H.E. RecepTayyip Erdogan
Prime Minister
Office of the Prime Minister
Basbakanlika
Bakanliklar
06573 Ankara
Republic of Turkey
Fax: (011.90.312) 417.0476
Your Excellency:
As your records will show, the Overseas Press Club of America, an organization of journalists with extensive experience reporting news all over the world, strongly protested the murder two years ago of Hrant Dink, the distinguished Turkish journalist who apparently was killed in revenge for his reporting on alleged corruption in the ranks of Turkish officials.
Now a reporter for the daily newspaper, Milliyet, Nedim Sener, who wrote a book about the Hrant Dink murder, has been targeted by several police officers who have filed criminal complaints against Sener that could lead to a prison sentence for him of up to twenty eight years.
Sener’s book, entitled “The Dink Murder and Intelligence Lies,” deals with the gendarmerie, police and national intelligence officers who have been accused of negligence in the 2007 murder of Dink. The book reports that these officers have been accused both of having prior knowledge of the plans to murder Dink and of obstructing the solving of the case, using misleading evidence and fake documents.
Several police officers filed criminal complaints against Sener after publication of the book, demanding that he be tried under the Anti-Terrorism Law. He is accused of targeting people involved in anti-terrorism campaigns, obtaining and revealing classified information, violating the secrecy of these communications, and attempting to influence the judiciary.
In his own defense, Sener has said: “I published the incidents of the negligence of these three important state intelligence institutions in the Dink murder case, giving names. I have proven that fake documents were prepared. Documents marked as classified and containing lies were published in the book.”
As professional journalists, we defend Mr. Sener’s right to do his job as a journalist. Turkey has been a democracy since the days of Kemal Ataturk. We trust that your government still upholds those important democratic principles which include freedom of information, particularly the freedom of the press to do its job of informing the public.
Mr. Sener expressed our sentiments when he recently said: “What they are trying to punish is the basic procedure of journalism, finding and publishing documents, finding out who are the public officials who have responsibility in Hrant Dink’s murder.”
Your Excellency, members of the Overseas Press Club of America earnestly hope your office will investigate this case and make sure that justice is served, particularly justice to the principle of freedom of the press.
Respectfully yours,
George Bookman
Norman A. Schorr
Freedom of the Press Committee
cc:
H.E. Abdullah Gul
President
Office of the President
Cumhurbaskanlugu kosku
Cankaya
06100 Ankara
Republic of Turkey
H.E. Nabi Sensoy
Ambassador of Turkey to the U.S.A.
Embassy of the Republic of Turkey
2525 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20008
Fax: (202) 612.6744
Ambassador Baki Ilkin
Permanent Representative
Permanent Mission of the Republic of Turkeyto the United Nations
821 United Nations Plaza
New York, NY 10017
Fax: (212) 949.0086
H.E. James F. Jeffrey
U.S. Ambassador to Turkey
Embassy of the United States of America
Ataturk Bulvari 110
Kavaklidere
Turkey
Fax: (011.90.312) 467.2532
(OR: U.S. Embassy – Turkey
APO/FPO
PSC 93 Box 5000
APO, AE 09823)