European Parliament Priorities for Turkey Following the Elections of the 12th of June 2012: the Need for “Uzlaşma”
sis in Greece, this tiny publication reached to the point of folding. Apoyevmatini has only 600 subscribers - a figure, it claims, ensures that it still reaches every Greek family in the city. The paper cannot get financial aid from the Turkish State since a publication should have at least a circulation of 5000 in order to receive grant. On July 2011, an unprecedented example of solidarity, a coterie of young people started an online campaign titled, “Don’t let Apoyevmatini close down” to get subscription. Turkish people without knowing the Greek language subscribed to pledge support for the publication. On July 12 issue, the paper for the first time in its history printed a thank you note on its front page in Turkish. The Armenian paper, Jamanak (Time), is one of the oldest newspapers in Turkey. In addition to domestic news, the Armenian paper covers community news. It first started publishing in October of 1908 in Istanbul. The original publishers were the Misak and Sarkis Koçunyan brothers currently selling around 1,500 to 2,000 copies. In its earlier years, Jamanak was distributed in much of the Ottoman land, from the Balkans to Anatolia and Egypt with a circulation of 15,000. With the decreasing size of the community, Jamanak has gone from being a national newspaper to an Istanbul community to keep the Armenian legacy, its culture and the life of the community alive. The turning point not just in the minority press but in the Turkish political history was undoubtedly the assassination of editor in chief-of Agos, Hrant Dink on January 19, 2007. The murder of Hrant Dink in front of his office building on the daylight shook the whole nation to its core. The outcry and search for justice still go on with a belief that Dink’s assassination is linked to elements within Turkey’s “Deep State”. Dink’s family filed lawsuits against 31 officials - including the former governor of Istanbul and the former local gendarmerie commander and police chief in Trabzon - for neglect and “aiding the murderer by way of making it easy to commit the crime.” After this horrific event, weekly Turkish-Armenian paper, Agos became more influential, gave space to non-Armenian columnists, its circulation increased among the Turkish readers and went beyond the borders of the Armenian community.
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