Assassination Of Hrant Dink

[Aratta-Kingdom]

U.S. Opportunities to Influence on Further Development of Events In Turkey Increases

 

 

 

 

Hrant Dink’s assassination according to a number of experts, can seriously influence on public atmosphere in Turkey, as well as strengthen the tension in the country before coming presidential elections in May of 2007. The specialist in Turkic philology Ruben Safrastyan, the head of Oriental Studies Institute of the RA NAS (National Academy of Sciences) comments on possible consequences of the murder.

23.01.2007

 

 

 

The murderer has been detained and will be prosecuted. But is everything clear in Hrant Dink’s assassination?

 

 

Yes, the murderer is detained and will be prosecuted. I’d like to underline several moments: according to the reports of Turkish Media, Ogun Samast is a member of radical organization “Universal Order”, which is a part of mass movement of Turkish ‘ideologists’ also known as ‘Grey Wolves’. They have separated from the mother group and pay more attention to Islam. The organization has already committed several terror acts in Trabzon: a murder of a catholic priest, a blast in “Macdonald’s”. It is a part of such organizations, which have ties with pan-Turkism parties of “Great Unity”, though its leader Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu, by all means keeps himself away from it. The peculiarity of pan-Turkism parties in Turkey is that they have branchy net of youth organizations in the whole country and the members after corresponding ideological and military trainings join the organization. Alongside, investigators, as far as I know, exclude any version of participation by any extremist group to this crime.

 

 

According to the reports of Turkish Media and opinions of Western experts obviously there is a very difficult political situation in Turkey now. What do you think are serious changes possible in Turkey?

 

 

Currently a strained situation has formed in Turkey: the relation between Islamists and “Kemalists has worsened. The first side represents the ruling “Justice and Development” party with a number of political and religion organizations, which cast doubt on such a secular model of state created by Kemal Atatürk. The other side consists of Kemalists, which is being supported by large political parties and higher and medium bureaucracy that defend secular state. Lately a linkage is being noticed between Kemalist circles and higher army commanders, which considers itself as a guaranty for secular state. On this background actively is being discussed army’s possibility to categorically interfere the political processes aiming at preventing the further erosion of secular state model. I think in the current situation US’s opportunities to have influence on events in Turkey increases, since they traditionally enjoy great authority in the army.

 

 

Once you mentioned about “Deep State”

 

 

Yes, the notion of “State within the state”, the leadership of which consists of a group of people who are members of political, military and business circles of the country. Names of those men are unknown, but they have big possibilities to make decisions and means to fulfill them. Those people joins the aim to keep the bases of the Kemalist republic untouched, the foundation of which besides the principle of separation between the state and religion, also makes state ideology of Turkish superpower nationalism. Turkish researchers do not exclude that the “Deep State” in a certain way manipulates the movement of ‘Grey Wolves’. “Deep State” phenomenon for Turkey is not new, the tradition comes still from periods of Young Turks. “The Ottoman Empire from 1908 till 1918 was actually ruled by the Central Committee of Young Turk’s party, and the names of the members of the party were kept in secret. The whole above mentioned leads us to a thought that Hrant Dink’s assassination we should view in the number of such crimes, which will have influence not only on the public atmosphere in Turkey, but also it will be used by different political movements for their own goals,” he underscored.

[MosJan]

sometimes it seems that no punishment is enough

[Stormig]

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.

I don't see why Turkish officials should be left out of something which officials from other countries, including but not limited to Armenia, which was not even ever party to any of the process that led to Dink's murder, also attended for whatever reason. Moreover, a distinction has to be made between the ass-lawyers who filed the lawsuits against him and the government. What would be done if it were Orhan Pamuk who was murdered instead? Again no state officials while representatives of the EU and what-not attend?

You can't expect sincerity from politicians or the government, but what is to be done if they demand to attend? It would be ironic, yes, but disgusting? Hardly. What the government is trying to do is appropriate the situation. They cannot steer the events that are yet to come, however.

[Stormig]

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.

So I guess there were no "good Turks" in there. Bummer.

[Stormig]

By the way, a note to all those drooling their rabid saliva all over the place - the "proclamations" made here by most, as well as the knee-jerk reactions/demonstrations of diaspora Armenians elsewhere in the world, remain contrary to what Hrant Dink strove for. Mutafyan also touched on this during the service. You only make his enemies proud and shame his wife's speech. Now THAT is disgusting - you don't know who you honour any more than do the crowds, the latter ignorant per your own allegations!

[zurderer]

tell it to your politicians who have brainwashed think for your people.

 

too much different from world.

 

why your country became a big ghetto? it's simple. people don't think. what is more shameful then to let the other do the thinking for you? i once told you the words of Hrant Dink 'the government of turkey fears not from external pressure, but the awakening of it's people'. minority or not, it's not healty when you don't think

 

add the corruption, three coup, bad leadership, international political difficulties, PKK, cyprus problems, lazy people, not enough capital, not enoughle educated work force, ......

 

Than It would be more sensible. Americans dont think much too. I am not aware of poorness of them.

i'm sure they do. but they haven't been using it up to this point.

 

Infact you missunderstood me. I am trying to say that Turks dont think like armenians. Both let others thing and repeat what they say. should I remind you, a death turk is a good turk?

you are stupid. so does the imam of kars, right? is it your state policy to take properties from the armenians and give it to ignorant imams? isn't that an act of genocide?

 

Err, I think you missunderstood some thing. If you enter a mosque, Imam can interfere. After all he is responsible from this mosque. In Turkey religion is strictly controlled by state.

 

W W U.S. and Israel have been supporting you for dacades and this is the respond they get? you have massacred millions of armenians, greeks and kurds.

 

Hey, life still goes. USA and Israel did not support us free.

 

By the way, we killed millons of armenians, greeks, kurds, asyrians, arabs,zazas,lazs, georgians, bulgarians, serbs, russian, brits, germans, hungarians.

 

did I forget any thing? By the way, this has no relation with topic. Spare it for other topics. why dont you open a topic about turkish brutality? Oh, you have millions about it.

 

did you ask if they respect you?

 

did you?

so you are saying after the istambul porgoms almost no greek or assyrian are left in the city?

 

God.. How do you know this? I am trying to hide this reality.

 

it makes no difference if you left the kurds and the leftists out. your word has not weight.

 

No, after all. It is you who is living at Turkey.

[Yervant1]

This is a good commentary to read, simple and to the point.

 

Die Welt: 01/22/2006

 

Killing of Hrant Dink

 

Commentary: Culprit Turkey

(Translation from German)

 

By Boris Kalnoky

 

The deadly bullets shot to Turkish-Armenian reporter Hrant Dink were shot

"against Turkey", said prime minister Erdogan. This catchword was repeated

everywhere in Turkish society, from the chief of general staff Buyukanit to

all the way trough the media. It means that the killer or killers weren't in

fact Turks, but traitors who wanted to harm the Country. The Turkey itself

is the victim.

 

In reality it is the other way around. It was the Turkish society who made

Dink a victim; it was the Turkish society that shot the bullets. The media

had reported about numerous lawsuits against Dink. Hence he was labeled a

traitor. Because he was saying things nobody dares to talk about in Turkey.

That the founder of the state Ataturk had adopted an Armenian orphan girl

(Dink was himself an orphan), and that there has been genocide perpetrated

against Armenians. Dink was one of a few remaining Armenians in Turkey and

almost the only one who openly spoke loudly. This last remaining voice is

now silenced.

 

Also responsible are the laws from the arsenal of the police states. The

"Insult to Turkishness", an offence sufficient for high-treason accusations,

that nobody even understands what it means except Turkish state lawyers and

military. The EU insisted to repeal the according penal paragraph 301, an

instrument for slander on intellectuals. The government promised "revisions".

That is not true any more - the murderous paragraph stays as it is, because

the military wants so.

 

In the internet forums the man was already long dead before he died. At the

office of the Istanbul vice governor Dundur he was threatened. Police didn't

protect him, although he was in danger. Maybe he didn't ask for personal

security, but it had to be clear to everybody, that it would be catastrophic

for Turkey and its reputation abroad, should anything happen to him. Whoever

in Turkey's security service didn't see this is incompetent.

 

Now everyone who drove him into the corner before wants to be called "Hrant

Dink": politicians, bureaucrats, opinion makers. None of them will ever go

through what it means to be hunted by Turkish society. Therefore nothing

will change.

 

 

[Stormig]

This is a good commentary to read, simple and to the point.

It is a BS commentary, given it first and foremost gives Turkey's ability to speedily react according to the demands of the situation too much credit. Moreover, he is no "last remaining voice"... He was one of many growing bolder. Maybe the one Armenian voice, yes, but Elif Safak and Orhan Pamuk come in at least as loudly. Additionally, Dink had more support, albeit still a handful, than the commentary cares to admit. The commentary makes it sound as though everyone who speaks in his favour nowadays used to be his opponent. That simply is not true.

And, last but not least - and of course this is my latest guide - I wholeheartedly believe that Dink wouldn't have approved, if I can claim to know him through his writings.

[karakash]

Number of Turks present - 30

 

Number of Armenians present - 1,000-1,200 estimation (at a minimum)

[zurderer]

There is ethem mahcupyan too. Infact, last two article, He wrote is more hard than Dinks write.

 

[Yervant1]

It is a BS commentary, given it first and foremost gives Turkey's ability to speedily react according to the demands of the situation too much credit. Moreover, he is no "last remaining voice"... He was one of many growing bolder. Maybe the one Armenian voice, yes, but Elif Safak and Orhan Pamuk come in at least as loudly. Additionally, Dink had more support, albeit still a handful, than the commentary cares to admit. The commentary makes it sound as though everyone who speaks in his favour nowadays used to be his opponent. That simply is not true.

And, last but not least - and of course this is my latest guide - I wholeheartedly believe that Dink wouldn't have approved, if I can claim to know him through his writings.

To be honest I didn't see this article the way you explained it, but then again we're two different people and it's OK to have two differing opinions or three.

[MosJan]

Turkish Daily News titled article in Armenian

24.01.2007 17:58 GMT+04:00 Print version Send to mail In Russian In Armenian

 

 

 

http://www.panarmenian.net/news/photos/20802.jpg

 

 

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On January 24, Turkish Daily News, one of the most influential newspapers in Turkey, issued an article titled in the Armenian language “Goodbye Hrant, we are all Armenians” (Mınasparov Hrant Polorıs Hay Yenk). The article was dedicated to the funeral of Hrant Dink. “Tens of thousands of mourners gathered for a last farewell to murdered journalist Hrant Dink in Osmanbey, one of the central districts of Istanbul where he was shot in front of his newspaper's office building, Agos,” the newspaper says.

 

“The organizers of the funeral deliberately banned political slogans from the rally, as Dink, who had been subjected to various death threats already, had expressly wished. Only leaflets bearing the slogan “We are all Hrant Dinks”, “Repeal Article 301”were circulated. Although large, the funeral remained a strangely intimate affair. Members of the Armenian community of Osmanbey, Bomonte and Sisli poured in from the side streets along with famous intellectuals, actors and media personalities. The speeches took place punctually and the melancholy sound of the Duduk, the Armenian musical instrument, preceded the oration given by Dink's widow Rakel. “He left his wife, his daughters, his grandchildren and those who loved him, but he did not leave his country,” she said about her husband. After a two-minute silence, a poet read a militant poem by Aydin Engin.

 

[MosJan]

Suspects of Dink murder threaten Orhan Pamuk

24.01.2007 14:51 GMT+04:00 Print version Send to mail In Russian In Armenian

 

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ One of the suspects in the murder of Hrant Dink, the editor of Agos Turkish-Armenian newspaper, issued a threat against Nobel Prize-winning novelist Orhan Pamuk on Wednesday. "Orhan Pamuk, be smart, be smart!" Yasin Hayal shouted to reporters as he was being brought to an Istanbul courtroom. Hayal, a nationalist militant, confessed to inciting the slaying of Dink and to providing a gun and money to the alleged killer, 17-year-old Ogun Samast, who pleaded guilty to the crime, police said.

 

Like Dink, Orhan Pamuk had faced trial for "insulting Turkishness". However, case was thrown out on a technicality. Like Dink, he also said he had received death threats and had considered leaving the country because of them, reports the Anatolia news agency.

 

[MosJan]

Dink killed by same bloody hand that claimed lives of millions of his ancestors

24.01.2007 17:39 GMT+04:00 Print version Send to mail In Russian In Armenian

 

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Swedish officials, the Armenian community as well as representatives of Turkish intelligentsia and the Turkish Central Federation of Sweden condemned the assassination of editor of Agos Armenian-Turkish newspaper Hrant Dink. As chairman of the Association of Armenians of Europe Karo Hakobian told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter, Sweden joins the international community in condemning Dink’s killing. Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, members of political parties and NGOs also condemned the outrageous crime. A protest action initiated by the Turkish Central Federation of Sweden (TCFS) – the biggest organization of national minorities – was held in Stockholm on Tuesday with participation of the Armenian, Kurdish and Assyrian communities as well as members of Swedish state and public organizations. When addressing the attendees, head of the TCFS resumed his speech with the slogan “We are all Hrant Dinks, we are all Armenians.” The action participants with a minute of silence commemorated Hrant Dink, who was killed by the same bloody hand that claimed lives of millions of his ancestors. Representatives of Turkish and Kurdish organizations laid a black wreath to the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm.

 

The Coordination Center of Armenian Unions will organize a mass rally with participation of national minorities, political and public figures in Stockholm January 27.

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

So I guess there were no "good Turks" in there. Bummer.

 

 

not if you intentionally leave the leftists out. bummer.

[Aratta-Kingdom]

Murdered journalist Hrant Dink feared for safety: Brother

 

E Canada Now, Canada

Jan 22 2007

 

In an interview, Orhan Dink, the younger brother of the

Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink who was shot dead in Istanbul

on Friday, told journalists that his brother was worried for his

life after learning that Veli Kucuk, a retired major general of the

Turkish army, was watching his trial.

 

Hrant Dink was a prominent Armenian voice in Turkey, and his use

of the word "genocide" to describe the forced mass evacuation and

related deaths of hundreds of thousands to over a million Armenians

during the government of the Young Turks from 1915 to 1917 in the

Ottoman Empire was controvertial in Turkey, where the state denies

the event constitutes a genocide.

 

In 2005, Dink was tried and convicted of "insulting Turkishness"

over an article he had written.

 

Orhan Dink told reporters that his brother told him he became worried

when Veli Kucuk, a prominent member of Turkey's controversial Jandarma

Ýstihbarat ve Terorle Mucadele (Gendarme Intelligence and Counter

Terrorism organization), the JITEM, came to the trial and that the

affair was "turning into a dangerous one".

 

Hrand Dink said, 'I am being pointed at as the target', Orhan Dink

told reporters.

 

Orhan Dink said that Kucuk never threatened his brother directly.

 

"After Kucuk came, we suspected that the bullet might have followed,

and it did. ... We were speaking within the family... What can we do?

Should we leave [the country] or should we stay? Sometimes we would

decide to leave. But then we would say that this nation is ours.",

Orhan Dink said. He added, "I wish they killed us all. We are no longer

doves, we are now falcons. We love the people of Turkey. We will

not let a bunch of people to take over. And we are not considering

to leave any more. We gave our sacrifice. In order to stay, we can

give more. We consider leaving as a treason against our brother."

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

Murder of Journalist in Turkey Threatens Democracy

 

Toronto Daily News, Canada

Jan 22 2007

 

Armenian Genocide expert Peter Balakian says that the assassination

of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in Istanbul was more than

a senseless murder.

 

The assassination of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in

Istanbul was more than a senseless murder, according to Colgate

University professor and Armenian Genocide expert Peter Balakian -

it was yet another example of how far Turkey is from being a democracy.

 

Balakian, author of New York Times bestseller and Raphael Lemkin

Prize winner The Burning Tigris; the Armenian Genocide and America's

Response, is available to comment on Dink's death.

 

"As editor of Agos, a weekly Armenian newspaper, Dink held a uniquely

important place in Turkish society, so his slaying was particularly

significant," said Balakian. "If Turkey wishes to go forward as a

democracy, it must find a way to embrace Dink's legacy."

 

Eighteen journalists have been killed in Turkey in the last six years,

and 77 are on trial now, he said, but violence toward intellectuals

begins, in the modern period, for Turkey with genocide of the Armenians

in 1915.

 

"Turkey has a long history of punishing its writers, thinkers,

artists, and ethnic minorities," he explained. "On April 24, 1915,

at the beginning of the Armenian Genocide which claimed more than a

million lives, the Ottoman government rounded up more than 250 Armenian

leaders in Constantinople (Istanbul) and transported them out of the

city. Most of them were killed, making it easier for the government

at that time to carry out its planned extermination and exile of the

rest of the Armenian population. Dink now joins those martyrs."

 

Political violence of this nature increased when Turkey began its

accession to the European Union in recent years, said Balakian,

and it is definitely not random. "The ruling party's attempts to

meet the EU's conditions - among them, more freedom of expression,

equal treatment of minorities, and an end to official government

denial of the Armenian Genocide - amplified the resistance of extreme

nationalists and the military to such reforms," he said.

 

Because of Dink's standing, Balakian believes the slaying will

reverberate beyond Turkey. "His death is emblematic of the struggle

for freedom of thought and expression people face under violent and

repressive societies and governments all over the world."

 

Of Dink himself, Balakian commented: "Despite Turkey's penal code -

which mandates prison sentences for a long list of offenses that

constitute the crime of 'insulting Turkishness' - Dink persisted in

publishing articles and speaking openly about subjects that are taboo

in Turkey, most notably the Armenian Genocide of 1915 committed by

the government of the Ottoman Empire. For doing so he was put on trial

last year, and threats against his life had increased dramatically in

the last few weeks. Yet no amount of brutality and danger diminished

his courage; he continued to work toward his goal, which was to help

achieve a peaceful reconciliation between ethnically Armenian and

Turkish society."

 

[zurderer]

Armenian Genocide expert Peter Balakian

 

what a weird title.

[Aratta-Kingdom]

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/F70...FBF3776310D.htm

 

 

AlJazeera.net

January 23, 2007

 

 

Thousands attend Dink funeral

 

Tens of thousands of mourners filed through Istanbul behind the coffin of Hrant Dink, the Turkish Armenian editor killed last Friday, as his body was transported to an Armenian church.

 

Mourners waiting at the church broke into applause as the hearse carrying his coffin arrived.

 

 

 

 

Despite a request from his family not to turn the funeral into a protest, some mourners shouted: "Shoulder to shoulder against fascism" and "Murderer 301" - referring to the the Turkish law that had been used to prosecute Dink and others on charges of "insulting Turkishness".

 

 

Earlier in the day mourners gathered outside the Agos newspaper office, where Dink was shot, holding identical black-and-white signs reading "We are all Hrant Dink" and "We are all Armenians".

 

Rakel, Dink's widow, told mourners: "We are seeing off our brother with a silent walk, without slogans and without asking how a baby became a murderer."

 

White doves were released into the air and much of downtown Istanbul was closed to traffic.

 

The funeral took place amid tight security as those following the hearse walked the 8km distance from the Agos headquarters to the church where Dink was to be burried.

 

Turkish media has criticised top politicians and armed forces chiefs for not attending the funeral.

 

Cengiz Candar, a columnist in a Turkish newspaper, wrote: "If the president, the prime minister and chief of the general staff came to the funeral, I would be hopeful the state has given up on a lynching culture and started to [practice] self-criticism."

 

 

Dink's murder has stirred debate about nationalism in Turkey and has been viewed with concern abroad, especially by the Armenian diaspora.

 

Police say Ogun Samast, a seventeen-year-old, has confessed to killing Dink for "insulting" Turks and that Yasin Hayal, a friend of Samast, has admitted that he incited Samast to kill Dink.

 

Samast is one of seven people allegedly in custody in connection with Dink's murder.

 

Aykut Cengiz Engin, Istanbul's chief prosecutor, has said that investigators have found no link between Friday's murder and "known ideological or separatist" illegal organisations, but added: "... we are investigating in detail the possibility that it was carried out by an organisation".

 

Article 301

 

Dink had been prosecuted for his views on the massacres of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in 1915, which he called genocide.

 

He was given a suspended six-month jail sentence, under "Article 301", last year for "insulting Turkishness".

 

Other writers and intellectuals in Turkey who have expressed the view that Turkey should "face up" to its role in the massacres of Armenians have come under similar criticism from nationalists.

 

Mehmet Ali Birand, a Turkish commentator, said: "We are all responsible [for Dink's murder]. We especially belittle our minorities. We do not consider our citizens of diverse ethnic groups as one of our own. We hate different points of view."

 

In recent years Turkey has undergone a number of reforms aimed at preparing the country for EU membership.

 

A more liberal attitude to national minorities is one of the demands made on Turkey by the EU.

 

Turkey denies claims that 1.5 million Armenians died in a genocide at Ottoman Turkish hands, instead saying simply that large numbers of both Christian Armenians and Muslim Turks perished.

 

But many foreign parliaments have passed laws recognising the massacres as genocide.

[Aratta-Kingdom]

what a weird title.

 

what a cheap comment

 

[zurderer]

what a cheap comment

 

ok. let me change it a little.

 

what a weird comment. do this guy gain his life from armenian genocide? (how can this guy become neutral?)

 

what about calling him, as armenian history expert ? or ottoman history expert? You should at least hide his subjectiveness.

 

 

[Hellektor]

che barekam du es sxalvum qanzi yes drants azg chem anvanum - dranq der tsegh en tribe

Ախպէր ինչու՞ ես այսպէս մտածում: Ես դրանց ցեղ հօ ոչինչ, ցեխ էլ չեմ համարում:

 

Ասացի որ գազան են, կեղտ են. չասացի՞:

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200701/s1832806.htm

 

 

Sydney Armenians protest journalist's murder

 

 

ABC NewsOnline

January 24, 2007

 

Sydney's Armenian community has held a noisy rally outside the Turkish consulate to protest against the recent murder of prominent journalist Hrant Dink in Istanbul.

 

Hundreds of people waving Armenian flags called on the Turkish Government to punish the man who shot Mr Dink outside his newspaper's office on Friday.

 

Mr Dink was an outspoken critic of the Turkish Government's refusal to recognise the Armenian genocide at the end of World War I.

 

Dr Tro Kortian from the Armenian National Committee of Australia says the protesters were also calling for the Turkish Government to acknowledge the issue.

 

"It is a two-sided, double-edged protest," he said.

 

"One to express our horror, one to express our solidarity but also to express our indignation at the policy of denial which the Turkish Government has persistently pursued."

 

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

ok. let me change it a little.

 

can't make up your mind, you filthy son of a turk.

 

 

what a weird comment. do this guy gain his life from armenian genocide? (how can this guy become neutral?)

 

 

he was a grand child of an armenian genocide survival. unlike justin mccarty who is paid by the turkish governemnt to spread lies, balakian is raphael lemkin prize winner.

 

 

what about calling him, as armenian history expert ? or ottoman history expert? You should at least hide his subjectiveness.

 

 

what does a genetic garbage like you know about subjectiveness?

 

 

[zurderer]

ArmoArmen, I think you are a turk. Infact I am half sure about this.