MEPS CONCERNED ABOUT RAGIP ZARAKOLU’S SECURITY

Four eminent members of the European Parliament – Mrs Maria Eleni Koppa and Mr Jacques Toubon, both vice-presidents of the delegation EU-Turkey, Mr Patrick Gaubert, vice-president of the sub-committee on Human Rights and president of Licra, Mr Ioannis Kasoulides, former minister of Foreign Affairs and recent candidate for the Cypriot presidency – have recently sent a letter to the Turkish Minister of Justice, Mr Mehmet Ali Sahin, in order to inform him of the Unions concern about developments in Ragip Zarakolu’s trial, reported the European Armenian Federation. The MEPs mention that the “long, costly and morally exhausting” trial comes from “judicial relentlessness”. They are also worried about Mr Zarakolu’s “physical security” regarding “nationalistic renewal in Turkey” especially revealed by the “murder of Hrant Dink and the revelations referring to the criminal organization Ergenekon”. On April 9, at the end of another hearing of Mr Zarakolu, the criminal court in Istanbul decided to postpone the hearings until June 17, i.e. after the possible adoption by the Turkish Parliament of the amendments tabled by the AKP government referring to the 301 and 305 articles of the TPC. The European Armenian Federation reminds that Mr Zarakolu is a publisher and militates for several years in favor of Human Rights in Turkey. He is one of the founding members of the Turkish Association for Human Rights and he forms part of those dissidents prosecuted under the 301 article for having “insulted the State and the Republic” and “the memory of Ataturk”. In this case, Mr Zarakolu is prosecuted following the article 301 because he published two books on the Armenian genocide, the founding act and the major taboo of the Turkish state and society. One of the books deals with the rescue of an Armenian family by Turks during the genocide.

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Headlines for April 21, 2008

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MEPS CONCERNED ABOUT RAGIP ZARAKOLU’S SECURITY
Four eminent members of the European Parliament – Mrs Maria Eleni Koppa and Mr Jacques Toubon, both vice-presidents of the delegation EU-Turkey, Mr Patrick Gaubert, vice-president of the sub-committee ...