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ANKARA, April 28 (AFP) - A Turkish court on
Thursday began hearing a case against a journalist
of Armenian descent on charges that he insulted
Turks in remarks at a conference three years ago,
the Anatolia news agency reported.
Hrant Dink, editor of the Armenian-language weekly
Agos, could face up to three years in prison if
found guilty by the court in the southeastern
Turkish city of Sanliurfa where the conference on
minorities and human rights was held.
Dink, who was not present at the hearing, told AFP
from his office in Istanbul that he believed the
suit stemmed from his reponse to a question on what
he felt when, at primary school, he had to take an
oath with which elementary school days begin in
Turkey.
The patriotic verse which all students in Turkey
have to memorise and recite begins with the lines:
"I am a Turk, I am honest, I am hardworking".
"I said that I was a Turkish citizen but an Armenian
and that even though I was honest and hardworking, I
was not a Turk, I was an Armenian," Dink explained.
He said he also criticised a line in the Turkish
national anthem that speaks of "my heroic race".
"I said I did not feel like singing that line
because I was against the use of the word 'race',
which leads to discrimination," Dink said.
Dink is on trial with Seyhmus Ulek, deputy chairman
of the Mazlum-Der Human Rights Association, who is
accused of insulting the Turkish Republic and could
also face upto three years in jail if convicted.
"At the conference, I raised objections against the
Republican project of creating a one-nation
country," Ulek told AFP.
Expanding minority rights is one of the issues
Turkey must address before it can join the European
Union, with which it is scheduled to start
membership talks on October 3.
Under the 1923 Lausanne Treaty, the founding accord
of modern-day Turkey, Turkey recognises Greeks, Jews
and Armenians as religious minorities, but any
attempt to put ethnic identity forward is still
largely untolerated.
AFP
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