This week Dutch MP Henk Jan Ormel of Christian Democratic Party (CDA) submitted written questions to the Dutch Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Frans Timmermans (Labor Party, PvdA), about recent conviction of Arat Dink, the son of assassinated Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, for “insulting Turkishness” under article 301 of Turkish Penal Code. Mr. Ormel asks whether the Secretary of State can explain why the Turkish government refuses to amend the notorious article.
A Spokesman for the Federation of Armenain Organization of the Netherlands, Inge Drost told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter that former Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ben Bot, has reassured the Dutch parliament on several occasions in the past that article 301 was to be amended in short term. Then he referred to personal promises made to him by former Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs, now President Gul, as well as by the Turkish Ambassador in the Netherlands. Unfortunately, these promises have been never kept. Mr. Ormel wants to know if Mr. Timmermans is going to urge Turkey again, in the EU context, to amend article 301.
Arat Dink was given a 1-year suspended sentence for re-publishing Hrant Dink’s interview, where he spoke of the Armenian Genocide.
Hrant Dink was gunned down outside his newspaper premises in Istanbul on January 19, 2007 by teenager Ogun Samast.
