Clip Praising Murder Had "No Political Aim"

A week after the discovery of a You Tube clip featuring nationalist singer Ismail Türüt's song "Plan, don't make a plan" and images put together in order to praise the murder of journalist Hrant Dink, the creator of the clip has spoken.

"No political aim" 

University student Hakan Öztekin said that he had prepared the clip without any political aim: "I saw another clip with this song from Ismail Türüt, whose fan I am, on YouTube. I took random pictures related to Samsun from the Internet and randomly put them together with the song. I did not know that this would make such waves."

This defense seems rather unconvincing, as the "random pictures related to Samsun" were pictures of Hrant Dink's body and the murder suspects.

More clips...

The clip has been taken off the You Tube website, but reaction clips have not been slow in coming. They are very similar to the original one, featuring pictures of murdered journalist Hrant Dink, the murder suspects O.S. and Yasin Hayal, and well-known mafia names such as Abdullah Catli and Alaattin Cakici. Much use is also made of Turkish flags, and the flag of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP), as well as religious symbols, such as the Quran and mosques.

According to "haber 1" news website, some people have also made clips featuring themselves and using Türüt's song as background music. The news site says that it looks that there might be a thousand reaction clips soon.

Threats continue 

Meanwhile, singer Ismail Türüt and the writer of the lyrics, Arif Sirin, continued their aggressive stance on a television programme on FOX TV on 20 September. Referring to the murder of three people working for a Christian publisher in Malatya in April, Arif Sirin said:

"They say 'we will sell snails in a Muslim neighbourhood'. I tell you, you can't sell them, someone will take the snails and stick them up the guy's suitable place."

Sirin is also continuing to target journalist Ali Bayramoglu from the "Yeni Safak" newspaper who first wrote about the clip. Sirin said, "I found Ali Bayramoglu's attitude strange. What is such a writer doing in such a climate? The press community must watch such a writer."

Türüt spoke of gang leader Sedat Peker, saying: "I love him. What can I do, he is a friend. You might call him a bully or mafia. I am a child of the Black Sea, I am a patriot [...]. I look at it like that. Is there only mafia at the Black Sea? I will not take that song out of the album, even if they cut my head off forty times."

Protection for Bayramoglu

Journalist Bayramoglu has been assigned police protection since the threats. Bayramoglu had also written an article on the importance of solving Hrant Dink's murder, published on 4 July 2007 and entitled, "Our Life is in Danger". An email which he received after that article has been taken to the Eyüp Public Prosecution (Istanbul).

The email read, "If you continue to write like that, you will end like Hrant Dink". (EÖ/NZ/AG)

* This article has used information from the http://www.haber1.com website.