Turkish Journalist Faces Threats In Belgium For Writing Against Nationalist Remarks
Belgium News Agency BELGA announced that Belgium authorities put Doğan Özgüden, journalist and publishing director of Info-turk.be, an independent internet site, under protection.
Özgüden had announced at his site İnfo-turk.be National Defense Minister Vecdi Gönül’s praise of the forced deportation of the Greeks and Armenians right around the time of the formation of the Turkish national state in the 1920s.
The minister had stated his praise during a ceremony held at the Turkish embassy at Brussels. According to Özgüden's internet site, together with Gönül’s speech, Ambassador Fuat Tanlay had read a nationalist poem about the Turkish flag which included statements like “I will dig the grave of one who does not look at you like I do, I will destroy the nest of the bird that flies without saluting you.”
“Özgüden’s file is at the Crisis Center Administration”
Following the critiques against the figures mentioned above, many pro-government sites, starting with Belturk, launched a campaign against İnfo-Türk, which eventually resulted in lynch calls. Reacting to the situation, Senator Josy Dubie questioned Patrick Deawael, Minister of Interior, yesterday (December 11), asking him what they were doing to protect Özgüden. Government’s answer was that they were taking the necessary measures, but could not reveal the nature of them in order to protect Ozgüden.
On the other hand, claiming that he was facing violence and lynch provocations, Özgüden went to the Royal Prosecutor’s Office to file a complaint.
Belturk: We did not call the association, we did not exert pressure
While sites like Belturk.be and gundem.be, which operate in Belgium, have made news targeting Doğan Özgüden, one of these sites, belturk.be, called the Journalists’ Association of Ankara and claimed that the allegations about them did not reflect the reality; in fact, it was them who were being targeted.
Newspaper “Yeniçağ” had pressured Turkish Journalists’ Association
Daily Yeniçağ had attacked the Turkish Journalists Association (TGC) for giving an award journalist Özgüden for his fiftieth year in the profession.
The newspaper had described giving an award to Özgüden against whom there is a lawsuit for “denigrating the military” an “award scandal”.
The newspaper had stated “There are more than 50 lawsuits against him, he is running away from the law for 37 years” and “An Armenian defender” for Özgüden, who had to leave Turkey in 1971 and never returned again. (EÖ/TB)