ANCA calls for legal actions against Nişanyan sentence

PanARMENIAN.Net - The ANCA asked the State Department to condemn the Turkish government's legal actions against Sevan Nişanyan, an Armenian blogger who, having been pressured in the past over remarks on the Armenian Genocide, was recently sentenced to a year in prison for ‘blasphemy.’

“The ANCA noted its efforts, prior to Hrant Dink's assassination, to encourage the U.S. to openly stand up against this courageous journalist's persecution for speaking truthfully about the Armenian Genocide. Tragically - the ANCA letter pointed out - the State Department ignored these appeals and only spoke out openly on Hrant Dink's case after he had been murdered,” ANCA executive Director Aram Hamparian said.

Nişanyan is one of the leading linguists of Turkey. He has penned columns for the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos and daily Taraf.

In the blog entry that led to the prison sentence, Nişanyan was in fact calling for the combating of hate speech, urging at the same time more tolerance.

However Nişanyan was charged for blasphemy for the lines: "Making fun of an Arab leader who claimed he contacted Allah hundreds of years ago and received political, financial and sexual benefits is not hate speech. It is an almost kindergarten-level test of what is called freedom of expression."