On June 2, minority rights defender Prof. Baskin Oran (photo) received a fourth warning from a group calling itself the Turkish Revenge Brigade (TIT). The threatening message was sent by e-mail to the Armenian Agos newspaper where Oran is working as a columnist.

The threatening letter contained a death list including Turkish-Armenian journalist Etyen Mahcupyan and leading Kurdish politicians Osman Baydemir, Sebahat Tuncel and Akın Birdal. The letter reads as follows:

"He leads a dishonorable life by currying favor with the Armenians. Baskin Oran, you still cannot put up with the word 'Turk' on Turkish soil. (...) Take your dogs and go to Armenia. Otherwise, death will be the inevitable end for you. (...) Your time has come to die. (...) We hereby announce as the Turkish Revenge Brigade that we will close this account. On 17 June, we will remove the bastard called Baskin Oran and we will show the power of the Turkish character".

After the latest threat, Oran applied to the prosecution and filed a criminal complaint.

In an interview with Bianet, Oran, a former member of the Prime Minister's Human Rights Advisory Board, argued that the judiciary is responsible for the death threats since the courts did not fulfill their duty accordingly.

"If the supreme Turkish judiciary proceeds this way, these people will continue threatening me", Oran stated. "I will file a criminal complaint every time they threaten me. Yet, as long as the judiciary continues to not carry out its duty, these people will continue threatening me ".

Oran told Bianet that he was under personal protection ever since the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in January 2007. However, he believes such protection is useless while confronted with such a judiciary.