Dink widow attends reception in U.S. embassy in Ankara

PanARMENIAN.Net - Journalist Nedim Şener, who was recently released from prison after spending nearly a year in jail in a coup plot case, was among guests invited to a reception hosted on Thursday, March 22 evening by U.S. Ambassador Francis J. Ricciardone in honor of a deputy from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), Today's Zaman reported.

Şener's release from jail has been welcome by the European Union, which Turkey aspires to join, and the Turkish government also said the release was a positive development." But detention of journalists including Şener in coup plot cases has created a rift with the U.S. in the past.

In February 2011, the U.S. ambassador received a barrage of criticism from the Turkish government when he said the U.S. was trying to make sense of Turkey's stated support for freedom of the press and the detention of journalists. “On the one hand there exists a stated policy supporting a free press. On the other hand, journalists are put in detention. We are trying to make sense of this,” Ricciardone had said.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan accused him of being a “novice” in Turkish matters.

The reception at the U.S. embassy, hosted in honor of CHP deputy Şafak Pavey for a recent award she received, was attended also by the CHP leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu; Rakel Dink, the widow of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink; and two deputies from Turkey's pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), Sırrı Sakık and Hasip Kaplan.

A years-long case on the murder of Dink recently ended with a “frustrating” conclusion, according to the Dink family. The family and their lawyers say the judiciary failed to shed light on the masterminds behind the 2007 assassination of the journalist.