Turkish Court Overturns Ethnic Armenian's Conviction

Hrant Dink (file photo) (AFP) May 1, 2006 -- A court in Ankara today reportedly overturned on appeal the conviction of an ethnic-Armenian journalist in Turkey who stood accused of insulting the Turkish identity.
Hrant Dink, publisher of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian newspaper Agos, was sentenced to a suspended six-month sentence in October by a court in Istanbul for an article published in February 2004.


The article about the alleged massacre of Armenians during World War I in Turkey called on ethnic Armenians to reject any Turkish roots.


Anatolia news agency reports today that the appeal judges in Ankara overturned the conviction due to procedural errors. Anatolia said the case will be referred back to the Istanbul court for retrial.


Armenians claim up to 1.5 million of their kin died in orchestrated killings between 1915 and 1917 in the final days of the Ottoman Empire.


(AFP)

RFE/RL Caucasus Report

RFE/RL Caucasus Report


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