“I am like a dove... Like a dove I have my eyes everywhere, in front of me, at the back, on the left, on the right. My head is as moving as the one of a dove... And fast enough to turn in an instant,” Dink had said in his last article, which was published on Jan. 19, 2007, the day when he was shot dead outside the offices of the bilingual (Armenian-Turkish) Agos weekly. He was the founder and editor-in-chief of Agos.
Cem Özdemir, a member of the European Parliament who was in Turkey for various meetings this week and who has his friend Dink’s picture on the opening page of his personal Web page, has a clear answer for Aksu’s questions. He apparently believes that neither will the carnation bloom again without fear nor will the dove fly again in the city unless all aspects of Dink’s murder are thoroughly resolved.
Özdemir was here in Turkey this week with Renate Künast, co-chair of the German Green Party, for various talks in İstanbul and Ankara. On Monday he attended the sixth hearing in the case of the plot leading to the 2007 assassination of Dink, held at the İstanbul Criminal Court. The two parliamentarians met with President Abdullah Gül in Ankara on Wednesday. German Ambassador Eckart Cuntz hosted a reception at his residence in honor of Özdemir and Künast on Wednesday evening.
The reception was well attended, probably because the German parliamentarians’ meeting with Gül came amid widespread unrest in the country in the wake of an investigation into the Ergenekon criminal network -- accused of having plotted to stage a coup against the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government -- and a closure case against the ruling party over allegations it seeks to establish an Islamist state.
Özdemir, meanwhile, also made a kind suggestion for Hurşit Tolon, a former commander of the 1st Army Corps who was arrested last weekend on charges of founding and leading the Ergenekon terrorist organization.
Having remembered what Tolon had said in 2004, when Dink’s Agos scored a scoop in 2004 and revealed that Sabiha Gökçen, Turkish Republic founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s adopted daughter, was Armenian, Özdemir said it might be a good idea for Tolon to look into the Turkish Constitution to re-examine the definition of Turkish citizenship.
Following publication of the report by Agos, Turkish daily Hürriyet approached Tolon and asked for his comment on the report. The former commander then categorically called it “a crime against national unity.” Your arrival here came amid an ongoing countdown to the end the closure case against the AK Party and the upcoming start of the Ergenekon case. But the main reason for your visit’s timing was the Dink case. What impressions will you take back to Germany after Monday’s hearing?
One thing I want to say is after being at the Dink case, it is very obvious, you don’t have to be an expert; just by listening to what was said there it is quite obvious that this case cannot be limited to the people who appeared before that court. This is beyond the people who appeared there, it’s very obvious; I mean the question is still unanswered: What happened with the information that the gendarmerie got? Where did this information go, who reacted how, how was this information judged and why were no steps beyond that ever taken to save the life of my brother and friend Hrant Dink? This question remains to be answered. And as long as this question is unanswered, Turkey has a very serious problem.
The second thing is that we are not talking about a banana republic, we’re talking about one of the leading countries of the world. This court did not give a very good impression to me. I mean the whole thing -- starting from the room to the technical limitations -- I mean practically everything, the way that the lawyers of Hrant Dink’s family and the ones who are involved in this murder case have to share a microphone, have to stand half a meter away from each other. I mean, what is this?
This is the Turkish Republic. I’m not in charge of this republic, I don’t represent this republic, but I personally felt ashamed. So, I would love to see a little bit more seriousness in the follow-up to this Hrant Dink case and if there is a link to Ergenekon, it has to be followed up. There are serious accusations that there is a link between the Ergenekon case and the Hrant Dink murder case.
You already expressed your concerns about the composition of the court and a will to examine the alleged connection between the two cases. Are you able to see a will for doing so?
I’m not in a position to make suggestions to the court; this is up to the court. But one thing is for sure: After I listened to the confessions and the expressions there, it is very obvious that other people need to appear at this court. Let me give you an example, I mean the fact that Hrant Dink was called to the Vali Yardımcısı [deputy governor] and the kind of dialogue that happened there, I mean, it leaves very, very serious question marks. Has this been followed up? Was he questioned? And a number of other people I could tell about. From the gendarmes [a paramilitary force for internal security] in Trabzon to security guards and it is clear: If this country is a secular country, if everyone’s life has the same worth in this country -- independent of Hrant being an Armenian or a Circassian or a believer or a non-believer, whatever he was, he was killed and whoever the murderer was needs to be punished. Whoever they are, wherever they are; and to me we’re at the beginning of the case, not the end.
We may now know 10 percent of what we need to know, and the other 90 percent is also an answer to the security questions in Turkey, to the Gladio problem, to the problem of Susurluk, to the problem of Şemdinli, all of which I believe is linked to each other. You cannot separate them from one another. It is obvious. There are people in Turkey who think that they are above the law, people in Turkey who think that they have been “given a mission.” And that’s not acceptable in any democracy and therefore, first of all, I encourage the government and encourage the Turkish democracy to follow up on that. On the other hand, I also ask them to do this in a way that is proper and in a democratic way that is completely based on the rule of law.
When do you think Hrant Dink became a target? In the autumn of 2005, when he was given a six-month suspended sentence for insulting “Turkishness,” or when he wrote the report on Sabiha Gökçen?
Of course, it is obvious that the Sabiha Gökçen report played a crucial role in this context. Some people think that it is an insult if you say that the adopted daughter… What is wrong with that, I mean the Armenians are citizens of this country. It is not an insult if you call somebody an Armenian. This is a normal thing. I mean if somebody calls me of Turkish origin in Germany -- I’m a German citizen -- I don’t see this as an insult. So it shouldn’t be an insult to say that she is of Armenian origin. I’ll understand that… But I don’t understand the statement of Hurşit Tolon, to be honest, as he said at the time that it was unacceptable that Gökçen’s name was brought in an Armenian context. Sorry, this is the understanding of the Turkish nationals. People are Turkish citizens as an umbrella and they can be of Armenian origin -- they can be of any origin. I’m not in a position to tell Hurşit Tolon the understanding of Turkish citizenship, but maybe he should look in the Constitution.
What was the message you got at the meeting with Gül?
First of all, he thanked us Greens and said we are always honest when we criticize Turkey and that we criticize Turkey as friends because we want a more democratic Turkey and because we kept our promise that such a Turkey deserves to become a member of the European Union. He differentiated between those who criticize because they don’t want Turkey in the European Union. That is, I think he shared his observations.
And the second point is that he was optimistic, rather optimistic, saying that he knows that Turkey is getting through difficult times but in the end Turkey will succeed and democracy will succeed.
Do you share the president’s optimism?
I mean, who am I to say something different from Mr. Gül? If Mr. Gül is optimistic, I have to be optimistic as well. I believe that wisdom is here, I believe there is also wisdom in the Constitutional Court and I believe that at the end of the day wisdom will succeed because I cannot imagine that Turkey has an intention, that anybody here in this country can have this serious intention to harm Turkey, to stop Turkey from moving forward, to push Turkey back. I can imagine a lot of people in Europe who want that, but I cannot imagine that they have fans here in Turkey. I cannot imagine that somebody will push the Constitutional Court or that somebody in the army or somebody in politics or somebody in the media can have an interest in supporting Mr. Sarkozy. We will find out at the end of the day how many fans Mr. Sarkozy has in Turkey.
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