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Attacks on the Press in 2005 - Snapshots: Turkey

On October 12, Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was convicted of "insulting and weakening Turkish identity through the media." An Istanbul court sentenced Dink, the editor-in-chief of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, to a six-month suspended term. He planned to appeal. The charges arose from articles published in 2004 dealing with the collective memory of the Armenian massacres of 1915-17 under the Ottoman Empire. Turkish law, even with recent legal reforms, allows for journalists to be criminally prosecuted and imprisoned for their work. Dink was prosecuted under a provision of the new penal code that states: "A person who insults Turkishness, the Republic, or the Turkish Parliament will be punished with imprisonment ranging from six months to three years." Turkish authorities did not elaborate on what they considered insulting in Dink's work. Dink, who founded Agos in 1996, was sentenced the same week talks began on Turkey's application to join the European Union.

Topics: Freedom of expression,