Assassination Of Hrant Dink

[MosJan]

Hrant Dink's legacy - presented by turks

 

The journalist devoted 25 years of his life to reopening the children's camp in Tuzla. Those who wish to honor his memory could do so by giving the camp a second lease of life

 

FERAY AKŞİT/EMİNE İNCE

ISTANBUL - Referans

 

It is 1962. He is only 8, carrying stones with his tiny hands to the construction site. Once the building is completed, he will not only have a camp where he can forget about his loneliness, but also a new home. Thirty orphans, including Hrant Dink, their ages ranging from eight to 12, are staying at the church on the property and are working hard to help with the construction of the camp. Two years of hard work bears fruit: A summer camp is completed with rooms for children and teachers, study and dining halls and gardens. In time the camp develops into a complex where 1,500 children live.

 

 

 

He met his wife Rakel in the camp:

 

Dink even met his wife Rakel there, in the Tuzla summer camp. Hrant and Rakel loved the camp so much that they had their wedding ceremony there and their children were born in the camp grounds. He became the administrator of the place years later. However, in 1979 the state took over the camp, which then housed about 1,500 Armenian orphans. Ever since then Dink struggled to have the camp restored to the children.

 

He even wrote a book about the story of the camp but his attempts failed to provide a solution. He summarized his experience of the camp: �I was eight when I first went to Tuzla. I have worked hard for 20 years for that camp. I met my wife Rakel there. We grew up together. We got married there. Our children were born there. But one day they handed us a court declaration. We were defeated after a five-year struggle. What could we do, we had the state against us?�

 

In 1979, the General Management of Foundations started court action to have the land deed appointing the Foundation of Gedikpaşa Armenian Protestant Church as the owner of the camp land revoked, asking that the land be returned to its previous owner. Following a four-year legal process the court ruled that the land should be returned to its previous owner. The decision in line with the 1974 Court of Appeals decision declaring that all real estate acquired by minorities after 1936 be either given back to their previous owners or handed over to the National Real-estate Foundation; minority foundations were banned from acquiring property.

 

Dink wrote about the camp in �The Tuzla Armenian children's camp: a story of confiscation.� He was bitter: �They have seized the hard work of 1,500 children who grew up in the camp. They have usurped all our labor. If only they had remade it into a camp for needy or orphaned children, I would have happily passed on any ownership of the project but I cannot do that under the circumstances.�

 

 

 

He last visited a couple of years ago:

 

The camp, only a couple of minutes' walk from the sea, is now encircled by top-end villas. Once a lively place full of children's laughter, the camp is now in ruins. It is a heart-rending sight. The only thing in the camp that has not changed is the caretaker, Selahattin, who was employed there during Dink's administration and still lives there with his family.

 

About the current condition of the camp grounds, Selahattin related the following: �No one lives here now. The new owners came here three or four years ago and did some survey of the place. But they never came again.� He added that Dink has last visited the camp a couple of years ago.

[MosJan]

Hrant Dink's funeral was held on January 23. As a sign of respect to Hrant Dink’s memory a number of rallies were held in different parts of Armenia with calls and appeals. A similar march was held in Vanadzor on the initiative of Lory TV Station.

 

“Hrant Dinks live inside each of us, we are all Armenians”, “The Genocide still continues”, “The hands of Turkey are in blood” and suchlike posters could be seen everywhere, in the hands of students, intelligentsia who headed from the Vanadzor State Pedagogical Institute to St. Astvatsatsin Church.

 

“This was the least we could do in memory of Hrant Dink”, said one of the students. “I couldn’t sleep a wink the whole night after hearing about Hrant Dink’s assassination. Turks must bear responsibility for their actions. Armenians will have heroes like Njdeh, Gevorg Chaush, Andranik who will be remembered for their deeds”, said one of the teachers while expressing her indignity.

 

The head of the diocese greeted the initiative of Lori TV Station and condemned the absence of the authorities from the rally. “I would like our high-rank officials to know the history of the country quite well as the history passes down from one generation to generation with their help”.

 

“The journalist of Lori TV Station have even released an announcement under which they condemn the assassination of Hrant Dink and qualify it as a heavy blow to the freedom of expression and the rights of ethnic minorities, resulted by Turkey’s anti-Armenian stance. The announcement says, “We deeply mourn over the loss of Hrant Dink and condole with his relatives, friends and promise to continue Dink’s work with joint efforts and in firm alliance”.

[MosJan]

We are all responsible'

 

 

Turkey has risen above its ultra-nationalists over the murder of Hrant Dink, writes Simon Tisdall

 

Tuesday January 23, 2007

Guardian Unlimited

 

Not for the first time, the violence of extremists has achieved the exact opposite of what they intended. Ogun Samast, alleged to have gunned down the bridge-building ethnic Armenian Turkish journalist Hrant Dink last week, reportedly told investigators he was defending Turkey's national honour. Instead, Turkey's honour stands besmirched before an appalled international audience.

 

The widely felt sense of shame, anger and self questioning that accompanied today's impressive funeral in Istanbul was also not an outcome Turkey's nationalist fringe would presumably welcome. Placards in the procession read: "We are all Hrant Dink. We are all Armenians".

 

Mehmet Ali Birand, a leading columnist, wrote: "We are all responsible."

 

Turkey's prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was quick to condemn the murder. "The bullets aimed at Hrant Dink were shot into all of us," he declared after the killing. And criticism that senior ministers did not attend the funeral was offset by official invitations extended to the Armenian government, with which Turkey has no diplomatic relations, and the influential Armenian Church of America.

 

That reconciliatory gesture, of great although possibly passing symbolic significance, represented another own goal for the ultra-nationalists who are presumed, directly or indirectly, to have inspired and supported the assassination. Now Turkish media are worrying that the US Congress will follow France's national assembly in censuring Turkey by legally labelling the mass killing of Armenians by Turks in the early 20th century as genocide.

 

Spokesmen say the widespread revulsion in Turkey has a positive aspect. "You can see from this that Turkey has changed a lot," a senior Turkish official said. "There has been a strong public reaction against this terrorist act. It is a delicate situation. We are trying to identify who is behind it. But the government has been responsible in trying to calm people."

 

'Keep calm' could be a good motto for Mr Erdogan and his ruling Islamic-based Justice and Development party, given all the other pressures Turkey faces in 2007. The government has taken the EU's decision to partially suspend accession talks on the chin. It is pressing ahead with "do-it-yourself" legislative reforms in 32 areas in anticipation of a rapprochement.

 

"We were not happy at all about what the EU did," the official said, but added that there was no use making people turn against the EU.

 

A small reward for patience came yesterday when EU foreign ministers agreed to revive efforts to end an economic embargo on Turkish-controlled northern Cyprus.

 

Turkey is also increasingly concerned about Kurdish designs on Kirkuk, home to an Iraqi Turkoman minority, and resumed PKK separatist incursions into south-east Turkey from Kurdish-controlled Iraq. Speaking in Ankara last week, a senior US diplomat, Nicholas Burns, was obliged to give repeated, public assurances that the US and its surrogates were doing all they could to curb the PKK. Turks do not entirely believe this. A commando hunt is occurring in Tunceli province for 350 PKK infiltrators from Iraq.

 

Turkey is also being tested by growing pains from a dynamic economy that officials say acts as a regional employment and investment magnet. On present trends, it will become a net importer of labour by 2015, which puts EU immigration fears in perspective.

 

To cap it all, the country faces presidential and parliamentary elections this year that may elevate Mr Erdogan to the presidency but weaken his ruling party. At a time of such flux, a retreat into nationalism, ethnic strife and xenophobia is the very last thing Turkey needs. Perhapıs Hrant Dink's death will help avert it.

[MosJan]

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[MosJan]

 

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Hrant Dink's brother Yersuvat looks at Dink's portrait during the funeral service at Surp Asdvadzadzin Patriarchal Church in Istanbul January 23, 2007. Dink was shot dead outside his newspaper office last Friday. REUTERS/Gursel Eser/Pool

 

 

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Hrant Dink's daughter Abzydar Dalal and son Ararat Dink arrive at the Surp Asdvadzadzin Patriarchal Church for Dink's funeral service in Istanbul January 23, 2007. Dink was shot dead outside his newspaper office last Friday. REUTERS/Gursel Eser/Pool

 

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wife of late Turkish-Armenian editor Hrant Dink, releases doves into the air as her daughter Sera ® cries during Dink's funeral ceremony in Istanbul January 23, 2007. Dink was shot dead outside his newspaper office last Friday. REUTERS/Stringer (TURKEY)

 

 

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[Arpa]

OK. Alright. Call me paranoid, call me conspirationist or any other anti-kaka you want.

Why has CNN found it necessary to revive and air this stale story of the following shan-zavak every hour on the hour, with several versions, on the day that they have seen fit to also eclipse those five second blurbs of Hrant’s funeral?

Sorry. I can’t find current items on CNN.

 

Murat Kurnaz

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Murat Kurnaz (born March 19, 1982 in Bremen, Germany) was held in extrajudicial detention in the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba for four years. Kurnaz, a Turkish citizen and legal resident of Germany, was in the process of becoming a German citizen when he was arrested in Pakistan in late 2001. After being imprisoned for five years he was released and arrived in Germany August 24th 2006.[1]

 

 

[MosJan]

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[MosJan]

RARE UNITY

[Aratta-Kingdom]

RARE UNITY

 

MOST OF THE PEOPLE WHO ATTENDED THE FUNERAL WERE ARMENIANS, KURDS, GREEKS, LEFTISTS AND THOSE WHO WERE EITHER CURIOUS OR WERE TOLD TO BE THERE. I SPENT THE WHOLE NIGHT WATCHING THE FUNERAL. THE TURKS WHO WERE THERE, CAME WITH GROUPS AND 'EACH GROP HAD A LEADER'. PEOPLE FROM SCHOOLS, FACTORIES AND OTHER GOVERNMENT OWNED INSITUTIONS HAD NOWERE ELSE TO GO BUT TO ATTEND THE FUNERAL.

 

[MosJan]

istambul still has over 60K Armenians

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

http://www.examiner.com/a-523586~Many_Thou...st_Funeral.html

 

 

 

Many Thousands Attend Journalist Funeral

 

 

 

By BENJAMIN HARVEY, The Associated Press

Jan 23, 2007

 

ISTANBUL, Turkey - Tens of thousands of people joined a funeral procession Tuesday for Hrant Dink, the Turkish editor of Armenian descent who was shot to death in an attack most Turks assume was motivated by his unpopular views.

 

 

The mourners marched five miles from the Istanbul offices of Dink's weekly Agos newspaper - where he was killed on Friday - to an Armenian Orthodox church, carrying signs that said "We are all Hrant Dinks" in Turkish and Armenian.

 

His daughter Sera wept as she walked in front of his sunflower-lined coffin, carrying a picture of her father. Onlookers clapped in tribute as the hearse passed and tossed flowers from windows overhead.

 

The funeral shut down the center of Istanbul, forcing thousands to walk to work.

 

Dink's relatives had asked mourners not to chant slogans or to turn the funeral into a protest, but even so some shouted "Shoulder to shoulder against fascism," and "Murderer 301." The latter refers to the notorious Turkish law against statements considered an insult to "Turkishness." Prosecutors once used it to bring charges against Dink.

 

Most Turks assume Dink, 52, was targeted for his columns saying the killing of ethnic Armenians by Turks in the early 20th century was 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.

 

Police are questioning seven suspects, including a teenager, Ogun Samast, who has confessed to fatally shooting Dink, and Yasin Hayal, a nationalist militant convicted in the 2004 bombing of a McDonald's restaurant. Hayal has confessed to inciting the slaying and to providing a gun and money to the teenager, police say.

 

The suspects also included a university student who allegedly "inspired" the attack, Hurriyet newspaper reported Tuesday. Police confirmed the report but gave no other details.

 

Prosecutors are investigating possible links to shadowy organizations that may have wanted Dink killed.

 

Turkey's relationship with its Armenian minority has long been haunted by a bloody past. Much of its once-influential Armenian population was killed or driven out beginning around 1915 in what an increasing number of nations are calling the first genocide of the 20th century.

 

Turkey acknowledges that large numbers of Armenians died but vehemently denies it was genocide, saying the overall figure is inflated and the deaths occurred in the civil unrest during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.

 

Threats and violence against Turkish editors and reporters are not uncommon. Well-known journalists commonly receive police protection and travel around Istanbul with bodyguards. Dink was alone when he was killed. The government says he did not get close protection because he didn't ask for it.

 

In a telephone interview several months before his death, Dink insisted he wanted reconciliation between Turkey and Armenia.

 

"I had no intention of insulting Turkishness," Dink told The Associated Press. "My only concern is to improve Armenian and Turkish relations."

 

He seemed to have achieved that to a certain extent in his death: Turkey has no diplomatic ties with Armenia but still invited Armenian officials and religious leaders as well as moderate members of the diaspora to the funeral. Armenia sent Deputy Foreign Minister Arman Kirakosian. Hajak Barsamyan, head of the Armenian church in New York, was also to attend.

 

"You have left ... your loved ones, but you have not left your country," Dink's wife, Rakel, said in an emotional speech in front of Agos.

 

She asked her fellow countrymen to consider how the killers became murderers.

 

"Seventeen or 27, whoever he was, the murderer was once a baby," she said. "Unless we can question how this baby grew into a murderer, we cannot achieve anything."

 

Hayal served more than 10 months in prison for the 2004 bombing of a McDonald's restaurant in Trabzon that wounded six people.

 

At the time Hayal said he learned how to make bombs from Chechen militants in a camp in Azerbaijan and told police he attacked the restaurant "to punish the United States and its collaborators."

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insi...av012307b.shtml

 

 

THOUSANDS MOURN SLAIN TURKISH-ARMENIAN JOURNALIST

1/23/07

A EurasiaNet Partner Post from RFE/RL

 

 

 

Thousands of mourners have gathered in central Istanbul to pay their last respects to Hrant Dink, the Turkish journalist of Armenian origin who was shot dead last week.

 

"We are all Hrant Dink" and "We are all Armenians" -- those are some of the signs held up by the thousands of mourners gathered beneath the offices of Dink’s "Agos" newspaper in central Istanbul.

 

The crowd broke into spontaneous applause as the coffin carrying the journalist’s body arrived below the office, where Dink was shot three times as he left work on January 19.

 

Dink was well-known in Turkey for his outspoken views and had been convicted in 2005 for "insulting Turkishness" by saying the massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in the early 20th century amounted to genocide.

 

The black-clad mourners are proceeding on a silent, 8-kilometer march to the funeral service at Istanbul’s Armenian Orthodox Church.

 

Freedom Of Expression

 

Although top politicians and military officers have snubbed the funeral, Dink’s killing shocked Turkey and refocused attention there on the fragile state of freedom of expression. Turkey, already in an uphill bid to join the European Union, now faces even more pressure to show Brussels that its reforms remain on track.

 

"I think that this crowd means that Turkey was shot in its heart," one unidentified Turkish man told journalists today. "We are all Armenian today. That gunshot hit the whole of Turkey, not only an Armenian."

 

Turkey has no diplomatic ties with Armenia, but in death Dink appears to have helped break the ice -- at least, that is, for his funeral.

 

Armenian Representatives

 

Turkey invited Armenian officials and religious leaders as well as moderate members of the Armenian diaspora to the funeral. Armenia sent Deputy Foreign Minister Arman Kirakosian. Hajak Barsamyan, head of the Armenian Church in New York, is also expected to attend.

 

In Yerevan, meanwhile, RFE/RL’s Armenian Service reports that hundreds of people gathered today in the city’s main Azatutyun Square to remember Dink. Authorities in the Armenian capital organized the rally.

 

Police are questioning seven suspects, including 17-year-old Ogun Samast, who they say has confessed to shooting Dink. Reports suggest that while Samast was an extreme nationalist, he had no direct links to extremist groups.

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/wo...-home-headlines

 

 

 

In Turkish streets, thousands mourn Armenian journalist's death

 

 

 

By Laura King and Yesim Borg, Times Staff Writer

January 23, 2007

 

ISTANBUL, Turkey -- Tens of thousands of mourners joined a funeral procession today through the heart of Istanbul, paying tribute to an ethnic Armenian journalist whose murder triggered soul-searching over national identity, freedom of expression and the historical ghosts that shadow Turkey's present.

 

Followed by an enormous, largely silent throng, a black hearse slowly bore the flower-strewn coffin of editor Hrant Dink to an Armenian church, where he was eulogized as a voice of courage and conscience.

 

A teenage nationalist has confessed to gunning down the 52-year-old journalist outside his newspaper's office Jan. 19. The funeral shut down much of downtown Istanbul, whose narrow back alleys and wide boulevards are normally the scene of a raucous commercial free-for-all.

 

Onlookers, many dabbing their eyes, leaned from balconies and watched from doorways as the cortege passed by. Some applauded, in the traditional sign of respect for honored dead.

 

Dink, a Turkish citizen of Armenian extraction, was best known as an advocate of the rights of the country's Armenian minority — including a dogged campaign for official recognition by Turkey that the deaths of some 1.5 million Armenians in the final years of the Ottoman Empire constituted the first genocide of the 20th century.

 

Turkey officially blames the Armenian deaths on fighting, cold and hunger rather than any systematic campaign of extermination, a stance that is widely viewed internationally as an obstacle to its aspirations to join the European Union.

 

Scores of Turkish academics, journalists and novelists, including Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk, have been prosecuted under a legal provision known as Article 301, which contains a wide-ranging ban on "insulting Turkishness." Any public reference to the Armenian genocide, even in carefully couched language, can result in being hauled into court and perhaps jailed, as Dink was.

 

Hours before the daylong funeral rites began, mourners gathered outside the offices of Agos, Dink's newspaper, whose name refers to the nurturing of a seed. Many carried placards saying "We are all Armenians" and "We are all Hrant Dink."

 

Even among those who believe Turkey has been unfairly tarred with genocide allegations, the violent backlash by right-wing nationalists has prompted deep unease. Many were particularly disturbed by the young age of the reportedly self-confessed killer, a 17-year-old named Ogun Samast, and the fact that he had apparently come under the sway of nationalist militants.

 

In death, Dink achieved some measure of the Turkish-Armenian reconciliation he so passionately sought in life. In a highly unusual step, Turkey invited Armenia to send representatives to the funeral, even though the border between the two countries is sealed and they have no diplomatic ties.

 

In a sign of ambivalence, however, Turkey sent senior officials but not its top leaders to the funeral. The government was represented by Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin and Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu.

 

[DominO123]

The worst disrespect is the presence of Turkish government officials there. It is just disgusting. They have publicized Dink as an enemy of Turkey, prosecuted him, make people hate him, and now after his death, a death caused by their criminal negligence, they allegedly moorn him.

[Aratta-Kingdom]

MURDERER OF HRANT DINK WAS NOT ARMENIAN: HIS FAMILY REFUTES REPORT

BY TERCUMAN NEWSPAPER

 

Yerevan, January 22. ArmInfo. Patriarch of Istanbul and All Turkey

Mesrop Mutafyan has 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.

 

Lraper newspaper reports Mutafyan to say 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," says Mutafyan

and notes that this is an instance of national discrimination and a

violation of the Turkish Constitution.

 

To remind, Jan 21 Turkish police arrested 17-year-old Ogun Samast,

who confessed that it was he who killed Dink.

 

Turkish mass media reports that, following the Tercuman report,

the relatives of Samast spoke on TV and refuted the news that Samast

is Armenian.

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

PROSPERING ARMENIA PARTY: MURDER OF DINK WAS ATTEMPT TO PUT DOWN

NATIONAL MINORITY OF TURKEY

 

Yerevan, January 22. ArmInfo. The murder of Hrant Dink in Istanbul

was an attempt to put down and make silent representatives of the

national minorities of Turkey, says Prospering Armenia party.

 

Dink was one of the few people who living in Turkey dared to openly

fight for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide and thereby to

resist the policy of the circles openly denying the Genocide and

grossly infringing on human rights. Prospering Armenia hopes that

the murderer of Dink will be punished.

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

"DINK'S MURDER IS ADDRESSED AGAINST TURKISH INTELLECTUALS AS WELL WHO TOUCH

UPON ARMENIAN GENOCIDE ISSUE TO FINALLY SILENCE IT"

 

YEREVAN, JANUARY 22, NOYAN TAPAN - ARMENIANS TODAY. A number of political

parties of Armenia responded with statements the murder of Hrant Dink, the

editor-in-chief of the "Akos" Turkish language newspaper being published in

Turkey. The ARF, particularly, expressed a confidence that "this nasty crime

is a new threat addressed to rights and existence of Armenians of Turkey for

what the Turkish state and authorities bear complete responsibility." In the

party's estimation, Dink was killed for his political views: he in his own

manner imagined the civil rights of Armenians as well as of other minorities

in present Turkey, the Armenia-Turkey relations and the issue of the

Armenian Genocide recognition by Turkey, always taking into account and

defending interests of "the civilized" Turkey. But he was persecuted by the

Turkish state for those views. "Dink's murder once more proves the fact that

the dissidence is not tolerated in Turkey," is said in the ARF Bureau

statement. The "Orinats Yerkir" (Country of Law) party, particularly,

mentions that "Hrant Dink was faithful to his title of a journalist and

sincerity of his pen. He was incarnation of solidarity, tolerance and

minorities' national dignity in the Turkish society. At the same time

according to the estimation of the party, "the committed regour endangers

the right of free expression and may give birth to great anxieties among the

national minorities living in Turkey." The Social Democrat Hunchakian party

considers that "this shameful crime in which the Turkish society has its

part of responsibility, which, with the anti-Armenian, racial discrimination

carried out by it and policy limiting the freedom of expression, encourages

the nationalist elements of the country for the latters function freely and

without fear." According to the party's estimation, this crime is addressed

against all those Turkish intellectuals who touch upon the Armenian Genocide

issue to finally silence the latters. "We'll demand on this occassion from

international structures for they closely observe and are seriously engaged

in revealing all the folds of this political murder. We'll always demand

from the EU for the Armenian Genocide recognition becomes a precondition for

Turkey's membership to that structure," is said in the statement.

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

DINK'S MURDER BECOMES POLITICAL EARTHQUAKE FOR INNER AND FOREIGN POLICY OF

TURKEY, ARMENIAN INTELLECTUALS BELIEVE

 

YEREVAN, JANUARY 22, NOYAN TAPAN - ARMENIANS TODAY. Hrant Dink's

murder is logical continuation of Article 301 of the Turkish Criminal

Code which became a political earthquake for Turkey's inner and

foreign policy. Hayk Demoyan, the Director of the Armenian Genocide

Museum-Institute stated about it at the Armenian Intellectuals'

gathering taken place on January 20 at the "Hayeli" club, on the

occasion of the murder of Hrant Dink, a prominent intellectual

and politician of the Armenian origin from Istanbul. In his words,

Dink's tragic murder will have deep influence on both foreign and

inner policy of Turkey. "This murder first of all shook the Turkish

society the evidence of what are the publications in the Turkish

press, responses of TV companies and demonstrations of many thousands

organized just by the Turk society," Hayk Demoyan is sure. He assured

that Hrant Dink's murder will become a unique watershed to change the

Turkish society's position on the Armenian Genocide issue. "There

were few such people in all the times who did not make compromises

for their ideas and principles. Dink's death is a great loss for

the Armenian people's idea and pen," Azat Yeghiazarian, the Director

of the NAS Literature Institute is sure. In his words, in reality,

Dink's murder is not a deed of two fanatic young people, but is

a consequence of the policy carried out by the Turkish state for

dozens of years. "Yesterday Erdogan did not even hide in his speech

of condolence on the occasion of the murder his repulsive position

saying "the so called Armenian Genocide" speaking about the Armenian

Genocide," Azat Yeghiazarian mentioned. This is a classic example of

intolerance and denial which is characteristic only for the Turkish

policy. Mr.Yeghiazarian led parallels between the murders of Dink and

Gurgen Margarian, an officer of Armenian origin died in Budapest,

mentioning that it is an affirmed Turkish handwriting. "I am sure

that the Turkish society is ill but I'll suppose that it must be

treated." This was Hrant Dink's struggle guideline.

 

According to the estimation of Ashot Melkonian, the NAS History

Institute Director, Hrant Dink was one of those rare intellectuals who

never hated and was not been an enemy for the Turkish people. "He was

an optimist in that issue, but was mistaken. He was mistaken as the

present Turkish authorities and the Kemal policy carried out by them

brought to the yesterday murder, proved that they are their successors

in the Armenian Genocide issue," A.Melkonian believes. A.Melkonian

is sure that those responsible for the Turkish Government can

express condolence but it does not decrease their sin: this murder

is a terrorist act committed at the state level. The murder put a

full stop on the frame of mind that the Turkish society is getting

better. The Turkish soul and nature is not changeable ever. "Hrant

Dink was my friend. He was brave and of principle. He stayed many

times in front of the Turkish Court for his free expression and

brave ideas. His every day could become the last one. He functioned

and struggle just in this reality paying with his life for memory of

his people's innocent victims and Turkish people's healthy future,"

A.Melkonian emphasized. In words of Arsen Avagian, the Advisor of the

Foreign Ministry's Political Programmming Department, Hrant was one

of those unique intellectuals who believed in the Turkish people's

becoming better, and saw the solution of the Armenian Genocide

issue just with the help of that people. Hrant was sure that outer

pressures would not give anything but additional straining. "Dink

was exceptional both with his ideas and his life. Hrant Dink became

one of the most important pages of the Turkish history," A.Avagian

emphasized. Hrant Dink dreamed of founding in Yerevan a Center on

Turkish Studies and already sent enough literature for the library of

the future center. "I think that we are obliged to found that center

in Yerevan for his memory," he said.

 

Participants of the gathering were sure that Dink's murder will

have great influence on the foreign and inner policy of Turkey,

particularly in the sense of that state's entering the European Union

as well as in the sense of the world community's attitude towards the

Turkish state. They also mentioned that the murder can be a result

of Turkey's inner political mess, can be an application of violent

force towards the freedom of expression and display of intolerance

towards dissidence. But, in his words, in all the cases this murder

in the 21st century is the Turkish society' shame. Those present

spoke against those rumours that Dink's body must be moved to Armenia

and burried here. They found that Hrant was born in Turkey and is a

citizen of that country, so it will be right that his grave is placed

in the Istanbul Armenian graveyard, near Armenian great people.

[Aratta-Kingdom]

Hrant Dink (1954-1915)

 

 

 

 

By Khatchig Mouradian

 

The Armenian Weekly

January 20, 2007

 

The above date, 1915, is not a typographical mistake.

 

On Saturday, April 24, 1915, Ottoman-Turkish soldiers arrested

about 200 Armenian intellectuals~Wwriters, journalists and community

leaders~Win Istanbul, exiling them to the interior of the Ottoman

Empire where they would be killed. The plan was to behead the Armenian

community by annihilating its leadership and then to cleanse the

entire population. The day of the arrests marks the beginning of the

Armenian Genocide.

 

On Friday, Jan. 19, 2007, also in Istanbul, another prominent Armenian

intellectual, Hrant Dink, was assassinated in front of the editorial

offices of his Armenian weekly newspaper Agos.

 

Hrant Dink is a victim of the Armenian Genocide.

 

And the Armenian Genocide continues.

 

Not only because denial is the last phase of Genocide.

 

But because the killing continues.

 

It was NOT an individual who killed Hrant Dink. So while Turkish

authorities are looking for a killer out loose in the streets, the

real killer is the Turkish state, which continues to foster a culture

of violence, assassinations, killings, oppression, and denial. The

killer is the Turkish state, which indoctrinates its citizens from

an early age that the Armenian Genocide is a myth, an agenda, pushed

by the West to destroy Turkey.

 

"A bullet has been fired at democracy and freedom of expression,"

said Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Yes, the bullet

was Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code, under which Dink was

prosecuted twice.

 

The person who pulled the trigger was executing the will of the Turkish

state. Like his Prime Minister, government, army and the so-called

~SDeep-State,~T he wanted to make the world believe that there was no

Armenian Genocide. Like Talaat *****, he believed that the Armenian

question could be solved by killing those who made demands.

 

We shall remember you, Hrant, together with Varoujan, Siamanto,

Zohrab and all the victims of the Armenian Genocide.

 

[neko]

MOST OF THE PEOPLE WHO ATTENDED THE FUNERAL WERE ARMENIANS, KURDS, GREEKS, LEFTISTS AND THOSE WHO WERE EITHER CURIOUS OR WERE TOLD TO BE THERE. I SPENT THE WHOLE NIGHT WATCHING THE FUNERAL. THE TURKS WHO WERE THERE, CAME WITH GROUPS AND 'EACH GROP HAD A LEADER'. PEOPLE FROM SCHOOLS, FACTORIES AND OTHER GOVERNMENT OWNED INSITUTIONS HAD NOWERE ELSE TO GO BUT TO ATTEND THE FUNERAL.

 

I wonder if the above says more about you than about the reality of the funeral procession? Perhaps, conciously or unconciously, you would rather it had remained a small, "Armenian owned" event? And that is why you seem to want to diminish the importance and question the integrity of those attending this funeral demonstration. Do Kurds walk around with badges stating they are Kurds? Do "leftists" have particular clothing that only "leftists" wear? Those photos, with those tens of thousands of demonstators, are a startling indication that the importance of Dink's assasination derives from the fact that it is seen as a significant event for more than just Istanbul's small communuity of Armenians. If Dink's murder is to have any positive outcome to it, then that is as it should be.

 

 

[zurderer]

The worst disrespect is the presence of Turkish government officials there. It is just disgusting. They have publicized Dink as an enemy of Turkey, prosecuted him, make people hate him, and now after his death, a death caused by their criminal negligence, they allegedly moorn him.

 

well said. I think they are a little regretful. Or I hope. Anyway, It looks like with Dink, 301 also will die.

 

 

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

CONGRESSMAN CROWLEY TO INTRODUCE LEGISLATION CONDEMNING HRANT DINK'S MURDER

 

Urges Turkey to Abolish Provision in Penal Code

 

Washington, DC - Armenian Caucus Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-NY) will introduce a resolution in the House of Representatives this week condemning the assassination of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink on January 19, 2007 in Istanbul, Turkey.

 

The resolution calls on the House to strongly condemn and deplore the tragic murder of Hrant Dink and urge Turkey to continue its investigation and prosecution of those individuals responsible for his murder. Furthermore, the legislation urges Turkey to take appropriate action to protect freedom of speech in Turkey by repealing Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code, which criminalizes public discussion on the Armenian Genocide.

 

A similar resolution is expected to be introduced in the Senate later this week.

 

Dink, who worked hard to foster dialogue and understanding between Armenian and Turks, stood trial several times for his public comments on the genocide and was convicted in October 2006 for "insulting Turkishness" under this much-criticized law. He received a six-month suspended sentence and was set to appear in court again in March 2007 for affirming the Armenian Genocide.

 

"The Assembly thanks Congressman Crowley for introducing legislation condemning this heinous crime," said Executive Director Bryan Ardouny. "Hrant Dink was a courageous champion of human rights and tolerance and strong advocate for democratic change. His death should serve as a wake up call for Turkey to take a closer look at the internal changes within its society. The U.S. must also redouble its efforts and urge the Turkish government to more than pay lip service about reforming its laws."

 

"It is past time for Turkey to take serious steps to reform its laws before another individual loses his life for speaking the truth," Ardouny continued.

 

The Armenian Assembly of America is the largest Washington-based nationwide organization promoting public understanding and awareness of Armenian issues. It is a 501 © (3) tax-exempt membership organization.

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

I wonder if the above says more about you than about the reality of the funeral procession? Perhaps, conciously or unconciously, you would rather it had remained a small, "Armenian owned" event? And that is why you seem to want to diminish the importance and question the integrity of those attending this funeral demonstration. Do Kurds walk around with badges stating they are Kurds? Do "leftists" have particular clothing that only "leftists" wear? Those photos, with those tens of thousands of demonstators, are a startling indication that the importance of Dink's assasination derives from the fact that it is seen as a significant event for more than just Istanbul's small communuity of Armenians. If Dink's murder is to have any positive outcome to it, then that is as it should be.

 

 

60,000 armenians live in istanbul. the supporters of Dink up to this point were the kurds, greeks, assyrians, and the leftists. 'those photos' tell you nothing compared to what you seen on tv and what you read in the news papers. 'if the Dink's murder is to have any positive outcome' it would be the turks questioning the reality they live in.

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

Italian Prime Minister Condemned Dink Murder

 

23.01.2007 12:53

 

YEREVAN (YERKIR) - Italian Premier Romano Prodi met with his Turkish counterpart on Monday after earlier condemning the killing in Istanbul of ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, PanARMENIAN.Net. "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.