Assassination Of Hrant Dink

[Aratta-Kingdom]

Hrant Dink Murder Result of Turkey’s Racist Policy

 

 

 

 

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Armenian Community and Church Council of Great Britain condemned the assassination of Agos newspaper editor Hrant Dink. “If Hrant Dink was assassinated because of his progressive ideas for the good of Turkey, then that is a loss for Turkey. Until free-thinking people like Hrant Dink, Pamuk and Zarakolu are allowed to express their opinions without legal restraints in Turkey, then Turkey cannot claim to be part of the Free World. If Hrant Dink was assassinated because he was an Armenian and for his active efforts for Turkey to allow free discussion of the Armenian Genocide, then he has become a victim of Turkish Racism and Extreme Nationalism,” their statement says.

 

For its part, the Halabja Center against the Anfal campaign and genocide of the Kurds (CHAK) condemns the assassination of the Armenian journalist. “This assassination is a result of Turkey’s racist policy towards anyone questioning Turkishness and Turkey’s unity. It is clearly a political assassination that shows the depth of hatred contained in Turkism. The Turkish government convicted Hrank Dink of insulting Turkish identity in 2005, which is proof of Turkey’s intolerant policy toward freedom of speech and different thinking. Turkey’s government was well aware about the threats Mr. Dink received daily, as he frequently informed the authorities. But they did nothing to prevent this crime. Thus Turkey carries a heavy responsibility for this murder,” says the statement.

 

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

Italian Prime Minister Condemned Dink Murder

 

22.01.2007

 

 

 

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Italian Premier Romano Prodi met with his Turkish counterpart on Monday after earlier condemning the killing in Istanbul of ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant Dink. "It is a very serious episode on which I hope full light will be shed," Prodi said in an interview with Turkish newspaper Sabah published Monday.

 

According to Hurriyet, Sisli Mayor Sarigul has announced that his municipality will be setting free hundreds of pigeons and passing out thousands of carnations on Tuesday as part of the funeral proceedings for murdered journalist Hrant Dink. “The eyes of the whole world would be on Turkey to see what stance the country was taking against acts of terror like Dink's murder,” he said.

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

Orhan Pamuk: We Are All Responsible for Dink's Death

 

 

22.01.2007

 

 

 

 

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “We are all responsible for Dink's death,” Turkish author, Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk when visiting the family of murdered journalist Hrant Dink at their home in Istanbul yesterday. Pamuk, who told reporters that words could not even describe his sorrow, said, “In a sense, we are all responsible for his death. However, at the very forefront of this responsibility are those who still defend Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code. Those who campaigned against him, those who portrayed this sibling of ours as an enemy of Turkey, those who painted him as a target, they are the most responsible in this. And then, in the end, we are all responsible,” reports Hurriyet.

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

Association of the Russian Armenian Friendship

Dink Murder Proves Turkey's Incapability to Reconsider Dark Pages of Her History

 

 

 

22.01.2007

 

 

 

 

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On behalf of the Russian people we condemn the assassination of Hrant Dink in Istanbul, says the joint statement received by PanARMENIAN.Net from the Association of the Russian-Armenian Friendship, the Russian-Armenian Commonwealth and “Ararat” Armenian Cultural and Enlightening Society.

 

“We think that the murder was committed as result the state denial policy of Genocide denial, systematic incitement of hatred against Armenians and infringement of rights of national minorities in Turkey. The murder is the barbarian conclusion of political persecutions of the Turkish Armenian journalist for his dissent. This crime proves Turkey’s incapability to reconsider the dark pages of her history and have a place in the community of civilized states,” the document says.

Edited January 22, 2007 by ArmoArmeN

[Aratta-Kingdom]

NKR President Condemned Dink Killing

 

 

22.01.2007

 

 

 

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Nagorno Karabakh President Arkady Ghukasian condemned the assassination of Hrant Dink, the editor of Agos Armenian-Turkish newspaper. “This crime proves the growing way of intolerance towards dissent regarding the Armenian Genocide and the attempts of the Turkish leadership to conceal the historical truth from the people,” the NKR President said.

 

Arkady Ghukasian expressed hope that Ankara authorities will take measures for the soonest disclosing of the crime and its organizers will be punished, reports the chief information department at the NKR President.

 

 

[MosJan]

I am too very saddened by the assassination of Hrant Dink.While in Istanbul in the late 90s I tried to contact him during the very few days I stayed there but to no avail.

 

But, ladies and gentlemen, this thread gives good insights on our collective mind: it is not enough mourning Dink, we need also to stone one of our own, in that case Mutafyan.I can´t be bothered having an opinion about every single Armenian on Earth, much less Mutafyan whom I think completely inconsequential.The criticism to armchair warriors is befitting here.

 

Moreover, we are prone to this Quixotesque attacks on windmills.Given Turkey´s history of torture, assassinations and similar acts I am actually surprised that Mr.Dink has remained alive for so long.Also,I can understand why there are still Armenians in Turkey.After all, peoples circumstances are not only dictated by their ethnicity.

 

I have no doubt that were it for the hard core sectors of the Turkish military, security services and the right to ultra right, there would be no Armenians in Turkey and probably not Armenia as well.This is how they think.So, whether an extremist acted alone or sponsored by sectors of the Turkish State that is meaningless.Thousands of Turks could have easily taken the place of the killer. I will not be surprised if in the near future he, the murderer, is celebrated in circles that in other countries would be quite small but in Turkey are near mainstream.

 

 

so what do we do and how do we start ???

 

is Mutafyan appointed as a patriarch by echmiadzin ??

 

lets say Mutafyan is out - who do we have to replace him ??

 

and sure are we that this new patriarch will not become just a another poppet

 

 

 

 

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

Protest against Dink Murder to be Staged in Hague on January 23

 

22.01.2007

 

YEREVAN (YERKIR) - Federation of Armenian Organizations of the Netherlands has said that a rally in protest of the assassination of prominent Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, the editor of Agos Turkish-Armenian newspaper, will take place in Hague on 23 January 2007, from 12 a.m. till 3 p.m. .

 

According to Spokesperson of Abovyan cultural center Inge Drost, the action participants will submit a protest declaration to the Dutch Parliament and to the Turkish Embassy.

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

Armenians in Canada and France Hold Turkish Government Responsible for Hrant Dink’s Murder

 

22.01.2007

 

 

 

YEREVAN (YERKIR) - Aris Papikian, the executive director of the Armenian National Committee of Canada (ANCC), held the Turkish Government responsible for the politically motivated assassination of Hrant Dink,

 

He said successive Turkish Governments Armenian Genocide denial policy and the rewriting of history fanned flames of hatred against Armenians.

 

“In a country where the educational system and the political culture mould the minds of the people with hatred towards ethnically non-Turkish citizens and where racist and extreme right-wing organizations occupy a place of power, this is a sad reminder that things haven’t changed much in Turkey since 1915. This vile murder proves once again that racism has deep roots in Turkey,” added ANCC’s executive director.

 

He says “silencing Hrant Dink” proves once again that the genocidal mentality in Turkey still prevails and the Turkish Government is not interested in reconciling with the Armenian people and in atoning for its crimes against Armenians. The Turkish Government should come clean and once and for all recognize the Armenian Genocide and put an end to the cycle of hatred,” concluded the Executive Director.

 

Meanwhile, Armenian National Committee of France (CDCA), moved by the assassination of Hrant Dink, organized this evening with precipitation a meeting of the Armenians of Paris in Town hall of 9th sector to pay homage to the great journalist of Armenian origin. CDCA makes responsible Turkish State of this crime.

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...id=apk5GjmxnSec

 

Turkey Urged to Tackle Nationalism After Dink Murder

 

By Ben Holland

 

Jan. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Human-rights groups and European politicians urged Turkey's government and media to stop stoking chauvinist feelings, as police blamed the Jan. 19 killing of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink on nationalists.

 

A teenager detained the next day confessed to killing Dink, saying he was provoked by the journalist's writings, according to the newspaper Hurriyet. Istanbul police chief Celalettin Cerrah said the crime was motivated by ``nationalist feelings.'' Dink, along with Nobel prizewinner Orhan Pamuk and other Turkish writers, questioned Turkey's denial of what Armenians say was genocide carried out by Turks during World War I.

 

Turkey frequently prosecutes those like Dink and Pamuk who question state policies on such issues, and they're often labeled as traitors by lawmakers and the media. Last week's murder may show Turkish politicians the danger of excessive flag-waving as they court the patriotic vote in an election year, says Yusuf Alatas, head of Turkey's Human Rights Association.

 

``We've allowed a lynch culture to develop, an aggressive, threatening nationalism,'' Alatas said in a phone interview from Ankara today. ``The government is worried about losing votes, so it joins in the chorus. I just hope that after this, politicians will watch their tongues.''

 

Pre-Election Rhetoric

 

Turkey is due to hold parliamentary elections by November. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was criticized yesterday by a senior member of his Justice and Development Party for using increasingly nationalist rhetoric in the run-up to the polls, Milliyet newspaper reported today.

 

Dink was given a suspended jail sentence in July for an article about the Armenian massacres, and at the time of his death was being prosecuted again for calling them genocide. Pamuk, the Turkish novelist who won the 2006 Nobel literature prize, was charged with insulting Turkish identity by referring to the mass killings, in a case later abandoned by the court.

 

Dink ``was killed because of his ideas, ideas that aren't acceptable to the state,'' Pamuk told reporters last night outside the office of Dink's Argos newspaper.

 

Armenians say that at least 1.5 million of their people were slaughtered in a planned genocide from 1915. Turkey says that number is inflated and that both Turks and Armenians were killed during ethnic clashes.

 

EU Criticism

 

The European Union, which started membership talks with Turkey in October 2005, has criticized the government for failing to defend freedom of expression or repeal laws used to prosecute Dink, Pamuk and other supporters of Armenian genocide claims.

 

France's lower house of parliament last year passed a law making denial of the Armenian genocide a criminal offense. Members of the U.S. House of Representatives have said they may submit legislation representing the killings as genocide as early as April.

 

Instead of changing laws to meet EU criteria, ministers have joined in the criticism of dissidents. Justice Minister Cemil Cicek said the organizers of an Istanbul conference in 2005 on the massacres of Armenians were ``stabbing the Turkish nation in the back.''

 

Such attitudes are part of a nationalism that's deeply rooted in Turkey's culture, said Cem Ozdemir, a German of Turkish origin who's a member of the European Parliament.

 

`No Coincidence'

 

``If you grow up with the saying that neighbors are enemies, and the Turk's only friend is a Turk, then this kind of hostility to minorities is no coincidence,'' Ozdemir said in a telephone interview before flying to Istanbul for Dink's funeral tomorrow.

 

Turkey's media have also helped create a climate in which ``you're either with us or against us,'' Ozdemir said.

 

Hurriyet, the country's most-read daily, reported Pamuk's Nobel victory last year with the headline ``The Nobel Goes to a Turk.'' The headline deliberately avoided mention of Pamuk's name because his comments had offended Turkish feelings, an editorial explained.

 

Alatas of the Human Rights Association cited the murder of a Catholic priest and a high court judge last year and attempts to lynch Kurdish rights activists, as further examples of a ``rising tide of nationalism.''

 

``These kind of attacks are carried out by organized groups,'' Alatas said. ``And the more politicians use nationalist rhetoric, the easier it is for such groups to recruit.''

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

http://news.ert.gr/en/1/22886.asp

 

Cynical Confession

 

 

22 Jan 2007

 

By Athina Saloustrou

 

 

 

 

Turkey is shocked with the cynical confession of 17-year old assassin Ogün Samast of Armenian origin journalist Hrant Dink in Constantinople on Friday. He stated that the operation lasted only five minutes, adding that he did not regret for his action. Samast’s mother appeared surprised on the Turkish Media. The assassin told the police that he was annoyed by Hrant Dink’s speeches on TV and thus went to Constantinople, where he shot him. He was arrested at Samsun in the Hopa district in north-eastern Turkey, where he sought refuge after the crime. Samast said that he had read on the Internet that Dink once said that he was from Turkey, but Turkish blood was dirty. "Thus, I decided to kill him and I do not regret for this."

 

Many Quyestions Remain Unanswered

 

The suspect in the assassination of Agos daily editor Hrant Dink was caught in Samsun 32 hours after the shooting, when his father reported him to the police. Samast stated that he was alone during the assassination, adding that his close friend Yasin Hayal had given him the gun. In 2004 Hayal was tried for setting a bomb at a McDonald’s in Trabzon. The police have 10 people under custody, in relation to Dink’s assassination. At the same time, many people continue to gather outside the newspaper, where Dink used to work, shouting that they are all Armenians. Dink’s funeral will take place tomorrow.

 

Among the questions that still remain unanswered is who is hiding behind Dink’s assassination asks in its today issue the Turkish daily Jumhuriyat. From his side, Nobel Prize winner author Orhan Pamuk said, "In a sense, we are all responsible for his death. However, at the very forefront of this responsibility are those who still defend article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code. Those who campaigned against him, those who portrayed this sibling of ours as an enemy of Turkey, those who painted him as a target, they are the most responsible in this. And then, in the end, we are all responsible."

[karakash]

 

In protest of the Assassination of Hrant Dink

 

Candle Light Vigil will be held at Dag Hammarskjold Plaza

(East 47th Street and First Avenue, New York City)

Tuesday, January 23rd - from 6pm to 8pm

 

Buses to Leave From

St. Vartanantz Church, Ridgefield, NJ at 4pm

St. Thomas Church, Tenafly, NJ at 4pm

Hovnanian School, New Milford, NJ at 4pm

Armenian Hye Doun – Palisades Park, NJ at 4pm

 

For further bus information please Call Pauline at 201-803-4640

 

Organized by Armenian National Committee of New York & New Jersey

With the participation of Greater NY/NJ Armenian Organizations

 

 

[Lev7]

Teenager admits to killing writer, but has 'no regrets'

By Peter Popham

 

The Independent/UK

22 January 2007

 

 

Turkish police have arrested a 17-year-old on suspicion of murdering

Hrant Dink, Turkey's most prominent citizen of Armenian descent, who

was shot dead in cold blood outside his newspaper office on Friday.

 

Ogun Samast, from the Black Sea town of Trabzon, told police: "I read

on the internet that he [Dink] said, 'I am from Turkey but Turkish

blood is dirty' and I decided to kill him ... I do not regret this."

 

_____________________________________

 

what kind of an idiot believes what it says on the internet?

 

I mean, do Turks take the world as idiots? It is so obvious, this murder was planned and it is not a secluded incident.

Edited January 22, 2007 by Lev7

[Boghos]

so what do we do and how do we start ???

 

is Mutafyan appointed as a patriarch by echmiadzin ??

 

lets say Mutafyan is out - who do we have to replace him ??

 

and sure are we that this new patriarch will not become just a another poppet

 

Sireli Mosjan,

 

I think if the patriarch is called Mutafyan or Giragosian makes no difference.I think that the Istanbul Patriarchate is almost meaningless.My point is that instead of focusing on what really matters, we stray away and start calling Mutafyan names, among other things.Why can´t we mourn Hrant Dink and leave Mutafyan alone.It is easy to attack him, not so hard to defend him either.Who cares about him?What difference does he really make?Orhan Pamuk is much more important than him.

 

 

[GevorgP]

Never believe that Turks are sincere in their condolences on Hrant Dink's murder. It is just a Show, for the European audience.

 

Are you surprised watching on TV people marching and chanting that they all are "Hrant Dink"? Taking into account that majority of meeting participant are the Turks, one can think that the people, who consider them barbarians, are wrong and that Turkey, in "fact", is a "democratic" country.

 

Naive Europeans and others, may be shocked by the humanistic behavior demonstrated by Turks; Armenians taking part in the meetings are minority. Because in past Turks managed to "resolve" the Armenian question.

 

The Europeans don't know what the mullahs called the Turkish believers to do, throughout the country's mosques, the day before.

 

You know that Islamic countries, in fact are ruled by their religious leaders. The politicians and religious leaders are coordinating their activities, while deciding how the major problems should be addressed, at any critical situation for the country.

 

So the day before, the mass meetings took place in Turkey, for sure, the mullahs throughout the country called the believers to organize mass meetings condemning Hrant Dink's murder and chanting "we all are Dink, we are Armenians" because it is needed to improve Turkey's International image.

 

I've seen by TV the meetings where some people, I guess mullahs, next to the columns of the meeting participants coordinated their behavior, controlling people.

 

Tomorrow the same people, if called by their leaders, will kill all remaining Armenians and others. The order will be carried out without any hesitation; and with the same diligence, as chanting "we all are Hrant Dink".

 

Muslim religion and democracy are not compatible; therefore one can never expect, that in near future Turkey will share the European democratic values.

 

I'm confident, that the "Mass Meetings" are "shows", "performances" directed by Turkey rulers for the European audience and the rest of civilized world.

 

If Turkey would manage to improve, a little bit, its bad image, through the "shows" above and other PR activities, and "ensure" the world that they are becoming democrats; then, in future, they will turn to their natural "bloody" theatrical, dramatic performances.

 

Don't forget that in past Ataturk managed to ensure Lenin that Turkey will become a communist country.

 

[/size]

GevorgP

 

 

Edited January 22, 2007 by GevorgP

[gamavor]

I think the murder of Hrant Dink aimed at derailing the process of Genocide recognition that is gaining momentum in USA and elsewhere. The Armenian government (present and future) should take more proactive line of conduct towards bringing the Genocide issue to the International setting, including International justice institutions.

[Nazarian]

American citizens, if you haven't done so, please visit ANCA and help lobby the American government on the Genocide issue. Send an electronic letter to the President and your representative.

[MosJan]

Artical frome today az

 

A teenager detained over the slaying of an ethnic Armenian journalist has confessed to the killing, the prosecutor said Sunday.

 

Police captured the suspect - identified as Ogun Samast - in the Black Sea city of Samsun late on Saturday, a day after Hrant Dink was gunned down in broad daylight outside his newspaper's office in Istanbul.

 

The slaying stunned the nation and highlighted the precarious state of freedom of expression in a country that is vying for European Union membership.

 

Police said the youth was captured following a tip from his father after pictures were broadcast on Turkish television.

 

Chief prosecutor Ahmet Cokcinar told The Associated Press that the teenager had confessed to killing Dink during initial questioning in Samsun. He refused to give any further details.

 

"All I can say is that Samast confessed during his questioning yesterday," Cokcinar said by telephone.

 

Samast, who is 16 or 17 years old, was apparently on his way by bus from Istanbul back to his home town of Trabzon when he was caught. Police escorted him on a private plane back to Istanbul where he was taken to a police station for further questioning, police said.

 

The photograph, taken by a security camera two blocks from the scene of Dink's shooting, had been broadcast across Turkey, and showed the suspect allegedly toting a gun and running from the scene.

 

Video footage showed paramilitary police at the Samsun bus station inspecting a pistol and then placing it into an evidence bag. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Samast was arrested with the gun believed to have been used in the killing.

 

Most Turks have assumed that the 52-year-old Dink, editor of the Turkish-Armenian newspaper Agos, was targeted for his public statements calling the killing of Armenians by Turks in the early 20th century genocide. Nationalists consider such statements an insult to Turkey's honor and a threat to its unity, and Dink had been showered with insults and threats.

 

Before the arrest, Istanbul Governor Muammer Guler had said that Dink's secretary identified the man in the photograph as the same person who had requested a meeting with Dink on the day he was killed. After the request was refused, the secretary said she saw the man waiting in front of a nearby bank about an hour before Dink was killed, Guler said.

 

Police also detained six other suspects in Trabzon, including Yasin Hayal, a man convicted in the bombing of a McDonald's restaurant in Trabzon in 2004, whom police believe may have incited the attack, Turkish news reports said. Hayal was alleged to be an Islamic militant and said he learned to make bombs from Chechen militants at a camp in Azerbaijan. The bomb injured six passers-by and was apparently an attack aimed at punishing the United States.

 

All six were also flown to Istanbul and police were investigating whether the teen had ties to a group.

 

Born in 1990, Samast would be a minor, raising questions about whether he could have been put up for the job by someone who hoped he could get away with a much lesser sentence, intelligence expert Bulent Orakoglu said in an interview on CNN-Turk.

 

Orakoglu and other analysts also questioned whether the attack against Dink could have links to the murder by a teenager of a Catholic priest in Trabzon last year.

 

"Ordered murdered by a kid," headlined the liberal Radikal newspaper on Sunday.

 

The suspect's uncle Faik Samast told private NTV television that he didn't think his nephew — an unemployed high-school drop out — was capable of acting alone.

 

"He didn't even know his way around Istanbul," Samast said. "This kid was used."

 

Regardless of the motives behind the crime, Dink's killing brought worldwide attention once again to the precarious state of free speech in Turkey and to the dangers journalists face here.

 

Turkey is the world's eighth most dangerous country for journalists, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, which counts 18 reporters killed for their work in the past 15 years.

 

Threats and violence against Turkish editors and reporters is not uncommon, and well-known journalists commonly receive police protection and can be seen traveling around Istanbul with bodyguards. Dink was alone when he was killed.

 

Guler rejected accusations that the government did not do enough to protect Dink, saying the journalist had not asked for help. The Associated Press

 

/The International Herald Tribune/

[MosJan]

one think is amazing that how fast pictures and big signs w/ Hrants Picture on it was produced - almost over night - even before the SOB was caught

 

who is organising all of this including the funeral ?? Armenians ???

[MosJan]

MESROP MUTAFIAN, PATRIARCH OF ISTANBUL AND ALL TURKEY, CONDEMNS MURDER OF HRANT DINK

 

Patriarch of Istanbul and All Turkey Mesrop Mutafian expressed his indignation at the Jan 21 article of Tercuman newspaper (Turkey) alleging that the murderer of Hrant Dink Ogun Samast is of Armenian origin. According to "Lraper" newspaper, Mutafian said that the article attempts to prove that the murderer is not Turk. "This is a result of the unhealthy mentality of blaming Armenians for all," Moutafian said and emphasized that this is a case of national discrimination and a violation of the Turkish Constitution.

[MosJan]

FOR HRANT

 

by YAVUZ BAYDAR,

 

http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/yazar.do?haberno=100535

 

 

My grief is very, very deep. I have lost a wonderful friend and a courageous colleague.

 

Could we see it coming?

 

I remember an evening, months ago, in a restaurant. The infamous Pamuk trial had ended in tumult, with Orhan Pamuk leaving the Şişli Courthouse followed by an angry mob.

 

That evening we were all together in a display of solidarity for Pamuk, authors, intellectuals, artists and journalists.

 

One moment we were by ourselves: Orhan, Hrant and I.

 

Deeply worried, I told Orhan that he really should watch himself. "In Turkey, we have a dark record of mistreating intellectuals," I said. "Just remember Sabahattin Ali, Uğur Mumcu, Ahmet Taner Kışlalı, Musa Anter, Çetin Emeç, İpekçi... Be careful."

 

Orhan was affected: he seemed to share my concern. But Hrant swiftly retorted "We shouldn’t worry, they wouldn’t dare". And when Orhan moved away from us, he whispered in my ear: "Whatever happens, happens. I know where we live."

 

He had a great heart, Hrant. He never concealed his emotions, even in the most heated debates. I remember cautioning him on this. But at the same time, those who know Hrant will tell you how much he loved to tell the truth, how he loved to be bold and how much he loved his native Turkey and his brothers in Armenia. Because he sought reconciliation through truth, he was hated by hardliners both sides. He was a target.

 

I may have lost a friend, but we all know the process of tolerance, peace and understanding has lost one of its staunchest defenders. His dream was a Turkey at peace with its past, and a Turkey with free speech.

 

May his great soul rest in peace.

[gamavor]

I'm not surprised. This is common Turkic tactic that has been used for centuries. When Ahmed Ali Agja tried to assassinate Pope John Paul II with the help of KGB and Bulgarian secret services, upon his detention, he started screaming "I'm Armenian, I'm Armenian!!!”

I won’t be surprised if after some time when the activities of ASALA come into full investigation, if the whole deal was an organized Turkish operative to get rid of certain diplomats.

 

 

Barbarians!

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

THE LONG SHADOW

 

Payam Akhavan, National Post, Monday, January 22, 2007

 

 

Payam Akhavan is a professor of International Law at McGill University in Montreal and a former UN war crimes prosecutor at The Hague.

 

The prominent journalist and voice of Turkey's dwindling Armenian minority, Hrant Dink, was shot dead on Jan. 19 as he left his office in Istanbul. Dink was editor of Agos, the sole Armenian newspaper in Turkey. He had been prosecuted because of his call for recognition of Ottoman Turkey's 1915 massacre of 1.5 million of its ethnic Armenian citizens -- a crime against humanity that the Canadian House of Commons formally acknowledged in April, 2004. His murder starkly demonstrates how Turkish denial of this abomination, the first genocide of the 20th century, amounts to continuing violence against multi-ethnic democracy and pluralism. It is a painful reminder that without redemption for past injustices, the ghosts of history will cast a long shadow on Turkey's future.

 

Mr. Dink was convicted in October, 2005, of the crime of "insulting Turkishness" under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code. In being branded as a criminal for calling attention to the 1915 genocide, he joined the ranks of prominent fellow ethnic Turkish citizens, including the famous novelist Orhan Pamuk, recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature, the renowned intellectual Murat Belge, who organized a conference on the Armenian genocide in 2005, and the courageous historian Taner Akcam, author of A Shameful Act which details Turkish responsibility for the events of 1915. These eminent Turks would argue that the greatest insult to "Turkishness" is the continuing denial of this historical tragedy, which brutally ripped Turkey's multiethnic fibre apart, and that the greatest disgrace is the appeasement of ethnic chauvinists who seek to destroy its modest but precious remnants. The truth that Mr. Dink and his fellow citizens upheld transcends ties of blood and soil. This was poignantly expressed at the candlelight vigil after his murder, where hundreds of Turks held signs reading: "We are all Hrant Dink. We are all Armenians."

 

The Turkish Prime Minister, Recep Erdogan, condemned Mr. Dink's murder as a "bullet aimed at free speech." But so long as Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code criminalizes "insulting Turkishness," these remain empty words. Limitations on freedom of speech should apply to hate speech, not to speech against hate. Recognition of past injustice promotes mutual respect and redeems a shared humanity. But its denial sows the seeds of hatred, by perpetuating both the dehumanization of its victims and the moral depravity of its perpetrators. In a world where Holocaust denial is a crime, state-sanctioned denial of genocide is all the more reproachable. It is telling that when the House of Commons recognized the Armenian genocide in 2004, Turkey condemned "narrow minded Canadian politicians" who failed to understand that their decision "will awaken feelings of hatred among people of different [ethnic] roots and disturb social harmony." The murder of Mr. Dink should leave no doubt that social harmony is not achieved through appeasement of ethnic chauvinists.

 

Mr. Dink's last op-ed, written on Jan. 10, a few days prior to his murder, is a testament to his nobility and heroism. He speaks of death threats against him, but he fears for his family and not for himself. And despite his ordeal, he speaks of his abiding commitment to Turkey and its people: "There were moments when I seriously thought about leaving the country and moving far away. And especially when the threats started to involve those close to me." But to stay in Turkey "was necessary because we truly desired it and [had to do so] out of respect to the thousands of friends in Turkey [who] struggled for democracy and who supported us. We were going to stay and we were going to resist." In an allusion to the recurring trauma of collective destruction and exile, he reveals how strongly he was clinging to his beloved home: "If we were forced to leave one day, however ? We were going to set out just as in 1915 ? Like our ancestors ?Without knowing where we were going ? Walking the roads they walked through ? Feeling the ordeal, experiencing the pain ? With such a reproach we were going to leave our homeland. And we would go where our feet took us, but not our hearts." It is in light of this vivid memory of 1915 that the magnitude of his murder becomes apparent, almost as if those unspeakable events have continued unabated to the present day.

 

In his last days, Mr. Dink wrote that he felt the "unease of a pigeon" that must constantly live in fear of being preyed upon. But in an expression of unfailing hope and trust in his fellow Turkish citizens, he remained confident that "in this country people do not touch pigeons. Pigeons live their lives all the way deep into the city, even amidst the human throngs. Yes, somewhat apprehensive but just as much free." Yet, it was in the busy streets of Istanbul, amidst the human throngs, that he was shot to death. At least if this shocking betrayal awakens the Turkish people to the paramount necessity of atonement for the past, Mr. Dink's confidence in his fellow citizens may still be vindicated, and the restless ghosts of Ottoman times may finally repose in their sepulchers.

 

[Hellektor]

another question, why is Isreal* so interested in Independent Kurdistan? who are does dog kurds? and why is Isreal* so interested in it

They are after their "Great Middle East" Jewey Lewis project. They want to break Iran apart, on one hand encouraging the Iranian Kurds to separate themselves from Iran, the Turkish speaking Iranians of the real Azarbaijan to break up and become a part of the fake "Azerbaijan" and the Arabic speaking Iranians to break away and become a part of southern Iraqi Shiite state.

 

But as a beautiful Persian proverb goes (damn, the whole thing is lost in translation ) They have read blindly! They have absofukkenlutely no idea whatsoever from the Iranian spirit.

 

Once they are done, they will dispose of the Kurds like used toilet paper, just like they abandoned the liberated states of the USSR after the breakup; just like they abandoned the peoples of Georgia and Ukraine after painting them with their colorful Yiddish "revolutions" into Jewrgia and Jewkraine; just as they'll refrain from paying their promised dollars to the Armenians after they (god forbid) cede the liberated lands to Tatarbaijan.

 

***

 

À propos, I smell a filthy stench when I think of the following cases, see if you can spot a red thread running through them:

 

1. Armenians are hoping that the US congress will pass the AG bill this time around. (I am not so optimistic and according to a beautiful Persian proverb, you count the chicken at the end of autumn.)

 

2. The J**ish lobby warns the Turks they won't be able to stop the passing of the bill.

 

3. Out of nowhere, the infamous conference "The Economic and Social Consequences of Opening the Armenia-Turkey Border" takes place on January 13-14 in Yerevan with that "senior expert of the Peterson International Economic University Gary Hufbauer" showing "how much Armenian economy loses under the conditions of closed borders."

 

They have even set up an Armenian "organization" with the typical Jewmanitarian name (take a deep breath) "The Armenian International Policy Research Group (AIPRG)" who supports the opening of the borders.

 

4. The assassination of this innocent good man, Hrand of course, and the gallons of crocodile tears spilled to wash away the sins of the Turks and present them more human and civilized that humanity and civilization themselves.

 

Now, I am seriously concerned, these SOBs will cunningly bring about the opening of the border in their attempt to suffocate Armenian demands for justice.

 

 

*P.S. Of course it's real, you mean Israel

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

one think is amazing that how fast pictures and big signs w/ Hrants Picture on it was produced - almost over night - even before the SOB was caught

 

who is organising all of this including the funeral ?? Armenians ???

 

 

the assassination was well planned for some period of time. minutes after the killing, the same turkish media and the turkish government that were calling Hrant Dink a traitor, had long articles prepared calling the assassin a traitor. they even had their friends at associated press(Benjamin Harvey), to prepare long articles blaming the assassination on everyone but the turkish government.

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Instigator of Dink’s murder was trained at camp for Chechen militants in Azerbaijan

 

Instigator of Agos newspaper editor Hrant Dink’s murder, Yasin Hayal, was trained at a camp for Chechen militants in Azerbaijan, where he was instructed how to make and use explosives, Schweizer Fernsehen channel informs.

 

According to the source, Yasin Hayal headed a nationalist group in Trabzon members of which were under age teens. Hayal reportedly trained them how to use weapons instigating them to punish “all traitors of Turkey.” According to preliminary reports, initially Hrant Dink was supposed to be killed in Trabzon.

 

Earlier, Hayal confessed at an interrogation that he gave arms and money to Ogun Samast. He also said that Ogun Samast fulfilled his duty and saved Turkey’s honor. Yasin Hayal already served a sentence of ten months for performing a terror attack at a McDonald’s restaurant in Trabzon in 2004. After being arrested for staging the explosion, Hayal shouted at the court: “I did it to punish Americans. In three years I will be released and explode the HSBC bank and the Russian consulate.”

Permanent news address: www.regnum.ru/english/770425.html

18:51 01/22/2007