Arat Dink

Arat Dink is a Turkish journalist of Armenian origin and the executive editor of Agos, a bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly newspaper published in Istanbul. He is the son of Hrant Dink, the former editor-in-chief of the same paper, who was murdered by Ogün Samast, a Turkish ultra-nationalist who was seventeen years old at the time.

Arat Dink has been brought to trial as a co-defendant as the executive editor of Agos along with Serkis Seropyan, holder of the weekly's publishing license in the third and last case that was opened against Hrant Dink on charges of 'denigrating Turkishness' under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code.cite press release| url = http://amnesty.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=17117 | title = Turkey: Prosecution of journalist is harassment | accessdate = 2007-01-24 | publisher= Amnesty International, UK | date = 2006-09-27] cite news
title = Two acquittals, one postponement | publisher = Agos | date=2007-06-15
url=http://www.agos.com.tr/eng/index.php?module=news&news_id=369&cat_id=1 | accessdate=2007-06-26] The charge was pressed in September 2006 after Agos republished a July 14, 2006 interview of Hrant Dink by the Reuters news agency where Hrant Dink referred to the 1915 massacre of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide.cite press release
url = http://www.pen.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/1135/prmID/172
title = PEN Alarmed by Murder of Armenian-Turkish Journalist
accessdate = 2007-01-24
date = 2007-01-19
publisher = PEN American Center]

The charges against Hrant Dink were dropped in the first hearing of the case, originally scheduled for March 22, 2007 and re-scheduled to June 14, 2007 due to his death and continued for Serkis Seropyan and Arat Dink, with the second hearing scheduled for July 18, 2007. At the court hearing, Arat Dink accused judges of contributing to his father's death by making him a target thanks to their high-profile judicial proceedings. "I think it is primitive, absurd and dangerous to consider as an insult to Turkish identity the recognition of a historic event as a genocide," he said, quoted by the Anatolia news agency.cite news | url=http://www.armenialiberty.org/armeniareport/report/en/2007/06/CF157A3B-45B6-40ED-A314-A77216E23308.ASP | title=Kocharian honors slain Turkish-Armenian editor | accessdate=2007-06-26 | date=2007-06-18 | last=Danielian | first=Gayane ]

On October 11, 2007, Arat Dink was convicted of insulting Turkey's identity for republishing his father's remarks. He was given a one-year suspended sentence for "insulting Turkishness", like his father before him.cite news
title = Son of slain ethnic Armenian journalist is convicted in Turkey of 'insulting Turkishness' | publisher = International Herald Tribune | date=2007-10-11
url=http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/10/11/europe/EU-GEN-Turkey-Free-Speech.php | accessdate=2007-10-11]

He was awarded the Guardian Journalism Award of the Index on Censorship on 21st of April 2008. [cite news
url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/apr/23/turkey.humanrights
accessdate=2008-07-01
title=In praise of ... Arat Dink
work=The Guardian
date=2008-04-23]

References