Dear Friend,
Arat Dink, Serkis Seropyan, Karin Karakashli, Aydin Engin, all members of the staff
of "Agos" weekly in Istanbul, and Erdal Dogal, the Dink family lawyer, are charged
with "denigrating Turkishness" under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code. Some
of them may face three years of jail time if convicted. The pretext is the publication
of an old interview with the Reuters News Agency in which the late assassinated
Hrant Dink had referred to the Genocide of the Armenians.
Renowned writers, scholars and journalists such as Orhan Pamuk, Elif Shafak,
Taner Akçam, Ragip Zarakolu and others were charged with similar criminal
offences over the last while. Some of them have chosen self-exile and are now
living in Europe, the United States and elsewhere for fear of their own lives and
avoiding the destiny that the late Hrant Dink faced.
Please visit http://protest.keghart.com to voice your opinion by endorsing an
open letter of protest. This letter will be delivered to International PEN at
http://www.internationalpen.org.uk Whether the letter will have any impact on
the outcome of the trials is unknown, however, it will be yet another document in
the annals of Human Rights abuses in Turkey. As such it could help bring attention
to the plight of Turkish Scholars, Human Rights activist, writers, journalists and
people at large to end a Draconian rule that prevents Turkey to explore its own
past history without fear of persecution. Furthermore, it may highlight the
timeliness of the application that Taner Akçam filed before the European Court of
Human Rights on the 20th of June 2007.
Your endorsement, dear friend, is solicited, because on previous occasions you
have supported similar initiatives. The website http://protest.keghart.com is
privately owned, free of advertisements and is not supported by any organization
or third party whether financially or otherwise. Your privacy is valued; other than
your name and location no other personal information will be displayed anywhere
and will not be used without your permission.
If you are in agreement with the content please circulate to your friends.
