Reuters AlertNet Lite - FACTBOX-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink

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FACTBOX-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink

19 Jan 2007 15:00:30 GMT
Source: Reuters

Jan 19 (Reuters) - Facts about Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, shot dead in Istanbul on Friday: * Dink, born in Malatya, southeast Turkey in 1954, was a member of Turkey's small ethnic Armenian community, and a Turkish citizen.

* He was editor-in-chief of the bilingual Turkish and Armenian weekly Agos (www.agos.com.tr).

* Dink had been convicted of insulting Turkishness -- under the controversial article 301 of Turkey's penal code -- and handed a six-month suspended sentence in 2005. The case was prompted by an article he wrote in which he referred to an Armenian nationalist idea of ethnic purity.

The European Union has repeatedly called on Ankara to change the law and the government has promised to revise it.

* Of his conviction, Dink told Reuters: "I may be paying the price for this, but Turkish democracy will gain from it, I hope."

* Armenians have long campaigned for recognition of the alleged genocide of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World War One, but Dink opposed the French parliament's passing of a law banning denial of the Armenian genocide. He said he would even be ready to go to prison in France in defence of free speech.

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Last updated:Fri Jan 19 15:01:34 2007