OPEN LETTER OF PROTEST

AZG Armenian Daily #126, 05/07/2007
Hrant Dink Trial

Dear Friends:

Arat Dink, Serkis Seropyan, Karin Karakashli, Aydin
Engin, all members of the staff of "Agos" weekly in
Istanbul, and Erdal Dogal, the Dink family lawyer, are
charged with "denigrating Turkishness" under Article
301 of the Turkish Penal Code. Some of them may face
three years of jail time if convicted. The pretext is
the publication of an old interview with the Reuters
News Agency in which the late assassinated Hrant Dink
had referred to the Genocide of the Armenians.

Renowned writers, scholars and journalists such as
Orhan Pamuk, Elif Shafak, Taner Akçam, Ragip Zarakolu
and others were charged with similar criminal offences
over the last while. Some of them have chosen
self-exile and are now living in Europe, the United
States and elsewhere for fear of their own lives and
avoiding the destiny that the late Hrant Dink faced.

Please visit http://protest.keghart.com to voice your
opinion by endorsing an open letter of protest. This
letter will be delivered to International PEN at
http://www.internationalpen.org.uk. Whether the letter
will have any impact on the outcome of the trials is
unknown, however, it will be yet another document in
the annals of Human Rights abuses in Turkey. As such
it could help bring attention to the plight of Turkish
Scholars, Human Rights activist, writers, journalists
and people at large to end a Draconian rule that
prevents Turkey to explore its own past history
without fear of persecution. Furthermore, it may
highlight the timeliness of the application that Taner
Akçam filed before the European Court of Human Rights
on the 20th of June 2007.

Your endorsement, dear friend, is solicited, because
on previous occasions you have supported similar
initiatives. The website http://protest.keghart.com is
privately owned, free of advertisements and is not
supported by any organization or third party whether
financially or otherwise. Your privacy is valued;
other than your name and location no other personal
information will be displayed anywhere and will not be
used without your permission.

Sincerely
Dikran Abrahamian BA MD