On January 19th prominent Armenian Turkish Journalist Hiran Dink a was gunned down in front of his office. Tens of thousands of Turkish citizens attended his funeral carrying banners that read,"we all are Dink." Consequently, the Nationalists had their own demonstration calling for the preservation of supposedly "Turkish Identity". How is Turkey dealing with its ethnic diversity? Is there a dramatic rise in the nationalist fervor in Turkey and what does the future hold in light of the recent developments? And how does all this affect Turkey’s relations with the European Union and the United States? To explore these issues, in this week’s program, we spoke with professor Stephan Astourian, the executive director of the Armenian Studies Program at UC Berkeley.
Later in the program we will feature and interview with Professor Harley Shaiken, who is chairman of the Latin American Studies Department. Harley Shailen was instrumental in bringing the current exhibit of Fernando Botero’s controversial Abu Ghraib paintings and drawings which is presently showing at UC Berkeley’s Main Library.