Armenian Newspaper Threatened

Human rights activists are pursuing legal action against the members of a nationalist group, Ulku Ocaklari, who threatened the employees of the Armenian weekly newspaper "Agos" last week.

Sanar Yurdatapan, the head of the Initiative Against the Crime of Thought, Hasan Mollaoglu ; a member of Board of Directors of the Foundation of Turkish Voluntary Organizations; Hurriyet Sener, the director of the Human Rights Association (IHD); and Zubehir Perihan, the director of the Mesopotamia Culture Center (MKM) handed their complaint petition to the Sisli Prosecutor's office on Monday.

Ragip Zarakolu, the head of the Committee of Publishing Freedom of the Turkish Publishers' Union (TYB), and a member of the honor board of Human Rights, is in support of this initiative.

Zarakolu told bianet that a group of human rights activists visited the newspaper a day after it had been threatened and expressed support.

Hirant Dink, the editor-in-chief of the Agos newspaper said he did not feel the need to press for legal action after being threatened. "Whatever happened, happened before the eyes of the state. The state knows very well what is crime and what is not," said Dink.

Second demonstration in front of the newspaper

A group of 5-10 people, who said they were members of an organization called "Federation to Fight Against the Baseless Claims of Armenian Genocide," gathered in front of the Agos newspaper Monday.

The group sang the Turkish national anthem and left a black wreath at the building where the Armenian newspaper is located.

The police had called and warned the newspaper over the phone before both demonstrations. (EO/BB/EA/NM)