Two intense days of speeches and reflections have been witnessed Saturday and Sunday in Istanbul where the "Hate Crimes Conference" was organized by the Association for Social Change (SDD) and Say Stop to Racism and Nationalism! (Dur De!).

The conference was introduced by example of hate cases in Turkey.

In particular the cases included a smear campaign against musician Ahmet Kaya, who died in Paris in 2000 at the age of 43 during self-imposed exile to escape several charges arising from his political views; the 2007 murder of journalist Hrant Dink, who was the editor-in-chief of the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos; in Malatya, the Zirve murders of 2007 when three people who sold Christian literature were brutally killed; the murder of Catholic priest Father Andrea Santoro in Trabzon.

The cases also included a vigilante campaign against Roma living in Selendi, Manisa, when about 70 Roma, including 15 children, were forced to leave a village last year.

It was emphasized how criminal organizations with illegitimate goals are behind hate crimes, but it was also underlined the media’s huge role in contributing to hate speech. Journalist and writer Oral Çalýþlar said some prominent journalists who are the most fervent practitioners of hate speech still continue to be prominent journalistic figures.

Media critic Ragýp Duran, Çalýþlar and other participants in the conference emphasized that hate speech should be evaluated in a multi-dimensional way as the country’s education system is likely to make people prone to hating others who are not “Turks.” Nevertheless, the need for anti-hate crime legislation, which Turkey lacks, has been put forward.

International participants at the conference discussed experiences in other parts of the world and how other countries have dealt with hate crimes.