Like Father, Like Son

The Stiletto ^ | June 20, 2007 | The Stiletto

[theothercheek]

Los Angeles Daily News columnist and Political Mavens Fellow Bridget Johnson saddened and shocked The Stiletto with her report that Arat Dink, son of Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, who was slain in cold blood by Turkish nationalists in January, is being charged with "insulting Turkishness" under Turkey’s notorious Article 301:

[W]hen Dink prophesized in that last column that additional injustices would arise, he could have been speaking not only of his cold-blooded killing but of the trials that would follow.

First, it was revealed that hearings for his alleged assailants will be closed to the press, and journalists won't even be given reports of the trial. Reporters Without Borders states that this is because the alleged shooter, Samast, is 17 years old. How convenient for those who may be wanting to shield the extent of the currently 18-strong conspiracy - and what an ironic blow for the principles of press freedom for which Dink ultimately gave his life.

And in a slap to all Armenians and all who value the democracy, free speech and justice ideals furthered by Hrant Dink, his son, Arat, now editor of Agos, has been charged with "insulting Turkish identity" and appeared in court last week.

Arat Dink simply reprinted an interview where his father recognized the Armenian Genocide. For this, prosecutors are urging that Arat spend six months behind bars. "The most absurd and dangerous (thing) is the fact that describing a historical event as `genocide' is perceived as insulting Turkishness," Arat Dink said. …

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in May of amending Article 301. The arrest of Arat Dink shows that this hollow promise is too little, too late.

Johnson also notes that Agos staffers have been threatened by the Turkish Vengeance Brigade, described by Reporters Without Borders as a "dangerous ultra-nationalist group." France 24, an international news channel, recently presented an in-depth video report, "Turkey’s Hidden Armenians," which suggests that nationalists may have had another motive to kill Hrant Dink:

In the past few years numerous Turks have discovered that they are hidden Armenians. Their Muslim families have Christian ancestors rescued from the Genocide, who had to convert to Islam in order to survive. …

Allowing Turks to rediscover their Armenian roots was the obsession of journalist Hrant Dink, assassinated for having shaken the myth of Turkish identity. …

The Agos team continues the work of its founder and publishes appeals by people who have discovered their Armenian ancestry and want to know more. ...

In Turkey to call someone an Armenian is almost an insult.

So Dink may not have insulted Turkishness by suggesting that Ottoman Turks were genocidal murderers – for all The Stiletto knows, this could even be a source of pride for nationalists. No, he insulted Turkishness by proving that many Turks actually have Armenian blood running through their veins.

In Armenian, "agos" means "furrow." Turkish nationalists and their co-conspirators at all levels of the Turkish government will clearly stop at nothing, not even murder, to ensure that the seed Hrant Dink – and now his son Arat – planted in their furrow will never grow and bear fruit.