Documentary screening and panel discussion
For Hrant, for Justice: the ongoing struggle for freedom of expression in Turkey
7pm Thursday 28 February 2008
Amnesty International UK – The Human Rights Action Centre
Amnesty International UK, in association with English PEN, the Armenian Institute and Index on Censorship invites you to this special event. It will be one year on from “Sincerity, My Only Weapon”: a tribute to Hrant Dink which was held at the HRAC and marked the 40th day after the murder of Hrant Dink, Editor in Chief of the bilingual Armenian and Turkish weekly Agos.
Through his journalism, Dink sought to heal the scars in Turkish-Armenian history. His commitment to full and frank dialogue led to his conviction in 2005 under Article 301 of the Turkish penal code for “denigrating the Turkish state”. He was murdered on Friday19 January 2007 in front of his Istanbul office.
The event will see the premier screening of a 50-minute documentary by Nouritza Matossian of in-depth interviews with Hrant Dink. This is followed by a panel discussion with:
Nouritza Matossian – writer and broadcaster
Andrew Gardner – Amnesty International Turkey researcher
The event will be followed by a reception.
Booking details
7pm Thursday 28 February 2008 (Doors open at 6.30pm)
Amnesty International UK, The Human Rights Action Centre, 17-25 New Inn Yard, London EC2A 3EA
Tickets are free of charge – Book online at www.amnesty.org.uk/events
Or call 020 7033 1585
www.amnesty.org.uk/turkey
Background
The event is part of our wider work on Freedom of expression and association & harassment of HRDs/activists in Turkey. In particular, our work to ensure that Article 301 and associated articles of the Turkish Penal Code are abolished.
We want the event to work towards this and to advocate the view that non-violent critical opinion must be permissible in a democratic society and so the event also aims to raise awareness in the broader society in Turkey of the importance of permitting critical voices.
In Turkey there is still societal, as well as official, state-sanctioned resistance to discussing certain themes such as minorities, the armed services and history.
