Journalists Death in Turkey and Hrant Dink Assassination

MARIBOR, 2012

Journalists Death in Turkey and Hrant Dink Assassination

Journalists death in Turkey started with Hasan Fehmi’s did. He was an author for working as “Serbesti News” who writes something against to Concord and Development Association. He were  killed in 6 April 1909 on  Galata Bridge. From this event , Journalists death can not be stopped till now.

While 83 Journalists were killed in 100 years, over half of death existed in last 30 years. It is seen the first time , 47 journalists has been killed since 1990. Although No of them could not been explained by government or somewhere else.

When we examine the journalists death with assassination. The Journalists say that “ Journalists who were killed with assassination is one of the shame for Turkey Community. Turkey is a democratic country. These kind of deaths can not be accepted by us.” They also say that “ Journalists is always killed for nothing. Why government could not find the assassin in these geography ” It shows that democracy and intelligence develop slowly.

When we look out the years between 90-94’s,33 journalists were killed .Majority of journalists were from Kurdish community and majority of them were killed in are where the people are Kurdish. Racism was not stopped. During the Armenian Genocide, 10 foreign journalists and author were killed in 1915.This event was also the example of racism.

Why were Journalists killed in Turkey?

As it seen 83 journalists were killed in 100years. There are 11 foreign journalists (majority of them were Armenian)(İf we count the Kurdish as Turkish citizenship) were killed in 83 journalists.10 of them were killed in 1915 because of the Armenian genocide. When it is realized 8 of them were killed 24.04.2015. This date was  the Armenian genocide, Armenian Journalists were taken to Ayaş and kept in prison on 24 April and later taken under military escort to Diyarbakır to appear before a court martial there and was murdered by Cherkes Ahmet.

There were also some reasons about the journalists assassination. Some of them were;

1- Some of interior and foreign power want to create anarchic situation in Turkey. They always do it to prepare an atmosphere for bash. (11 journalists)

2- Racism results; The majority of them were killing about it. (This is also the popular one in Turkey) (42 journalists)

3- The journalists are killed who write about the defraudation. (9 journalists)

4- The journalists are killed who write against write to government.(19 journalists)

5- There are also some journalists who were killed by police. ( 2 journalists)

An example speech of journalist for assassination. The journalists Hıfzı Topuz said that “ We need to share all information with interior and foreign associations to save the journalists life”

1-İnterior and Foreign Power: Press, a kind of  basic elements of democratic regime like the 4.th power. It functions like the mediator among the manager and the one being managing, Although the newspapers do not have enough circulations in Turkey, they are effective on country’s current matter  because of  their creating strong power of community and reaching great masses.

The last issues changing very often in Turkey. There is an issue which changes directly related to the publication policies of the press foundaditions. Even though  the events taking a place  due to  the social  dynamism has been regarded as the main factor, the essential  factor in lasts issue changes is the publication policies of the press foundations.

We need to examine on this question; Does the press and journalists , which is got stuck between these complicated structures and activities however it named as the 4th power, have a directing effect on foreign policies as well as the one it has on internal affairs?

The writings which are written by journalists ,reflected to international relationship in turkey ,where changes everyday and meets a new innovation and effected the other countries quickly.

The writings ,not only shaped generally, as a objective 'right decision' in foreign policy as well ,more than according to interests. This appears an argument between Turkey and the other countries because of the writings. And causes some pressures on journalists by foreign powers .So they continuous to write the writings with journalists some unsolved murders are appeared.

            On the other hand ,foreign powers use journalists wrongly, causes some anarchist situation and they generally think to spoil the country. They use pressure to journalists and with writings which are written .As a conclusion ,it is finale with by the murder of general public or a strong government.

2- Racism Results;  As it knows that lots of Journalists were killed by someone to support  their  nationality with  their writing  each year in Turkey.

·                            “Turkish nationalism is a political ideology that promotes and glorifies the Turkish people, as either national, ethnic or linguistic group and puts the interests of the state over other influences, including religious ones.”

·                            “Nationalism is also known as  a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms”

§  We can see the Turkish nationalism in 7 ways such as ; “Pan-Turkism, Turanism, Turkifcation, Nationalist Movement Party, Grey Wolves, Great Union Party and Ülkücülük”

In fact , Issue of Journalists death  are mostly related to  Racism in Turkey. When the deaths are checked , Kurdish and Armenian Journalists were killing every year. 42 Armenian and Kurdish journalists were killed in the history of journalism in turkey.( The Journalists who were also known by whole community). We firstly need to explain the reason of death in racism before we draw a table.

To Support Armenian Genocide

“The Armenian Genocide also known as the Armenian Holocaust, the Armenian Massacres and, by Armenians, as the Great Crime was the systematic destruction of the Armenian population of the Ottoman Empire during and just after World War I. It was implemented through wholesale massacres and deportations, with the deportations consisting of forced marches under conditions designed to lead to the death of the deportees. The total number of resulting Armenian deaths is generally held to have been between 1 million and 1.5 million. Other ethnic groups were similarly attacked by the Ottoman Empire during this period, including Assyrians and Greeks, and some scholars consider those events to be part of the same policy of extermination”

To Support “PKK” Terror Organization

“The Kurdistan Workers' Party  commonly known as PKK, and formerly known as KADEK (Freedom and Democracy Congress of Kurdistan), is a Kurdish organization which has since 1984 been fighting an armed struggle against the Turkish state for an autonomous Kurdistan and greater cultural and political rights for the Kurds in Turkey The group was founded on 27 November 1978 and was led by Abdullah Öcalan. The PKK's ideology was originally a fusion of revolutionary socialism and Kurdish nationalism although since his imprisonment, Ocalan has abandoned orthodox Marxism.The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization internationally by a number of states and organizations, including the United States and the European Union. Turkey labeled the organization as an ethnic secessionist organization that uses terrorism and the threat of force against both civilian and military targets for the purpose of achieving its political goal.”

Number Of Journalists Who Were Killed	Year	Nationality	Reason
8	1915	Armenian	Turkish and Kurdish people were killed by Armenian in Eastern part of Turkey, in the first world war
18	1992-1998 (Generally of them unknown by community)	Kurdish	Supported to PKK( terror organization)
1	2007	Armenian	Supported to Armenian Genocide and his ideas about it.
1	2008	Kurdish	Supported to PKK( terror organization)
24	1908-2011	Armenian-Kurdish etc…	Different Reason about their ideas.

 (Table 1)

The table shows us how and why were they killed. As it is seen Armenian were killed to  supported Armenian genocide and their citizenship’s did in 1915.Kurdish were killed to supported PKK terror organization.

3- Defraudation; 9  journalists are killed who write about the defraudation 50’s years to 90’s in Turkey. This situation can be explained with financial differences and quality of government these years. The best important point here is Journalists wrote about the  revelation of government defraudation. Thus they were killed by deep state.

4- Against Writing to Government; Against writing can be related to defraudation too. It generally covered this term with the other ideas. It arises  usually from political speech. So that 19 Journalists were killed till now.

5- Police;  We can just see 2 journalists who were killed by police. It can said that the matter  is unusual .  It arises by police’s “uncontrolled power”

Hrant Dink Assassination in 2007

We saw that 83 Journalists were killed 1909 to 2008 in Turkey. When we think about the first time , they were totally about Racists and Politics. It is looked the popular journalist who were killed the first view. Hrant Dink can be seen in this category.

Hrant Dink  was a  journalist who worked in Turkey. He was originally from Armenia. He was the 82.Journalist who have been killed with assassination. It arises his opinion about Armenian Genocide and his supporting this issue on international area.

 Hrant Dink also was one of the founders of Agos  weekly, the only newspaper in Turkey published in Armenian  and Turkish, and served as the editor-in-chief of Agos from its founding in 1996 until his death in 2007. 

Hrant Dink was assassinated in Istanbul  in 2007, as he returned to the offices of Agos. The killer was reported to have introduced himself as an Ankara University student who wanted to meet with Mr. Dink. When his request was rejected, he waited in front of a nearby bank for a while. According to eyewitnesses, Dink was shot by a man of 25–30 years of age, who fired three shots at Dink's head from the back at point blank range before fleeing the scene on foot. According to the police, the assassin was a man of 18–19 years of age. Two men had been taken into custody in the first hours of the police investigation, but were later released. Another witness, the owner of a restaurant near the Agos office, said the assassin looked about 20, wore jeans and a cap and shouted "I shot the infidel" as he left the scene.

Death of Hrant Dink as a sign of his opinion about Armenian genocide. Armenian genocide was almost before 100 years ago. Ottoman Empire killed some Armenian citizenship in Turkey because of the first world war. Moreover  his view was totally against to Turkish communities