Writer Demirer on Trial for "Armenian Genocide"

Writer Demirer on Trial for "Armenian
Genocide"
In protest at Hrant Dink's murder, writer Demirer had called on others to commit the
same "crime" as Dink had done, i.e. to recognize the factuality of an "Armenian
genocide." He is now facing a trial under Articles 301 and 216.
A day after journalist Hrant Dink’s murder on 19 January 2007, writer Temel Demirer
read a press statement in central Ankara, saying that the journalist had not only
been killed for being Armenian, but also because he had spoken of an “Armenian
genocide.”
Trial under Articles 301 and 216
Around a year later, Demirer has been taken to court under Article 301 and 216 for
“denigrating the Turkish Republic” and “inciting to hatred and hostility.” The case will
be heard at the Ankara 2nd Penal Court tomorrow (6 March).
Temel Demirer and the Solidarity Initiative had said, “We owe something to those
being tried for their thoughts and actions, those being obstructed, tortured,
imprisoned and killed.”
In a previous statement Demirer said that he believed that there was a genocide
carried out against the Armenians in the Ottoman period, that the state was then the
“modus operandi of the Committee of Union and Process”, and that this custom had
been continued up to cases like the Susurluk scandal (which revealed connections
between the state and contract killings).
Calling on others to commit "crimes" in protest
The indictment prepared by Chief Public Prosecutor Levent Savas on 24 December
2007 is based on police reports and police recordings. According to the indictment,
Demirer said the following at the protest meeting:
“We live in a country where murders and silencing the truth are partners. Hrant was
murdered not only because he was Armenian but because he said expressed the
reality that a genocide took place in this country. If the Turkish intellectuals do not
commit 301 crimes under Article 301, then they will be guilty of Hrant’s murder,
too."
"There is a genocide in our history, it is called the Armenian genocide. At the cost of
his life, Hrant told us all about this reality. Those who do not commit a crime against
the murderous state are part of the murder. Those who killed the Armenians
yesterday are today attacking our Kurdish brothers and sisters. Those who want the
brotherhood of peoples need to face up to this history. We have to commit crimes to
avoid that what happened to the Armenians happens to the Kurds. I call on all of you
to commit crimes. Yes, there was an Armenian genocide in this country."
The statement was signed by the following:
Fikret Başkaya, İsmail Beşikçi, Yüksel Akkaya, Mehmet Özer, Necmettin Salaz,
Ahmet Telli, Ruşen Sümbüloğlu, Tayfun İşçi, Mahmut Konuk, İbrahim Akyol, Abdullah
Aydın, Oktay Etiman, Sait Çetinoğlu, Halil İbrahim Vargün, Özgen Seçkin, Zişan
Kürüm, Mete Kaan Kaynar, Hakkı Atıl, Mustafa Kahya, Anıl Aslan, Hüseyin Ontaş,
Erol Bıyıklı, Cennet Bilek, Serpil Köksal, Selçuk Kozağaçlı, H. İbrahim Vargün, Evrim
Kılıç, Yılmaz Erdoğan, Pınar Dursun, Samet Erdemir, Özer Akkuş, Özgür Doğan,
Mehmet Toğan, Ramazan Gezgin, Metin Uzunöz, Onur Işık, Hüseyin Gevher, Ülkü
Çevik, Hüseyin Güngör, Muzaffer Çelikkol, Rıza Karaman, Metin Ayhan, İrfan
Kaygısız, Çağdaş Küpeli, Devrim Kahraman, Tülay Koçak, Ali Ersin Gür, Muharrem
Demirkıran, Haldun Açıksözlü, Adil Okay, Confederation of Europe Workers from
Turkey (ATIK) (EÖ/GG)
Bıa news centre - İstanbul
05 Mars 2008, Çarşamba
Erol ÖNDEROĞLU