Intellectuals Denounce Dink s Punishment Intellectuals from Turkey and overseas join to denounce journalist Dink s sentencing of a suspended six months for belittling Turkish identity. This is a threat against the exercise of the freedom of expression and thought they say. Intellectuals from Turkey and overseas join to undersign a petition asking for lifting the sentence against Hrant Dink the editor-in-chief of the Istanbul based Turkish-Armenian bilingual weekly newspaper Agos who has recently received a suspended sentence of six months in jail. Dink was found guilty by Istanbul Sisli court on 7 October 2005 for penning an article where he allegedly committed the crime of thought of insulting Turkish identity. The sentence was given in spite that the court-appointed experts could not find a single instance of such insult in Hrant Dink s comments The group of intellectuals who undersign the petition perceive the sentence against dink a threat against the exercise of the freedom of expression and thought as it comes right after the lawsuit brought against Ragip Zarakolu for publishing a book by Dora Sakayan. Another case in point is the recent sentence of six months imprisonment and monetary punishment brought against Resit Yardimci the deputy president of the DEHAP party city headquarters in Sanliurfa for uttering good day to you in Kurdish during a public talk they say. The group concludes: All these instances reveal not only the flaws in the new Turkish penal code but also its recent exploitation by those within the Turkish state bureaucracy who choose not to protect but instead attack the legal rights of Turkish citizens. We should point out that such legal actions are destructive signs employed by some insecure segments of society that hide behind the power of the Turkish state to intimidate those who do not share their views; this intimidation they engage in then often escalates into populist hate campaigns that even result in death threats against individuals like Dink Zarakolu Yardimci and Pamuk. We want to note that in the end such legal actions only end up displaying to the world Turkish insecurity about the exercise of the freedom of expression and thought. Turkey and Turkish society have come too far and deserve better than be held hostage to such retrogressive authoritarian ploys. We strongly believe that the legal protection of the civil rights of all Turkish citizens ought to be defended vigilantly for only through such protection and defense will the Turkish democratization process continue unfettered