Murdered journalist's son condemns minister

If the Greeks and Armenians had stayed in Turkey after World War I, the country would not have been the same; it would have been much better, said the son of murdered Armenian Turkish journalist Hrant Dink in a column in daily Taraf on Friday.

Arat Dink, the executive editor of Armenian weekly Agos, the newspaper was founded and headed by his father, Hrant, until Hrant was shot dead by a teenage nationalist in January last year. A Prime Ministry report last week said the murder could have been avoided if authorities had taken certain measures.

Arat Dink's remarks came only days after Defense Minister Vecdi Gönül, while at a NATO meeting in Brussels, asked, "If Greeks had stayed on in the Aegean region or Armenians all over the country, would we have been the same nation-state?"

Support or not?
The comments, interpreted as tacit support for the population exchange between Greece and Turkey in 1922 after the Independence War, resulted in swift condemnation from civil groups and the more liberal media in Turkey. Greek media headlined the story, "Admission of ethnic cleansing."

In his article, Arat Dink said Gönül had merely voiced a fact, however, the way he expressed this fact showed he interpreted the lack of Armenians and Greeks in Turkey as a positive part of the nation-building process.

In his answer to Gönül's question, Arat said, "No, the country would not have been the same. It would have been super. Even if nothing changed at least you would not be defense minister. If you were, you would not even have thought what you said. If you had thought it, you would not dare say it. If you did, you would not stay defense minister for long."

Dink said Gönül was describing the lack of Greeks and Armenians as positive. He added, "There is also an interesting often forgotten fact. We are still here. We are few, but we are here. Is the minister implying we should go too?"

The fact that Greeks and Armenians who lived in Anatolia before World War I owned most of the good land in the country cannot be used as an excuse, said Arat Dink, adding, "This theory confuses me even more. Were they moved out because they owned good land or was their removal a security matter?" He said the oath recited by primary school students every week, dedicating their existence to the country, should be altered for children going to schools for minorities. Dink said those children should shout, "I dedicate my disappearance to the country."

PM faces tough choice on Dink murder

The prime minister has received a report stating the murder of Turkish Armenian journalist Hrant Dink could have been prevented, reported the daily Milliyet on Friday.

The Prime Ministry inspector board's report to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Dink's murder in January last year could have been avoided had senior security officials responded to the intelligence gathered on the plans for the murder.

If Erdoğan agrees, investigations may start against Istanbul Police Chief Celalettin Cerrah, Trabzon gendarmerie commander at the time of the murder, Col. Ali ?z, and then Trabzon Police chief Ramazan Akyürek, whose failure to act upon the intelligence was deemed crucial in the failure to prevent the murder.

The PM office's inspector board took action upon the letter of Dink's wife, Rakel Dink, who demanded Erdoğan not let the case be covered up.

The report noted the inciter of the Dink murder, Yasin Hayal, who bombed a McDonalds in Trabzon in October 2004, communicated over a different phone line that was electronically tapped at the time of bombing.

An informer working for the Police, Erhan Tuncel was influential in the McDonalds bombing, the report concluded. "If Tuncel's role in the McDonald's bombing could have been solved, the Dink murder might have been prevented," it said.

The report identified several acts of negligence by security officials, who failed to act in time to prevent the murder.