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Home , Agos, Armenians in Turkey, Canadians in Turkey, Derince, Elazig, Hrant Dink

Refugee Review Tribunal

RRT RESEARCH RESPONSE

Research Response Number: TUR34020 Country: Date: 17 November 2008

Keywords: Turkey – – Orthodox – December 19 organisation – Azadamard publication – Law 302 – Illegal organisations

This response was prepared by the Research & Information Services Section of the Refugee Review Tribunal (RRT) after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the RRT within time constraints. This response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. This research response may not, under any circumstance, be cited in a decision or any other document. Anyone wishing to use this information may only cite the primary source material contained herein.

Questions

1. Is there any evidence of Armenian Christians being targeted in Turkey in any way? 2. Please provide information regarding the organisation named December 19, including whether it distributes a bulletin called Azadamard. What sort of publication is Azadamard? 3. What is the penalty for a breach of Turkish Law 302, regarding membership of an illegal organisation?

RESPONSE

Preliminary Note

According to a study on Turkish demographics carried out by several Turkish universities the current population of Armenians number 60 million:

A report commissioned eight years ago by the highest advisory body in the land investigates how many Turks, and people of other extractions are living in Turkey. The report comes to light as part of the trial for the murder of three Christian misionaries (sic) The trial of the suspects of the murder of three Christian missionaries in the eastern province of last year unveiled a study undertaken by a group of Turkish universities to shed light on the size of the country's different ethnic groups, including Kurds, and The National Security Council (MGK) asked a committee of academics from Erciyes University in province, Firat University in Elazig province and Inönü University in Malatya to prepare a report on the ethnic composition of Turkey eight years ago. Currently attached to the Malatya massacre case, the report cites quite interesting figures. … Below is the ethnic composition of Turkey as shown in the MGK report: - Turks: Ethnic Turkish groups such as Turkmen, Yürüks, , Tahtacis, Terekemes, Karaçays, and make up Turks in the country. The size of this group, which has currently no ties with its ethnic roots, is about 50 million but reaches 55 million those currently undergoing a process are included. - Kurds: This is the second biggest in Turkey, according to the MGK report. When , who are about 3 million, are included, the in Turkey exceeds 12.6 million. A further 2.5 million are undergoing a Turkification process and in some regions there is a number of people who deny their Kurdish origins. - Georgians: This group lives mainly in the provinces of Ordu, , , and in the region. Their population is about 1 million. Excluding those who live in a few villages in the , many Georgians have already forgotten their mother tongue. - Bosnians: Located mainly in Adapazari, Izmir and Manisa, the population of Bosnians living in Turkey is about 2 million. - : Disperesed (sic) around different , the Circassian population is about 2.5 million. Some 80 percent of those cannot speak the Circassian language. - Arabs: This group lives mainly in the cities of Siirt, Sirnak, , Diyarbakir, Sanliurfa, Hatay, and . The Arab population in Turkey is 870,000. - : There are more than 1.3 million Albanians in Turkey. Half of the community has currently no ties with as a result of the Turkification process they have undergone in the past decades. For about 500,000 Albanians, however, being and Albanian is highly important. Laz: In Turkey, there is a widespread false belief that all people from the eastern parts of the Black Sea region are Laz. But in fact, the , who migrated from the and speak a language called the Lazuri, live in some villages of and Artvin provinces of the Black Sea region and some parts of the Marmara region. Their population is about 80,000. - Hemsins: Just as the Laz, the Hemsins also live in some villages or districts of Rize and Artvin, and their population is about 13,000. - : Some sources say Pomaks are of Turkish descent but some say they have Slavic origins. The population of Pomaks in Turkey is about 600,000 and they have already been Turkified. - Other ethnic groups: The total population of all other ethnic groups living in Turkey is just over 1 million. Roma people constitute the majority with a population of 700,000. In addition, about 60,000 Armenians, 20,000 , 15,000 Rums ( with Turkish citizenship) and a very few number of Assyrians live in Turkey. Population of Turks slowly increases The MGK report says population growth in Turkey has been low within the last 15 years. Population of the Kurds, on the other hand, increases 2.5 percent each year. The report also reveals that the population of the Bosnians declines 0.12 percent each year, while the number if Turks declines by 0.8 percent and that of Albanians declines by 0.5 percent each year. The highest level of Turkification is recorded among Kurds. They are followed by the Bosnians, the Circassians, and the Albanians. Arabs migrating from the southeastern parts of Turkey have been undergoing a rapid Turkification process, according to the report (‘Trial sheds light on shades of Turkey’ 2008, , 10 June. (CISNET Turkey – Attachment 1)

1. Is there any evidence of Armenian Christians being targeted in Turkey in any way?

According to the most current International Religious Freedom Report dated 19 September 2008, Armenian is one of the three minority religious communities recognised by the state. In contradiction to the study cited above the number of Armenian Christians is quoted to be approximately 65,000. There have been serious incidents involving Christians in recent times:

Section I. Religious Demography The country has an area of 301,383 square miles and a population of 70.5 million. According to the Government, 99 percent of the population is Muslim, the majority of which is Sunni. According to the nongovernmental organization (NGO) Mazlum-Der and representatives of various religious minority communities, the actual percentage of is slightly lower. Following the 1923 Lausanne Treaty, the Government officially recognizes only three minority religious communities. These are Greek Orthodox Christians, Armenian Orthodox Christians, and Jews, although other non-Muslim communities exist. … There are several other religious groups, mostly concentrated in Istanbul and other large cities. While exact membership figures are not available, these religious groups include approximately 65,000 Armenian Orthodox Christians, 23,000 Jews, and up to 4,000 Greek Orthodox Christians. The Government interpreted the 1923 Lausanne Treaty as granting special legal minority status exclusively to these three recognized groups, although the treaty text refers broadly to "non-Muslim minorities" without listing specific groups. This recognition does not extend to the religious leadership organs. For example, the Ecumenical (Greek Orthodox) and Armenian continued to seek legal recognition of their status as patriarchates rather than foundations, the absence of which prevents them from having the right to own and transfer property and train religious clergy. Additionally, because the Government requires all places of learning to be under the control of the Ministry of Education, the Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, and Jews choose not to train their ministry in the country. The Bulgarian Orthodox Church, through a 1945 bilateral agreement, is considered under the ecclesiastical authority of the Greek Orthodox Ecumenical in Istanbul (and ), but the Bulgarian Orthodox Church has its own foundation. … Section II. Status of Religious Freedom Legal/Policy Framework … A separate government agency, the General Directorate for Foundations (GDF), regulates activities of all religious groups and their affiliated property. The GDF recognizes 161 "minority foundations," including Greek Orthodox foundations with approximately 61 sites, Armenian Orthodox foundations with an estimated 48 sites, and Jewish foundations with 12 sites, as well as Syriac Christian, Chaldean, Bulgarian Orthodox, Georgian, and Maronite foundations. … Officially recognized religious minorities may operate schools under the supervision of the Ministry of Education. The curriculum of these schools includes Greek Orthodox, Armenian Orthodox, and Jewish instruction.

Restrictions on Religious Freedom … After the April 18, 2007 killings in Malatya of three Christians, Turkish victim Ugur Yuksel was denied a Christian burial and given an Islamic/Alevitic burial instead. Turkish victim Necati Aydin was buried in a Protestant churchyard in Izmir. The Governor of Malatya was initially hesitant to permit the burial of the German victim in Malatya. He told the German victim's widow that no Christian should be buried in the country's soil. After negotiations between German government and Turkish government officials, the victim was buried in a private Armenian cemetery in Malatya. The suspects appeared in Malatya's Third Criminal Court in June 2008. None of the suspects accepted responsibility for the attacks and continued to blame others. Police denied accusations that they colluded with the suspects. Proceedings were scheduled to continue on July 4, 2008. Restoration or construction may be carried out on buildings and monuments considered "ancient" only with authorization of the regional board on the protection of cultural and national wealth. Bureaucratic procedures and considerations relating to historic preservation in the past have impeded repairs to religious facilities, especially in the case of Syriac and Armenian Orthodox properties. … Minority religious groups, particularly the Greek and Armenian Orthodox communities, have lost numerous properties to the state in the past and continued to fight ongoing efforts by the state to expropriate properties. In many cases, the Government has taken control of minority foundations and expropriated associated properties on the grounds that the foundations are not operating in accordance with their charters or that the non-Muslim communities they support have insufficient populations to sustain the foundations. Such expropriations are frequently appealed to the Danistay and, if unsuccessful there, to the ECHR. In July 2007 the country fulfilled its obligation concerning a January 2007 ECHR ruling in favor of the Fener Greek Boys High School Foundation by paying the foundation $1,390,000 (€890,000) in compensation for properties that had been expropriated and sold to third parties. Many religious minorities experienced problems operating places of worship due to laws governing foundations. The ECHR continued proceedings related to the appeal by the Armenian Orthodox community of the 1999 expropriation of two foundation properties.

Abuses of Religious Freedom … Section III. Societal Abuses and Discrimination There were reports of societal abuses or discrimination based on religious affiliation, belief, or practice. Violent attacks and continued threats against non-Muslims during the reporting period created an atmosphere of pressure and diminished freedom for some non-Muslim communities. Religious pluralism was widely viewed as a threat to and to "national unity." Muslims, Christians, Jews, Baha'is, and members of other religious communities faced societal suspicion and mistrust. In June 2008 Malatya murder suspect Gunaydin continued to deny accusations made by the other suspects that he was the leader in the attacks. The four suspects who had been arrested with Gunaydin testified that they were unable to leave the operation because they feared his connections with the police and mafia figures. He allegedly threatened to inflict violence on them and their families if they did not carry out the plan. The trial of the five suspects involved in the April 2007 alleged torture and killing of three members of a Protestant church in Malatya, including a German citizen, continued at the close of the reporting period. The victims were reportedly tortured and killed in the office of a company that publishes books on . The suspects had notes on their persons claiming, "We did it for our religion. May this be a lesson to the enemies of religion." If convicted, the suspects face life imprisonment without possibility of parole. Four suspects were caught as they were trying to leave the building, while another jumped out of a window and was hospitalized. Some reports suggested the publishing house and the victims received death threats for 1 year before the killings, but the local police did not provide protection. The suspects reportedly had spent months gaining the trust of the victims under the guise of an interest in the Christian faith. There were also allegations that local political officers, members of the special military forces, and regional members of the country's nationalist political party were involved, which the authorities denied. On May 6, 2008, three men, one of them armed with a gun and wearing gloves, threatened the Kurtulus Church and its pastor Ihsan Ozbek in . The suspects fled in a car before police could be summoned. According to a church member, one of the assailants said they were going to get rid of the pastor. Other threats and incidents of attempted violence against Protestants continued to be documented. On December 30, 2007, a murder attempt on the Muslim background Christian Pastor Ramazan Arkan, was prevented by police. In December 2007 a 19-year-old assailant stabbed 65-year-old Italian priest Adiano Francini inside the St. Antoine Church in Izmir. Police soon captured Ramazan Bay outside a mosque where he had allegedly gone to confess the crime to an imam. Francini survived the attack and stated he did not intend to press charges against Bay, whom he described as a mentally disturbed youth acting on his own volition. In November 2007 Syriac priest Edip Daniel Savci was kidnapped in Midyat and held for 3 days as his kidnappers demanded $438,000 (€300,000) in ransom. One of the kidnappers, reportedly overcome by guilt, released him unharmed, and seven suspects were later arrested for the crime. The prosecutor was seeking prison terms of 15 to 30 years for the seven suspects. The case was postponed, and no new trial date had been set by the end of the reporting period. In November 2007 security officials thwarted a planned attack on a pastor at St. Paul's Church in . The officials had been investigating a suspect for his ties to other crimes when they discovered a telephone conversation in which he declared his intent to kill the pastor. He remained under arrest at the close of the reporting period for his alleged involvement in five unrelated counts of arson, although there were no reports of charges related to the planned attack on the pastor. In October 2007 the Court of Appeals Penal Department Number 1 approved the 18 years and 10 months' prison sentence for the suspect in the 2006 murder of Catholic Priest Santoro in . Throughout 2007 there were more than 15 attempted attacks and death threats against Radio Sherma, a Christian radio station in Ankara. On April 14 and 15, 2008, unidentified youths stoned the building of a Protestant congregation in the Derince district of Kocaeli two nights in a row, breaking most of the windows. Security police were posted at the building after the incident, but there were no reports of associated arrests or investigations by the end of the reporting period. On January 25, 2008, there were reports that five youths stoned the Izmit branch of the Istanbul Protestant Church Foundation, causing material damage. In November 2007 two intoxicated suspects were arrested for breaking windows of the Greek Orthodox Holy Trinity Church in Istanbul's Kadikoy District. In September 2007 a public prosecutor in Diyarbakir opened a public court case demanding up to 3 years in prison for Oktay Bicici, who was detained for a week in June after having been accused of encouraging a "deranged" person to set the Diyarbakir Protestant church on fire. The case was pending at the close of the reporting period. On September 3, 2007, there was an arson attack on Istanbul Protestant Church Trust's Izmit Building. On March 9, 2008, there were reports that life-threatening phone calls were made to members of the Protestant church in Gaziantep. In February 2008 a 17-year-old was arrested and charged with threatening the leader of Agape Church in Samsun. The charges followed a previous arrest for similar threats in January 2007, when the suspect was released and reportedly continued to threaten the church. In February 2008 one of the attorneys representing the families of the Malatya victims filed a complaint with the Ankara public prosecutor's office regarding threats he had received and suspicions that his e-mail and telephone calls were being monitored and used to manipulate information to discredit him. Jews and Christians from most denominations freely practiced their religions and reported little discrimination in daily life; however, citizens who converted from Islam to another religion often experienced some form of social harassment or pressure from family and neighbors. Proselytizing on behalf of non-Muslim religious groups was socially unacceptable and sometimes dangerous. A variety of newspapers and television shows published and broadcast anti-Christian messages, and at least one municipality distributed antimissionary publications. Antimissionary and anti-Christian rhetoric appears to have continued among government officials and national media sources. In April 2008 Samsun Provincial Muftu Osman Sahin reportedly encouraged parents and society to do everything possible to prevent children from being influenced by missionaries. Additionally, nationalist sentiments sometimes contained anti-Christian or anti-Semitic overtones. Jewish community members reported a significant rise of anti-Semitic language in newspapers and websites that began in the summer of 2006 and continued through the reporting period. There were growing numbers of media stories about Israeli offenses against Palestinians and U.S. misdeeds in Iraq and pieces containing anti-Semitic stereotyping. Jewish leaders in the country believed the anti-Semitism is directly related to events in the , and Jewish community members reported that they are held responsible for these events. On May 28, 2007, two Georgian priests touring the country were beaten in Artvin because they were believed to be missionaries. Three individuals were detained following the beating, but it was reported that the priests did not file a complaint, so the case was dropped. There were instances of persons disrupting church services. Death threats against Christian U.S. citizens continued to be a concern. For example, several Christian U.S. citizens living in the country received religion-based death threats via letters and voicemails stating that if they did not return to America they would be killed. (US Department of State 2008, International Religious Freedom Report for 2008– Turkey, 19 September - Attachment 2)

Further information on Armenians is contained in the report by Minority Rights Group International:

Armenians are among the ancient people of . The majority of today belong to the Orthodox Church, while there are also a few Catholic and Protestant Armenians. Their number was around 2 million during the . Today, slightly more than 60,000 remain. Of these, around 60,000 are Orthodox, 50,000 of whom live in Istanbul, around 2,000 are Catholic and a small number are Protestant. Officially, the government recognizes Armenians as minorities but as used in Turkey, this term denotes second-class status. … Armenians have reported that Armenian schools, businessmen and religious institutions have been receiving threats by email, letter and phone. They have asked local police stations to investigate these threats and provide protection. The Patriarch has also sent a letter to the Governor of Istanbul asking for protection for Armenian institutions and businessmen. The response was that the governorship would not be able to afford the cost and they should pay for security from private companies themselves. In January 2007 Armenian rights campaigner and writer was shot dead in broad daylight on the steps of his own office. The murder offered a stark reminder of Turkey’s ongoing failure to protect the rights of individuals who come from minority communities. Dink had been convicted and sentenced to six months imprisonment in 2005 under Article 301 of the Turkish penal code for ‘denigrating Turkish identity.’ This provision often has been used to suppress any discussion or acknowledgement of the 1915 Armenian . Dink’s offence was writing about Turkish-Armenian relations. Dink’s assassin, a 17-year-old with 18 alleged accomplices, told police that Dink ‘had insulted Turkishness.’ At a hearing in October, the gunman’s family accused authorities of collusion in the killing; one co-defendant was a police informant who had notified the authorities of the plot, and Turkish media broadcast a recorded phone call providing further indication that police knew of the plan in advance. In response to the Dink murder, nearly 200,000 protesters took to the streets of Istanbul carrying signs reading: ‘We are all Hrant Dink. We are all Armenians.’ Alongside Dink, scores of , authors, editors, publishers and intellectuals in Turkey expressing dissenting views on the Kurdish or the are currently being tried under Article 301…(Minority Rights International 2007, Turkey: Armenians – Attachment 3)

The Armenian population is experiencing some anxiety:

During a recent working visit to Istanbul the Editors of “Hetq” had the opportunity to visit the offices of the “” newspaper founded by the late Hrant Dink. While there we were able to interview Mr. Pakrat Estukyan, the Armenian-language Editor, on a wide-range of topics. Below is a translation of our conversation. … since it’s over a year now that Hrant Dink was murdered. Since January 19, 2007, the day he was shot down, there’s been a certain lull in community activities… If we are to speak about the general psychological situation of the community I’d have to confess that, on the contrary, an atmosphere of despondency holds sway rather than any reawakening… The people are suffering from a certain type of malaise.

Q - What’s the size of the Armenian community here? A - There’s no correct number and there never has been. There’s a census every five years. At one time the census requested that people name their mother tongue. Based on this question we could come up with a partial idea about the number. However, we must note that for a segment of the community Armenian is no longer their mother tongue. In any event, this question is no longer included in the census. Perhaps only the country’s state intelligence services know the real number. The current census has no questions regarding one’s ethnicity or national origins. We only have an idea regarding the number based on those are registered in various church rolls. Thus, we estimate the number to be 60,000 to 80,000. (Edik Baghdasaryan, Edik; and Gadarigian, Hrant 2008, ‘The Armenian community of Istanbul: confronting new challenges and old realities’, Hetq Online, 21 July – Attachment 4).

Recent Incidents

There were some incidents involving Christians and Armenian Christians which have contributed to the current unease; on 19 January 2007 Hrant Dink and Armenian was murdered and on 18 April 2007 three employees of a Christian publishing house were murdered.

Hrant Dink was an Armenian Apostolic Christian:

Hrant (Firat) Dink, journalist, was born on September 15, 1954. He was shot dead on January 19, 2007, aged 52 Turkish-Armenian journalist who sought to bring about reconciliation between his two communities The journalist Hrant Dink strove to achieve reconciliation between Turks and Armenians, a mission that earned him the hate of nationalist extremists from both camps. … As editor of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian newspaper Agos, Dink was a champion of freedom of expression, human rights and reconciliation between ethnic Turks and the minority Armenian population. But his liberal viewpoint, his outspokenness, and his desire to to end the animosity between these two groups, were his undoing. He was shot dead on January 19 outside the offices of Agos. Hrant Dink was born in Malatya, southeast Turkey, and raised as an Armenian Apostolic Christian. His designated official Turkish name was Firat, an appelation he later often used to mask his Armenian origins, in a line of work that made it difficult and often impossible to find employment. Dink's parents separated when he was young, so at the age of 7 he was sent to an orphanage in Istanbul. He was politically aware from an early age: in primary school he refused to recite the daily verse declaring "I am a Turk, I am honest, I am hardworking", and he was expelled from his first secondary school for his left-wing activities…

Although Dink was keen to keep a low profile, in the knowledge that the Turkish authorities were wary of his political persuasions, he maintained an interest in current affairs, and in 1994 he began writing commentary pieces for the Istanbul-based Armenian newspaper Marmara, under a pseudonym. In 1996 he founded Agos, a free-thinking and influential publication, printed in both Armenian and Turkish. Dink addressed issues of ethnicity, emphasising that identities need not be mutually incomptable. "I am an Armenian from Turkey, and a good Turkish citizen. I believe in the republic, in fact I would like it to become stronger and more democratic," he said. His liberal philosophy antagonised those who adhere to the belief that nationalities are hermetically sealed and mutually opposed.

The Turkish authorities closed down the newspaper in 2001 and tried to have him imprisoned for "insulting Turkishness" (one of the country's most unloved pieces of legislation), but he was acquitted. His pro-EU stance also antagonised Turkish ultranationalists. But Dink was likewise vilified by elements within the Armenian community in Western and , who have campaigned (successfully in ) to have outlawed any denial of the 1915 massacres. Dink, a much-liked and liberal man, believed this was abhorrent censorship (‘Hrant Dink; Obituary’ 2007, The Times, 23 January – Attachment 5)

A German citizen and two Turks were murdered in the central Turkish city of Malatya:

This past spring, the Christian world was stunned by news of a triple murder in Turkey. Early accounts simply reported that three employees of a Christian publishing house had been murdered on April 18 in the central city of Malatya. Two of the victims - Necati Aydin, 36, and Ugur Yuksel, 32 - were Turkish converts from Islam. The third man, Tilmann Geske, 46, was a German citizen. The three had been found with their hands and legs bound and their throats slit from ear to ear. It has since been widely reported that the murders appeared to be a deliberate observance of the Koranic instruction to "strike terror into the hearts of unbelievers" by smiting them above the neck and striking every finger (Sura 8:12). The victims' fingertips were sliced repeatedly. … Despite increasing harassment and discrimination, the murders mark the first known martyrdom of Turkish converts from Islam since the founding of the Turkish Republic in 1923. Today, Turkey's Christian population is roughly 70,000; there are around 26,000 Jews. These communities are both caught between radical Islam and Kemalist secular nationalism. In recent years Istanbul's Central Synagogue has been bombed twice by radical Muslims. Meanwhile the larger Christian minority struggles with its own incidents of abuse. The year 2007 has seen five Christians murdered in Turkey so far. In February in the Black Sea city of Trabzon, a 16-year-old Turkish youth motivated by a mixture of self-described "nationalist and Islamist" sympathies, gunned down Father as the priest knelt in prayer at his church. Just weeks before, another Trabzon youth - Ogün Samast, a 17-year-old highschool dropout - shot dead an Armenian Christian journalist, Hrant Dink, outside his newspaper office in Istanbul. In a more recent incident, News reported that Turan Topal and Hakan Tastan, two Muslim converts to Christianity, could be sentenced to three years in prison for "insulting Turkishness." Turkish Christians and Jews remain uneasy about the July reelection of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which boosted the Islamists. His victory "cracked the foundation of Turkey's 84-year-old republic, pushing Islam into the political mainstream and reshaping the legacy of the countrys father figure, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk," reported Bloomberg News. Erdogan's new term raises questions about the future of religious (Gilbert, Lela, 2008 ‘Turkey’s Christians face growing persecution’, Hudson Institute, 10 September 2007 – Attachment 6)

2. Please provide information regarding the organisation named December 19, including whether it distributes a bulletin called Azadamard. What sort of publication is Azadamard?

“December 19” appears to be a small illegal Stalinist organisation which was founded in 2002. In Turkish it is called ‘19 Aralik Örgütu’; it produces a periodical called ‘19 Aralik’ (‘Family Tree of the Turkish Radical Left’ 2004, Leftist Parties of the World, 31 August, website http://www.broadleft.org/tr.htm – Accessed 17 November 2008 – Attachment 7). A French website describes it in similar terms; however, it also adds ‘organisation terroriste’ ( ‘Liens Des Sites Internet, Turquie’ undated, Forum Marxiste Révolutionnaire website http://revolution.celeonet.fr/index.php?showtopic=849 – Accessed 17 November 2008 – Attachment 8).

It appears that the world Azadamard means ‘Freedom Fighter’ and was the name of a publication from 1920 to 1929:

From 1920 to 1929, in Paris, "Azadamard" (Freedom Fighter) was published under the editorship of Haig Kntouni and . "Azadamard" was the expression of outrage of noble revolutionaries toward the anti-national sentiment of the leadership. Shahan Natalie defined the "Freedom Fighter" movement thus: "In in 1919 during the Federation's 9th General Congress, many monuments were going to be destroyed and statues were to crumble within innocent and clean souls ... Before the eyes of the "Freedom Fighters, not only was the Revolutionary Federation being horribly transformed, it was also becoming an accomplice against Armenian Revolution. Not only had the Federation, in the person of its leadership, denied the Federation, but by the boorish expression of its traditional feudalism, it had assumed the right to ally itself with the Turk, to plot against Armenian Revolution (Shahan Natalie Family Foundation, Inc undated. (Excerpt) – http://www.snff.org/shahan.html - Accessed 7 November 2008 – Attachment 9).

In Australia this name is listed without further elaboration on the Armenian National Committee of Australia:

Media Weekly Newspaper Garoon Monthly Voice of Voice of Azadamard (Armenian National Committee of Australia, undated, About us, http://anc.org.au – Accessed 7 November 2008 – Attachment 10)

The community radio website of Armenian Broadcasting states: Called 'Voice of Azadamard' the Armenian program, whose focus audience is the Armenian community of Melbourne, promises to be informative covering 57 countries around the world including: Armenia, Artzach, , Lebanon, , Canada, USA, Greece, France, and the .The content of the program is equally wide-ranging covering news, history, culture, music, poetry and literature (‘Armenian Broadcasting Group’ undated, 3zzz website - Accessed 7 November 2008. http://www.3zzz.com.au/staging/broadcast/armenian.htm - Attachment 11)

3. What is the penalty for a breach of Turkish Law 302, regarding membership of an illegal organisation?

Harsh penalties apply under this clause: under Article 302 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) which carries a life sentence in solitary confinement for acts to disturb the unity of the state, integrity of the country, or disunite certain areas from the state rule (‘Criticism mounts of Evrens’s (sic) federation proposal’ 2007, The Journal of Turkish Weekly, 3 March http://www.turkishweekly.net/news.php?id=43108 – Accessed 7 November 2008 – Attachment 12).

This is corroborated by the following article: Article 302, which deals with "damaging the state's unity and integrity", is being used, and this is the article that Yetisgen will be tried under. The Article says: "Anyone who submits part or all of the state's territory to the sovereignty of a foreign state, who damages the state's unity, who separates part of the state territory from state administration, who commits actions which weaken the state's independence, shall be punished with a life sentence..." (‘Article 302 joins 301’ 2007, BIA News Centre, 4 September http://www.bianet.org/english/kategori/english/101554/article-302-joins-301 - Accessed 7 November 2008 - Attachment 13)

List of Sources Consulted Internet Sources: Government Information & Reports UK Home Office website http://www.ind.homeoffice.gov.uk US Department of State website http://www.state.gov Immigration and Refugee Board Canada http://www.irb-cisr.gc.ca/ Non-Government Organisations website http://www.amnesty.org/ (HRW) website http://www.hrw.org/ International News & Politics BBC News website http://news.bbc.co.uk/ Region Specific Links Topic Specific Links Armenian National Committee of Australia http://anc.org.au/ Armenian Revolutionary Federation http://www.arfd.am Kurd Net http://www.ekurd.net/ Countrywide Network for Monitoring and Covering Media Freedom and Independent Journalism (Turkey) www.bianet.org Journal of Turkish Weekly http://www.turkishweekly.net/ Forum Marxiste Révolutionnaire http://revolution.celeonet.fr/ Leftist Parties of the World (Turkey) http://www.broadleft.org/tr.htm Search Engines AlltheWeb search engine http://www.alltheweb.com/ Google search engine http://www.google.com.au/ Ask.com search engine http://www.ask.com Yahoo search engine http://search.yahoo.com Copernic search engine Databases: FACTIVA (news database) BACIS (DIAC Country Information database) REFINFO (IRBDC (Canada) Country Information database) ISYS (RRT Country Research database, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, US Department of State Reports) MRT-RRT Library Catalogue

List of Attachments

1. ‘Trial sheds light on shades of Turkey’ 2008, Milliyet, 10 June. (Cisnet CX Turkey 202112)

2. US Department of State 2008, International Religious Freedom Report for 2008– Turkey, 19 September.

3. Minority Rights International 2007, Turkey: Armenians. (CISNET Turkey CX199837)

4. Edik Baghdasaryan, Edik; and Gadarigian, Hrant 2008, ‘The Armenian community of Istanbul: confronting new challenges and old realities’, Hetq Online, 21 July. (CISNET CX206002)

5. ‘Hrant Dink; Obituary’ 2007, The Times, 23 January. (FACTIVA)

6. Gilbert, Lela, 2008 ‘Turkey’s Christians face growing persecution’, Hudson Institute, 10 September 2007. (CISNET Turkey CX191974)

7. ‘Family Tree of the Turkish Radical Left’ 2004, Leftist Parties of the World, 31 August, website http://www.broadleft.org/tr.htm – Accessed 17 November 2008.

8. ‘Liens Des Sites Internet, Turquie’ undated, Forum Marxiste Révolutionnaire website http://revolution.celeonet.fr/index.php?showtopic=849 – Accessed 17 November 2008.

9. Shahan Natalie Family Foundation, Inc undated. (Excerpt) – http://www.snff.org/shahan.html - Accessed 7 November 2008.

10. Armenian National Committee of Australia, undated, About us, http://anc.org.au – Accessed 7 November 2008.

11. ‘Armenian Broadcasting Group’ undated, 3ZZZ website - http://www.3zzz.com.au/staging/broadcast/armenian.htm - Accessed 7 November 2008.

12. ‘Criticism mounts of Evrens’s (sic) federation proposal’ 2007, The Journal of Turkish Weekly, 3 March http://www.turkishweekly.net/news.php?id=43108 – Accessed 7 November 2008.

13. ‘Article 302 joins 301’ 2007, BIA News Centre, 4 September http://www.bianet.org/english/kategori/english/101554/article-302-joins-301 - Accessed 7 November 2008.