details to be given later. I am in the former Prime Ministry building in Ankara with a group of Turkish, American and Armenian journalists attending a meeting with Egemen Bağış, ‘current minister for EU Affairs and chief negotiator of Turkey in accession talks with the European Union’…. I have several times referred to journalism studies of Doğan Tılıç. This morning I could finally meet him…
Mr. Bağış started like this:
well before you ask: I was not around in 1915. I don’t know really what happened. But we can live together in the future though. We need to work together…
… there hasn’t been enough negotiation between Turkey and Armenia…
A journalist asked about the imprisoned journalists. Mr. Bağış gave the official answer. They [i.e. Ahmet Şık, Nedim Şener] are in prison not because their journalistic activities but something else. Evidence is classified. But the judge was satisfied… We will see the evidence when indictment [one day] will be released…
Mr. Bağış repeated the official discourses to reply our questions.
* Filtering regime is only for families to protect children from pornography. Nothing will change. He got this from the former minister Binali Yıldırım, who is behind the growing web censorship (!)
* He continously merged terrorist activities of Ergenekon gang with journalist imprisonments implying that they were involved.
* He sort of trivialized the opening of border between Armenia and Turkey? Armenian journalists were sort of offended?
I am in Middle East Technical University at the moment attending International Center for Journalists workshop and I am only invited blogger among professional journalists…
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