Assassination Of Hrant Dink

[Error 404]

I am sure the chechen and azeri instructors have asked him a question "why does he need the training?" and of course they've got the answer...

[Hellektor]

... Has anyone noticed that "turk" is a four letter word and that it rhymes with that other four letter word?

I think many have. Whenever I bring it up though, some "PC" users/mods call me a racist.

 

Our aim is that there be no Turkey, "democratic" or "f**kotratic".

That's what every human being's aim should be if they want to pamper that wanton child still in diapers, cutely named "civilization", however imperfect, immature and less than fair it still seems to be.

 

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

International Herald Tribune

A Turkish funeral invitation to Armenians

January 22, 2007

 

ISTANBUL: Armenian spiritual and political figures from around the world on Monday accepted an extraordinary invitation from Turkey to attend the funeral of the founder of an Armenian- Turkish newspaper, Hrant Dink, who was killed outside his office Friday, officials said Monday.

 

The slaying has prompted an outburst of public demonstrations and has begun to suggest a warming of ties after a near century of animosity between Turks and Armenians.

 

 

does this mean the turks are trying to send a message to the american lawmakers by saying passing the armenian-genocide bill in the u.s. congress will harm 'the turk-armenian relations*' ?

 

[Zartonk]

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!!!”

 

All true. I actually own a DK books visual time line of the 20th century -in which events are shown using articles from the given month and year- where the reports covering the attempt called him Armenian, without any hesitation. I don't know how the world works, but that's a dishonorable cheap shot if I've ever seen one. Typical Turk move.

 

 

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

 

The Son of a B****. I know there is enough destructive hate in this thread, but the Chechens...

 

Damn. God Damn.

 

That's all I have to say to that.

[gamavor]

Yes indeed! I'm more and more convinced that the murder was preplaned in order to derail the Genocide recognition in USA. Acctually the turks have taken number of actions to show their "good will" face. The renovation of Akhtamar Church being one of them and the kind "invitation" to Armenian patriarch to go there on April 24, the day of Rememberance of Genocide victims.

 

It seems to me that European bastards are behind all these sudden Turkish acts of "friendship". The genocide issue is a hot potato for Europeans themselves because it shows their true colors.

[Zartonk]

But as a beautiful Persian proverb goes (damn, the whole thing is lost in translation taz.gif) They have read blindly

 

It ended up sounding positive.

Edited January 22, 2007 by Zartonk

[Aratta-Kingdom]

the turkish press compares Dink with bloody Tallat by calling armenians anti-turkish -and the turks peace loving people.

 

 

http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=160084

Edited January 22, 2007 by ArmoArmeN

[Aratta-Kingdom]

the turkish press compares Dink with bloody Tallat by calling armenians anti-turkish -and the turks peace loving people.

http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=160084

 

http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=160084

 

 

for some reason the link to turkish press doesn't work. follow the next link and it's the first article in the page

 

http://search.wn.com/?version=1&langua...search_type=any

 

[irlandahay]

http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=160084

for some reason the link to turkish press doesn't work. follow the next link and it's the first article in the page

 

http://search.wn.com/?version=1&langua...search_type=any

 

UGH

 

god help tha prick who wrote that if i ever catch sight of him!

 

jesus christ. he basically called all our heores murderers. ignoring the fact that the "innocent turks" killed by the "armenian terrorists" were butchers.

 

ugh, im furious!

[gamavor]

I read it. Pretty sad. Comparing the Turkish Hitler i.e. Talaat ***** to Hrant Dink who just used his pen to tell the truth... It is quite a challenging equation to ponder. I wonder what kind of sick mind can use such a comparison???

[Error 404]

I read it. Pretty sad. Comparing the Turkish Hitler i.e. Talaat ***** to Hrant Dink who just used his pen to tell the truth... It is quite a challenging equation to ponder. I wonder what kind of sick mind can use such a comparison???

 

It is probably zurderer

[Aratta-Kingdom]

"It is no use for you to argue." Talaat answered, "we have already disposed of three quarters of the Armenians; there are none at all left in Bitlis, Van, and Erzeroum. The hatred between the Turks and the Armenians is now so intense that we have got to finish with them. If we don't, they will plan their revenge."

 

The Murder of A Nation(66-67) by Henry Morgenthau U.S. Ambassador to Turkey

 

 

 

 

The New York Times

 

 

Official Turkish documents produced in Berlin at the trial of the young Armenian, Teilirian, proved beyond question that Talaat ***** and other officials had ordered the wholesale extermination of the Armenians, including even little orphans children -- Facsimiles of the order

 

AN Armenian named Teilirian was tried at Berlin of June 2-3 for the murder of Talaat *****, who was chief of the Young Turk Party, and who was, during the latter part of the war, Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire. The murder of Talaat of March 15, 1921, drew general attention to the fact that the German Government was allowing Talaat to use Berlin as a center of Turkish Nationalist intrigue. It was expected that the known sympathy of the German Government for the Young Turks would result in the prompt conviction and execution of the Armenian. To the surprise of the world, he was acquitted.

 

Teilirian and the Armenian Nation, it appeared, had found a champion in the person of Professor Lepsius, who was not only bold in bringing out unpleasant truths irrefutable. The trial of the Armenian developed into the trial of the murdered Talaat ***** as the greatest of the war criminals. It developed into a case against the German military authorities, who had at least allowed the massacres to continue without protect. Even General Liman von Sanders, who had had charge of the German military forces in Turkey, was called as a witness. His testimony opened the eyes of the German people, as nothing else had yet done, to the fact of the terrible massacres and to the callousness of the German military authorities to the horrors that were going on under their eyes. Professor Lepsius produced German official reports to show that the total number of Armenians who perished as a result of the so-called deportations was over a million.

 

Although the technical defense of Teilirian was temporary insanity brought on by a vision of his murdered mother, the real defense was the terrible record of Talaat *****; so that in the eyes of Germany the acquittal of the Armenia of the charge of murder became the condemnation to death of the Turk. That such a trial and such a result occurred in Germany with Germans as jurors is particularly significant.

 

With respect to the present situation in the Near East, the most important phase of this dramatic trial was the ability of Professor Lepsius to produce Turkish official documents which proved the heads of the Turkish Government at Constantinople -- and particularly Talaat himself -- to be directly responsible for converting the deportation into shambles. Heretofore there have been defenders of the Ottomans who held that the massacres were not a plan of the Government, but were due to the brutality of those who carried out the deportation instructions. At the trial of Teilirian there were placed in evidence facsimiles and translations of signed orders from Talaat -- letters and cipher telegrams which proved that the instructions to massacre originated in Constantinople. As Aleppo was the headquarters of the "Deportations Committee," the capture of Aleppo by the British made possible the securing of these official documents from the archives. This evidence directly linking the murdered Talaat with the inhuman deeds that were covered by the general term "deportation" was irrefutable and overwhelming. The documents established once and for all the fact that the purpose of the Turkish authorities was not deportation by annihilation.

 

The object of the present article is to present translations -- with facsimiles -- of some of the Turkish official documents that created such a sensation when read into the evidence during the trial at Berlin. The first document, although not singed by Talaat, is from the committee of Young Turks of which he was the head, and, inasmuch as its contents are referred to in dispatches signed by him, was valid as evidence. It was written in the Spring of 1915, before the massacres had begun, and shows the extermination of the Armenians to have been the determined policy of the Government. Jemal, to whom the document is addressed, was the third in the triumvirate of Young Turks -- Tallat, Enver and Jemal. At that time he was Governor of Adana and soon afterward became Governor of Aleppo:

 

March 25 1915. To Jemal Bey, Delegate at Adana:

 

It is the duty of all of us to effect on the broadest lines the realization of the noble project of wiping out of existence the well-known elements who have for centuries been constituting a barrier to the empire's progress in civilization. For this reason we must take upon ourselves the whole responsibility, saying, "come what may," and appreciating how great is the sacrifice which has enabled the Government to enter the World War, we must work so that the means adopted may lead to the desired end.

 

As announced in our dispatch dates Feb. 18, the Jemiet [Young Turk Committee] has decided to uproot and annihilate the various forces which have for centuries been an obstacle in its way, and to this end it is obliged to resort to very bloody methods. Be assured that we ourselves were horrified at the contemplation of these methods, but the Jemiet sees no other way of insuring the stability of its work.

 

Ali Riza [the committee delegate at Aleppo] criticized us and called upon us to be merciful; such simplicity is nothing short of stupidity. For those who will not co-operate with us we will find a place that will wring their delicate heartstrings.

 

I again recall to your memory the question of the property left. It is very important. Do not let its distribution escape your vigilance; always examine the accounts and the use made of the proceeds.

 

Reference to this document is contained in the following order, signed by Talaat and sent to the same Jamal. This order shows that women and children were to be included in the holocaust:

 

Sept. 3, 1915 To the Prefecture of Aleppo:

 

We recommend that you submit the women and children also to the orders which have been previously prescribed as to be allied to the males of the intended persons, and to designate for these functions employs of confidence.

 

The Minister of the Interior,

TALAAT.

Apparently the instructions regarding the women and children called for some reiteration, for on Sept. 16 the following cipher telegram, which showed the instructions as going back to the decision of the Jeimet, or Young Turk Committee, was sent: [TRANSLATION] Sept. 16 To the Prefecture of Aleppo:

 

It has been previously communicated to you that the Government, by order of the Jehmed [the Young Turk Committee] has decided to destroy completely all the indicated persons living in Turkey. Those who oppose this order and decision cannot remain on the official staff of the empire. An end must be put to their existence, however tragic the measures taken may be, and no regard must be paid to either age or sex, or to conscientious scruples.

 

The Minister of the Interior,

TALAAT.

Mr. Morgenthau, the American Ambassador at Constantinople, began to exert himself in behalf of the Armenians, and the result was an official order suggesting caution: Nov. 18, 1915. To the Prefecture of Aleppo:

 

From interventions which have recently been made by the American Ambassador at Constantinople on behalf of his Government, it appears that the American Consul are obtaining information by secret means. In spite of our assurance that the [Armenian] deportations will be accomplished in safety and comfort, they remain unconvinced. Be careful that events attracting attention shall not take place in connection with those [Armenians] who are near the cities and other canters. From the point of view of the present policy. It is most important that foreigners who are in those parts shall be persuaded that the expulsion of the Armenians is in truth only deportation. For this reason it is important that, to save appearances, a show of gentle dealing shall be made for a time, and the usual measures be taken in suitable places. It is recommended as very important that the people who have given such information shall be arrested and handed over to the military authorities for trial by court-martial.

 

The Minister of the Interior,

TALAAT.

Reference to the effort of the American Consul at Aleppo, Mr. Jackson, to send information to Mr. Morgenthau is contained in the following cipher dispatch: Dec. 11, 1915. To the Prefecture of Aleppo:

 

We learn that some correspondents of Armenian journals are obtaining photographs and letters which represent tragic events, and are giving them to the American Consul at Aleppo. Have dangerous persons of this kind arrested and suppressed.

 

The Minister of the Interior,

TALAAT.

The need for caution is further indicated in the following telegram: Dec. 29, 1915. To the Prefecture of Aleppo:

 

We learn that foreign officers are encountering along the roads the corpses of the intended persons and are photographing them. I recommend you the importance of having these corpses buried at once and of not allowing them to be left near the roads.

 

The Minister of the Interior,

TALAAT.

The heartlessness of the Turks in regard to the doomed children made a deep impression on the Berlin jury. The following are some of the documents presented on this point: Nov. 5, 1915 To the Government of Aleppo:

 

We are informed that the little ones belonging to the indicated persons [Armenians] from Sivas Mamuret-ul-Aziz, Diarbekir and Erzeroum are adopted by certain Moslem families and received as servants when they are left alone through the death of their parents. We inform you that you are to collect all such children in your province and send them to the places of deportation, and also to give the necessary orders regarding this to the people.

 

The Minister of the Interior,

TALAAT.

 

Jan. 15, 1916. To the Government of Aleppo:

 

We hear that certain orphanages which have been opened received also the children of the Armenians. Whether this is done through ignorance of our real purpose, or through contempt of it, the Government will regard the feeding of such children or any attempt to prolong their lives as an act entirely opposed to its purpose, since it considers the survival of these children as detrimental. I recommend that such children shall not be received into the orphanages, and no attempts are to be made to establish special orphanages for them.

 

The Minister of the Interior,

TALAAT.

 

The production of the following cipher telegram (No. 830) was particularly telling in its effect on the jury:

 

From the Ministry of the Interior to the Government of Aleppo:

 

Collect and keep only those orphans who cannot remember the terrors to which their parents have been subjected. Send the rest away with the caravans.

 

The Minister of the Interior,

TALAAT.

That the Moslem population was not to be held accountable for its share in the massacres was ordered in a telegram dated Oct. 8, 1915:

 

The reason why the Sanjak of Zor Was chosen as a place of deportation is explained in a secret order dated Sept. 2, 1915, No. 1,843. As all the crimes to be committed by the population along the way against the Armenians will serve to effect the ultimate purpose of the Government, there is no need for legal proceedings with regard to these. The necessary instructions have also been sent to the Governments of Zor and Ourfa.

 

The Minister of the Interior,

TALAAT.

All the evidence tends to show, with cumulative effect, that it was the pity awakened in the hearts of some of the local Turkish officials by the miseries of the Armenians which produced a certain mitigation of the heartless orders that emanated from Constantinople. A small remnant of the race survived. Talaat and his group in the Government were obliged continually to spur some of their tools on to greater severity.

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

 

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/01/22/news/turkey.php

 

International Herald Tribune

 

A Turkish funeral invitation to Armenians

 

 

 

January 22, 2007

 

ISTANBUL: Armenian spiritual and political figures from around the world on Monday accepted an extraordinary invitation from Turkey to attend the funeral of the founder of an Armenian- Turkish newspaper, Hrant Dink, who was killed outside his office Friday, officials said Monday.

 

The slaying has prompted an outburst of public demonstrations and has begun to suggest a warming of ties after a near century of animosity between Turks and Armenians.

 

 

 

Assassination of Hrant Dink is a tool created by the turks to kill the Armenian-Genocide bill which is to be presented to the U.S. House of Representatives this week. By inviting Armenian political and spiritual leaders to attend the funeral, the turks want to creat an image that a dialoge between the turks and the armenians has started and an attempt to pass a gencide bill will kill the dialogue.

 

By silencing Hrant Dink and attempting to kill the Armenian-genocide bill in the House of Representatives, the government of Turkey tries to kill several birds with one bullet.

 

Hrant Dink is just an innocent soul who has become a victim of political games.

Edited January 23, 2007 by ArmoArmeN

[Dave]

I just found an Armenian TV show about Hrant Dink and starts with a conference that Dink gave in a diaspora place.

 

http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=194...19962188&q=

[Aratta-Kingdom]

Am I the only one or there is truly a link between these news reports?

 

 

 

 

" Hrant Dink Latest Casualty in Troubled Historical Record of Turkish-Armenian Relations

 

19.01.2007 19:33 GMT+04:00

/PanArmenian.Net/ "

 

 

" DALAI LAMA ON GENOCIDE: BEST WAY FOR CONFLICT SETTLEMENT IS DIALOG IN SPIRIT OF TRUCE

 

PanARMENIAN.Net

16.01.2007 13:41 GMT+04:00 "

 

 

" TURKISH, ARMENIAN BUSINESSES DEMAND BORDER OPENING

 

Reuters, UK

Jan 16 2007"

 

 

 

 

" RIA Novosti, Russia

Jan 18 2007

 

Armenia ready to open Turkish border, join railway project

 

13:24 | 18/ 01/ 2007 "

 

 

 

" THIRD STATES HAMPER ARMENIA-TURKEY DIALOG

 

...According to him, Turkey is troubled by Azerbaijan while Armenia is

troubled by Diaspora.

 

PanARMENIAN

15.01.2007 14:16 GMT+04:00"

 

 

 

 

" AZERBAIJAN CREATES IN TURKEY STRONG LOBBY WHICH ACTS AGAINST OPENING OF BORDER WITH ARMENIA, TURK BUSINESSMAN STATES

 

Noyan Tapan

Jan 16 2007 "

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

" CONFERENCE ON ARMENIA-TURKEY BORDER OPENING MISLEADING, SAYS ARF'S MANOYAN

 

Manoyan said that Turkey had been keeping its border closed to

weaken Armenia and not necessarily as a protest to efforts to garner

international recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

 

 

ASBAREZ

Yerkir

1/17/2007"

 

 

 

 

" JEWISH LOBBY IN U.S. CALL ON TURKEY TO MOVE

 

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ A member of the Jewish lobby in the United States

said "if Turkey doesn't do something, the Armenian genocide bill will

pass in the U.S. Congress despite our best efforts to block it,"

 

PanARMENIAN.Net

15.01.2007 15:57 GMT+04:00"

 

 

 

 

" TURKISH STATE MINISTER CONTINUES DENYING THE UNDENIABLE

 

 

"Turkey is doing everything possible to prevent adoption of incorrect

decisions about the Armenian Genocide in different countries of

the world," Turkish State Minister Abdullatif Shener said in Izmir

yesterday, Trend agency reports.

 

 

ArmRadio.am

15.01.2007 13:58 "

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

" International Herald Tribune

 

January 22, 2007

 

A Turkish funeral invitation to Armenians

 

 

ISTANBUL: Armenian spiritual and political figures from around the world on Monday accepted an extraordinary invitation from Turkey to attend the funeral of the founder of an Armenian- Turkish newspaper, Hrant Dink, who was killed outside his office Friday, officials said Monday.

 

The slaying has prompted an outburst of public demonstrations and has begun to suggest a warming of ties after a near century of animosity between Turks and Armenians. "

 

 

 

 

" FATE OF ARMENIA TO BE DECIDED ON JANUARY 23

 

A1+

[03:25 pm] 18 January, 2007J"

 

 

 

 

"Agency WPS

What the Papers Say Part B (Russia)

January 19, 2007 Friday

 

by: Viktor Yadukha

 

GOODBYE, ARMENIA;

Russia's last ally in the CIS becomes part of the West's geopolitical

project

 

 

 

Russia's influence in the Caucasus is about to fall another notch;

Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Armenia are set to sign an agreement

on building a railroad connecting Kars, Akhalkalaki, Tbilisi, and

Baku. "

 

 

 

[Error 404]

Well observed.

 

Got the point.

 

Chi bacarvum...

[Lev7]

ISTANBUL (AFP) - Turkish police turned their attention to possible ultranationalist links in the murder of Hrant Dink as authorities announced strict security for the ethnic Armenian journalist's funeral.

 

 

Istanbul's chief prosecutor, Aykut Cengiz Engin, said investigators had found no link between Friday's murder and "known ideological or separatist" illegal organisations.

 

"But we are investigating in detail the possibility that it was carried out by an organisation," Engin told the Anatolia news agency.

 

A prosecutor said Sunday that the prime suspect, 17-year-old Ogun Samast, had confessed to the killing and newspapers quoted the teenager as telling police he shot Dink because the journalist insulted the Turkish nation.

 

Dink, 52, was a taboo-breaking critic of the official line on the 1915-17 Ottoman Empire massacre of Armenians, which he labeled as genocide, and was given a suspended six-month jail sentence last year for "insulting Turkishness".

 

Nationalists branded him a "traitor" and Dink wrote in recent articles in his weekly newspaper Agos that he had received threats.

 

He had also gained respect in Turkey as a sincere activist for Turkish-Armenian reconciliation and for free speech.

 

Quoting sources close to the investigation, newspapers on Monday said police were probing links between Samast and a small, ultranationalist group in his hometown of Trabzon on the Black Sea Coast.

 

Samast told police he was told to kill Dink and provided with a gun by a friend, Yasin Hayal, who spent 11 months in jail for a 2004 bomb attack against a McDonald's restaurant in Trabzon, the mass-circulation Hurriyet newspaper said.

 

Turkish newspapers described Hayal, who is one of the seven other people in custody, as an "older brother" figure who frequently met youngsters in the area and influenced them with his ultranationalist views.

 

Hurriyet said Samast, an unemployed secondary school graduate, was among 10 youths aged 15 to 17 whom Hayal had last year trained to shoot small arms in order to assassinate Dink.

 

"I was chosen because I was the best shot and the fastest runner," the daily Vatan quoted Samast as telling police.

 

His mother, Havva Samast, said Monday that she believed her son had not been acting alone.

 

"He is not a person who could do this on his own," she said in remarks broadcast on the NTV news channel. "Someone used him."

 

Istanbul governor Muammer Guler announced that additional police had been called in for Dink's funeral on Tuesday that is expected to draw thousands of people, along with by Armenian religious leaders and foreign diplomats.

 

Armenia's deputy foreign minister, Arman Kirakosian, will attend the funeral, national television in the former Soviet republic said.

 

Kirakosian will make the trip despite the absence of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

 

Dink will be buried at an Armenian cemetery in Istanbul after a ceremony in front of the Agos offices and a religious service at the Armenian patriarchate.

 

"We have cancelled all leave for police officers and we will have an adequate force in place," Guler said in televised remarks.

 

Some roads would be blocked off along the eight-kilometre (five-mile) route the procession will take, he said.

 

A Turkish diplomat told AFP Monday that Ankara had invited prominent Armenian religious leaders from around the world to attend.

 

Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, primate of the Eastern diocese of the Armenian Church of America, has already arrived in Istanbul, Anatolia reported.

 

The Coordination Council of Armenian Organisations in France said they would send a delegation as well.

 

Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin and Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu will represent the Turkish government at the funeral.

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070122/wl_af...ia_070122211438

[Armenak]

Apparently when Armenian nationalist George Apelian met Hrant Dink at a conference in Yerevan, he gave him the following warning:

 

Թուրքը Թուրք է:

 

[Dave]

Let us hope that the funeral will go well.

[gamavor]

Թուրքը Թուրք է:

 

Ամէնա բարի թուրքը սատկազ թուրքն է:

[Yervant1]

Let us hope that the funeral will go well.

The funeral will go just fine with lots of Turkish PR and show of sincere grief for EU cameras.

Will it be the same after few weeks? We'll wait and see.

[MosJan]

Ամէնա բարի թուրքը սատկազ թուրքն է:

 

 

sxalvum es barekam

 

amenalav turq@ da satkats turkn e satkats azeru koxqin

[gamavor]

[Aratta-Kingdom]

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/070122/20070122005324.html?.v=1

 

 

Press Release Source: Maya Releasing

 

 

Turkish Journalist's Murder Denounced by ''Screamers'' Film Director

Monday January 22, 8:01 am ET

 

 

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Hrant Dink, who was killed yesterday and has been generally known for speaking out about the need for Turkey to be open about its past, including the Armenian genocide, voiced similar concerns in the documentary "Screamers," which is opening in theatres in New York and Washington, DC on January 26th distributed by Maya Releasing.

 

 

"Hrant Dink has long been a voice for tolerance and understanding, and it is inconceivable that this message was not heard by the criminal who took his life away," says "Screamers" director Carla Garapedian.

 

Dink was the editor of the Agos newspaper and was shot to death on the street in front of his office Friday in Istanbul. Garapedian interviewed Dink in Istanbul for "Screamers" to discuss the pressures being faced by people who want to speak freely about the Armenian genocide - notably himself, Orhan Pamuk and publisher Ragip Zaracolou. In the film, he explains that many people in Turkey cannot comprehend that their predecessors would be perpetrators of genocide. "Because they're against genocide and wouldn't commit it themselves, they can't believe their ancestors would have done such things either." It's a battle, he said, for hearts and minds.

 

 

"Dink knew very well the danger of speaking freely for what he believed in," says Garapedian. "Like his friend Orhan Pamuk, he was under prosecution, under Article 301, for 'insulting the Turkish state.'" "There has to be a process for a people to have the right to know the truth," Dink told Garapedian in Turkey. "The progressive elements of Turkey are working in this direction and those outside should help us in this direction."

 

On Friday, Dink lost his fight for peace and democracy in Turkey. "When I interviewed him for the film he told me his life had been threatened many times," says Garapedian. "They are always making threats by phone or email," Dink told her. "I cannot be as free as normal people, I have to be careful, always looking over my shoulder." Dink spoke about his friend, Nobel prize-winner Orhan Pamuk, who has also faced daily threats after saying a million Armenians were killed by the Ottoman Turks.

 

After "Screamers" was released in Los Angeles last December, Garapedian asked the Turkish government for a response to the film. Weeks later, the government issued a statement saying that the Turkish government would redouble its efforts to combat the "lies" being disseminated by the Armenian diaspora. Yesterday, the government condemned the killing of Hrant Dink. "Whatever they have said, I can only think their call to deny the genocide sent a green light to those forces of extremism in Turkey that are only too ready to rely on the gun," said Garapedian.

 

This week "Screamers," which examines genocide denial in the last century, from the Armenian Genocide, to the Holocaust, Cambodia, Rwanda and Darfur, was shown at the Library of Congress, to a standing-room only crowd of over 200 people. Attendees included 7 members of Congress and numerous young staffers all among the over 100 million fans of the band, System of a Down, who are featured in the film. The event was sponsored by Congressman Adam Schiff, Save Darfur and the ANCA. Dink's words were heard by members of Congress and echoed in the halls of the Library of Congress. As Dink told Garapedian, "Those who live in a democracy may not be able to comprehend why someone can not accept their past. What they may not realize is that the person they are talking to is not as open-minded as they are."

 

"The last time I saw him was in November for our AFI premiere in Los Angeles, smiling as usual," said Garapedian. "He was a true democrat with a big heart and the courage to move forward, no matter the danger. Dink, in his own way, was a Screamer. I feel very honored to have known him."

 

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/01/22/...list-Killed.php

 

 

 

Armenia sends deputy FM to funeral of ethnic Armenian journalist in Turkey

 

 

The Associated PressPublished:

January 22, 2007

 

 

YEREVAN, Armenia: Armenia will send a deputy foreign minister to the funeral of an ethnic Armenian journalist who was murdered last week in Turkey, officials said Monday.

 

Arman Kirakosian will attend Tuesday's funeral as part of an official delegation that includes a permanent Armenian representative to a regional Black Sea cooperation body based in Turkey, the Foreign Ministry said.

 

The Armenian Orthodox Church also said it will send a representative to the funeral, U.S-based Bishop Khazkah Parsamian.

 

 

Hrant Dink, the 52-year-old editor of the Turkish-Armenian newspaper Agos, was gunned down outside his newspaper's office in Istanbul on Friday. The killing, blamed on nationalists, drew attention to the precarious state of freedom of expression in a country vying for European Union membership.

 

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 on Tuesday.

 

 

 

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.