Epress.am News from Armenia
Taraf newspaper writer Orhan Miroğlu received a death threat when he was on his way back to Ankara after promoting his latest book entitled “Dead or alive – Letters from the Diyarbakır Prison” in Istanbul, reports Bianet News Center.
Miroğlu took the 9 pm flight from Istanbul to Ankara on Friday night (September 3). He received the death threat via his cell phone at around midnight when he had arrived at the Ankara bus terminal.
An unknown person called Miroğlu and said, “You can die any moment!” It was announced that Miroğlu hung up angrily.
Miroğlu wrote about the incident in his article published in the daily on September 6. He said that he received threatening emails from time to time. Miroğlu wrote:
“These types of emails are sent to me too. I am advised to come to my senses and to think twice when I demand equal rights for the Kurdish people. This advice is usually given by people saying that there are thousands of Ogün Samasts [known to be Hrant Dink’s murderer] in this country”.
“But I received a death threat for the first time, especially to such an effect. Maybe it would have been better not to share this with my family, but it probably was best to tell them and so I did…”
However, Miroğlu makes sure that he has no intention of stepping back because of fear. “But nothing will be the way these cowards are expecting it or hoping for. I have no intention of stepping back a single step from the place where I am.”
According to Bianet, some columnists in Turkey have been placed under police protection after the assassination of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink on January 19, 2007.