 301 and demands Hrant Dink's son's and his colleague's Sarkis Serobyan's imprisonment with the period of up to three years. They are charged with the same "insult to Turkishness" and the cause for the charge was the repeated publication of Hrant Dink's interview where he had touched upon the issue of the Armenian Genocide. During the first court session Arat Dink blamed the prosecutors in having their certain role in his father's murder. "The biggest absurdity and the most dangerous thing is that the determination of the historical event like the Armenian Genocide is considered to be offence for the Turkish Nation," quotes his words the Turkish Daily News. In case Arat Dink is recognized guilty, which is beyond doubt, he is facing imprisonment with the period of from 6 moths up to 3 years.

If we take a look at the county's home policy on the threshold of general elections, the launch of the military operations against the Kurds and rather possible EU rejection of resuming the negotiations, the decision of the Office of Public Prosecutor in Istanbul is quite natural. In fact Turkey is not going to abandon its policy of denying the Armenian Genocide for anything and carries on according to its main principle - gain as much time as possible, maybe the international community will one day get tired of raising the issue of the crimes committed by the Ottoman Empire during the World War I. The truth is that if the problem was with the Armenians only, this variant would still work out, but there are also the Assyrians, Pontiac Greeks, and the very Kurds with the hands of which the Young Turks slaughtered whole nations. The question is what measures Ankara will take if all the citizens of the Ottoman Empire of non-Turkish origins, who have systematically been annihilated, are charged with insult to Turkishness.

On the same day 86 Turkish scientists, writers and diplomats sent letter to 53 Nobel Prize laureates, having called Armenia and Turkey upon establishing relationships, co-operation and tolerance between the two nations. "The present initiative will help to create the world culture, which will have its fruits in the future. We declare that we are ready to put all the efforts and have our certain asset in putting an end to the created situation. The Armenians and Turks have lived together in the Ottoman Empire and this can't be denied. Our nations share common cultural values and we assume that these common values may serve as bases for the development of future relationships. Turkey doesn't define the tragic events of 1915 as Genocide. After many researches and studies of different documents some Turkish and foreign academicians came to the conclusion that no Armenian Genocide had ever been committed in the Ottoman Empire. We would like to say that we are ready to discuss this issue in united commissions together with the Armenian historians and all the parties interested. We assume that the dialogue is the only way to solve our problems," the Turkish scholars write.

Thus the Turkish side didn't come up with anything new, from one side there is the charges according to the Article 301 brought forward, and from the other side there is the call for discussions with the historians. Perhaps the French President Nicola Sarkozy is right in his strong conviction that Turkey has no place in Europe. In fact he is right, as the denial of one's own responsibility in the harsh crime committed against humanity and the rejection of the right of freedom of speech only contradict the values adopted and advocated in Europe.