Assassination Of Hrant Dink

[Aratta-Kingdom]

http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20070122-093342-8380r.htm

 

 

Silence is a killer

 

 

 

The Washington Times

TODAY'S COLUMNIST

By Tulin Daloglu

January 23, 2007

 

 

"I may see myself as frightened as a pigeon, but I know that in this country people do not touch pigeons," wrote Hrant Dink, the beloved Armenian Turkish journalist, in his last column on Friday. Today, thousands will attend his funeral service in Istanbul, expressing their pain at his murder and their shame over losing him, the first Armenian-Turk to fall victim to a political murder. Turks have also taken to the streets to support "freedom of speech" at this magnitude for the first time in the republic's history.

 

Mr. Dink believed that the mass killings of Armenians during and after World War I constituted genocide, and he angered the extreme right with his position. About a year ago, he stood trial under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code, which criminalizes insults to Turkey, its government or the national character. Now that law has criminalized Turkey. Now those so-called Turkish nationalists are responsible for showing the world a country that is immoderate, uncivilized and intolerant. Those marching in Istanbul feel even more shamed over the mindset of those so-called nationalists in the name of protecting Turkey's interests. The scenes of aggressive verbal and nearly physical attacks during the trial of Mr. Dink and other prominent Turkish journalists will be remembered in history as the dark face of Turkey.

 

 

The Turkish government cannot escape its responsibility in creating the environment that led to Mr. Dink's murder — an environment that fuels people's anxiety that the West is against Turkey. It is constantly suspicious of the West's intentions regarding Turkey's territorial integrity. Unfortunately, Turkish leaders fail to counteract those suspicions with an understanding and a celebration of Western values like democracy, freedom of expression and opinions.

While Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has begun the negotiations for Turkey to join the European Union, he fails to understand that EU membership will involve hard work, not political demagoguery about his country's greatness. Turkey is a great country; it also has many problems. But in the end, it is not a matter of denying history. It's about not clarifying the history that led to the massacre of the Armenians.

Turkish leaders chose to stay silent for years, hoping that the claims would end. They chose to impose restrictions on people who wanted to study topics related to the Armenians and the Kurds. They blocked such learning with fear and fueled the conspiracy theories about the state covering up its past. And by creating this fearful environment, they hurt themselves. Today, few publications feature narratives of the events from the Turkish point of view, written by Turkish scholars. Meanwhile, libraries in the United States and other Western countries are stocked with accounts of history from the Armenian point of view. Turkey has lost the public relations war to Armenians. And the issue is incredibly politicized.

 

Almost every year for the last three decades, Congress has considered bills regarding the so-called Armenian genocide that ask the president to call the events that took place between the Turks and the Armenians during and after World War I "genocide." The last time the House International Relations Committee held hearings, Rep. Tom Lantos, California Democrat, now the committee's chair, said he decided to change his previous position and oppose Turkey because Turkey did not give U.S. troops a northern front into Iraq. This year, Armenians are hopeful that the bill will pass both the House and the Senate. For one, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stands for the adoption of the resolution.

"Hrant Dink's murder is tragic proof that the Turkish government — through its campaign of denial, threats and intimidation against the recognition of the Armenian genocide — continues to fuel the same hatred and intolerance that initially led to this crime against humanity more than 90 years ago," said Aram Hamparian, executive director of the Armenian National Committee of America.

But Mr. Hamparian conveniently forgot about the Turkish diplomats victimized by Armenian hatred. Mr. Dink's murder has unquestionably cast a shadow over Turkey. But if Congress passes the Armenian genocide bill in the wake of Dink's murder, it will have given in to violence. Then we may expect a string of political murders by radicals or foreign agents that would push Turkey into a corner.

Turks don't believe that the facts of history are entirely known. Therefore any Western imposition on such a sensitive matter will push them away from their country's Western alliance — which the United States has also invested in for decades. It is easier to lose people than to earn their trust.

I can only hope that Mr. Dink's legacy would be a true dialogue, an effort to reach a consensus from both sides about the truth of history. Congress should keep this responsibility in mind as well.

 

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/st...1996564,00.html

 

 

Haunted By The Past

 

 

 

The Guardian

Leader

Tuesday January 23, 2007

 

 

 

Writing what turned out to be his last column before he was murdered, Hrant Dink likened himself to a pigeon, "obsessively looking to my left and to my right, in front of me and behind me". Not without good reason. As editor of a bilingual Turkish-Armenian newspaper, he had never shunned controversy, and on Friday he paid the price. He was shot three times as he left his office.

 

Worryingly, this was not an isolated incident. In the past 15 years 18 other Turkish journalists have been killed for their work, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists - making Turkey the eighth deadliest country in the world for members of this profession. Aside from the risk to life and limb, journalists - along with academics and others - have suffered pervasive legal harassment for allegedly violating article 301 of the penal code, which makes it a crime to "insult" Turkey, its government or national character. Those who have fallen foul of this law include the novelist Orhan Pamuk, who late last year became the first Turk to win a Nobel prize.

 

Mr Dink, a Turkish citizen of Armenian descent, had also been prosecuted several times - on one occasion for complaining about certain lines in the Turkish national anthem. But most of the trouble heaped upon him resulted from his views on the mass killing of the Ottoman Armenians in 1915, which many regard as genocide. More than 90 years after the event, it remains one of the most sensitive and intractable issues in Turkish politics, with the government continuing to reject the "genocide" label. Mr Dink's contribution in this area was far from unconstructive: he had been looking for ways, as he put it, to "change this historical conflict into peace" and had urged Armenians in the diaspora to temper their anger.

 

This is one key issue (along with Cyprus and the Kurdish question) that Turkey will have to resolve as it strives towards membership of the EU. The need to do so is obvious but, in fairness to Turkey - sandwiched between Europe and the Middle East, shackled by relics of its past and attempting to balance the demands of conflicting internal forces - we can scarcely expect results overnight.

 

What we must expect, though, is a thorough and transparent investigation into the killing of Mr Dink, with scrutiny that is up to the best standards, rather than those of the Middle East. We might also hope, though with less confidence, that the Turkish government will take this chance to reconsider article 301, not just because such laws have no place in a modern state, but because honest debate is the best, and perhaps the only, way in which the ghosts of history might finally be laid to rest.

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/sto...rticle_continue

 

 

 

We must never forget Turkey's 'first solution'

 

 

The Observer

Jasper Gerard

Sunday January 21, 2007

 

 

 

My wife is only alive because her great-grandmother hid in a laundry basket, peeking through slats as troops bayoneted the rest of her family to death. She is crying upstairs as I write because history stubbornly refuses to move on. A fellow Armenian, a newspaper editor, has been shot dead in Istanbul. His mistake? Reminding Turkey it still hasn't apologised for - or even admitted - the genocide of 1.2m Armenians under the cover of the First World War.

 

Hrant Dink had already been convicted of this 'crime', for which Orhan Pamuk, Turkey's greatest novelist, was also prosecuted. Just imagine if a British editor was gunned down and men in size 12s bundled off Martin Amis for, say, daring to mention Bloody Sunday. There would be riots in London Fields. But because it's in Turkey, a moderate Muslim state needed in the War on Terror, Brits who normally speak for the marginalised are watching Big Brother. They shrug: 'Let's fight the new war, not the old.' The problem is, it is the same war, and as Dink's bloodied body suggests, there has never really been a ceasefire.

To qualify, this is not all about religion, about Muslims (Turks) versus Christians (Armenians): nationalism as much as religion prevents Turkey uttering the fearful 'sorry'. But if Armenians weren't Christian, would Turkey have refused for so long? And would the West have been quite so squeamish about pressuring Ankara?

 

In extreme cases, Islamicists trade on Western self-abasement. So in Britain last week it was claimed a terrorist suspect took refuge in a mosque. Police refused to enter for 'cultural reasons'. Would they have been so polite if an IRA suspect had holed up in a Catholic church? Another man allegedly involved in a plot to bomb targets in London was said to have fled in a burka, knowing no policeman would dare frisk him.

 

Turkey still doesn't acknowledge Armenia. Its Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, condemns the murder, but it was he who outlawed so-called attacks on the state. He has also stepped up nationalistic and Islamic tub-thumping, so while his condolences seem sincere, they are about as valuable as a discourse on multiculturalism from Jade Goody. And this is the guy with whom Tony Blair wants to chew over European integration.

 

Istanbul dazzles. On frequent trips, I see the clash of civilisations fought, not in mosques but in Moschino: the devil might wear Prada, but so now do many of Allah's followers. Materialism, not spiritualism, will win this war. Mama might be shrouded in black, but her daughter might be a short-skirted babe hopping into her boyfriend's open-top Mini.

 

Most Turks want progress, and we should help them. America, with a Democrat Congress, should shortly join France in recognising the genocide.

 

Winston Churchill once called it a holocaust. What a paradox that just as Europe starts to consider outlawing Holocaust denial, Turkey outlaws holocaust admittance. Hitler famously reckoned he would get away with his Final Solution after studying Turkey's first solution. 'Who,' he asked 'remembers the Armenians?' The torchlit procession of all nationalities weaving tearfully through Istanbul suggests that, finally, the entire world remembers.

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

"http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20070122-093342-8380r.htm

 

 

Silence is a killer

 

 

 

The Washington Times

TODAY'S COLUMNIST

By Tulin Daloglu

January 23, 2007"

 

 

how interesting. when pushed into a corner, the turks start to play on two different grounds.

 

"But Mr. Hamparian conveniently forgot about the Turkish diplomats victimized by Armenian hatred."

 

genocide by itself is hate crime. when the victim reacts, it's because of the pain that the butcher has caused.

 

 

 

 

"Mr. Dink's murder has unquestionably cast a shadow over Turkey."

 

 

that's the reality you have created for yourself. don't blame it on others. you are who you are.

 

 

 

"But if Congress passes the Armenian genocide bill in the wake of Dink's murder, it will have given in to violence. Then we may expect a string of political murders by radicals or foreign agents that would push Turkey into a corner."

 

 

the assassination of Dink was a message sent by the turkish government to the international community by saying "DON'T PUNISH ME OR I'LL BEHAVE BADLY"

 

 

 

 

 

"Turks don't believe that the facts of history are entirely known."

 

 

the fabricated truth doesn't interest anyone anymore. it makes no difference anymore what the criminal thinks. for 90 years you have chosen to silence the truth. the fact is, there isn't a single armenian left in western armenia because of what the turks have done.

 

 

 

 

"Therefore any Western imposition on such a sensitive matter will push them away from their country's Western alliance — which the United States has also invested in for decades."

 

 

the turks have already betrayed america. you must change before reac out and try be friends with the west...or like the french president said "TURKEY MUST UNDERGO MAJOR CULTURAL CHANGES BEFORE IT BECOMES PART OF EUROPEAN UNION"

 

 

 

 

 

"It is easier to lose people than to earn their trust."

 

 

that's something you can teach to your government officials who have betrayed all theri friends. today turkey is surrouned with enemies. can you guess why? why is it the republic of turkey has no friends? not even the azeri-turks trust you. what a shame.

 

 

 

"I can only hope that Mr. Dink's legacy would be a true dialogue, an effort to reach a consensus from both sides about the truth of history."

 

dialogue doesn't mean a trash talk. find a peace within yourself. build a country that is free of hate and lies-then reach out to the others.

 

 

 

 

 

"Congress should keep this responsibility in mind as well."

 

 

 

is this a threat?

 

[MosJan]

My feelings exactly, Nairi. The irony of it all is that Dink was ostracised, isolated, by every group while alive, and now all of a sudden he is the centre of grief. Only a handful of Turks stood up for him, or were by his side, through the ordeals that he lived through. Now every Turkish politician, from the left end of the political spectrum down to the far right, has kind words to say for him, when I'm sure not even 1% bothered to take in his words, his plea, get to know what he was all about. Same with diasporan Armenians. He actually criticised the French parliament for their move re: Armenian genocide recognition. Where has all the hot air gone? For the life of me, I had a hard time restraining myself from saying here on this forum, "Geez, get a grip, what do you lot care? He was a sworn Turkish citizen, just like the Bolsohye who got ousted out of Azerbaijan, the latter whom you call an 'ethnic Turk'!" I am however pleasantly surprised that nobody has yet been so grotesque as to suggest that he deserved what he got for remaining in Turkey while Elif Safak and Orhan Pamuk prefer to remain outside Turkey.

Apparently he is more useful dead than alive, even to his fellow Armenians. Shame!

 

 

only a handful

 

the other handful is up to it's normal BS - just search you tube for hrant you see them at work

[Error 404]

Thanks Mos jan!

 

Just followed moron's links and got to his website (http://www.turkintikambirligi.tr.cx/). Took all his emails and submitted to the spam website with the message "hi bastard, enjoy the spam"

 

Now the spamers will annoy him as he annoys other people with his propaganda.

[GevorgP]

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

GevorgP

 

 

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

the fools think with their d*** and do everything mullas say with a hope to get 72 virgins after they leave this world.

 

what a perfect timing. after the friday pray...on the same week the armenian genocide bill is to be presented to the u.s. house of representatives.

[Hellektor]

It ended up sounding positive.

 

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

کور خوندن

 

They say this to someone who assumes something whereas they have the wrong end of the stick.

 

I did say the whole thing was lost in translation!

 

[Hellektor]

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

Dear ArmoArmeN,

 

That's what I was screaming in this post!

 

So you also see the red thread!

[Hellektor]

sxalvum es barekam

 

amenalav turq@ da satkats turkn e satkats azeru koxqin

Դու ես սխալւում բարեկամ:

 

"Ազերի" ազգ գոյութիւն չունի, "ազերի"ները թուրք են, հենց նոյն գազանը, նոյն կեղտը:

[MosJan]

Դու ես սխալւում բարեկամ:

 

"Ազերի" ազգ գոյութիւն չունի, "ազերի"ները թուրք են, հենց նոյն գազանը, նոյն կեղտը:

 

 

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

[MosJan]

Thousands of Turks Attended Hrant Dink’s Funeral

23.01.2007 17:43 GMT+04:00 Print version Send to mail In Russian In Armenian

 

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ More than 100 000 Turks attended Hrant Dink’s funeral, slain ‘Agos’ weekly editor in Istanbul. Under Armenian music, which was being spread through speakerphones, the procession walks from ‘Agos’ editorial office to the Armenian Church and then to the Armenian cemetery, where Dink will be buried. Earlier his family had asked the participants of the march not to turn the funeral into protest. The majority of the funeral procession carries banners reading “We all are Hrants, we all are Armenians.”

 

Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Arman Kirakossian, General Secretary of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Foundation, Karen Mirzoyan and Patriarch Hajak Barsamian, the Orthodox leader of Armenians living on the East Coast of the US, attended the funeral. Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin and Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu represented the Turkish authorities.

 

[MosJan]

V.Oskanian: Dink Was a Great Dreamer Who Believed In Goodness of Mankind

23.01.2007 19:07 GMT+04:00 Print version Send to mail In Russian In Armenian

 

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Foreign Minister Oskanian sent a personal condolence letter to Hrant Dink’s widow Raqel and the family, the RA MFA Press Office reports. The minister’s message particularly says, ”It is with deep sorrow that I write this letter. We all join you in mourning this cruel, unnecessary, unimaginable, immeasurable loss. Hrant was more than the editor of a newspaper. He embodied the dreams of an entire nation. And he dreamt big. He believed in the goodness of mankind and its ability to bring change. He fought vigorously for individual freedom and liberty as instruments for change and progress. Indeed, we have a responsibility to do this so that his death takes on meaning, just as his life was so meaningful and significant for so many. We have a further responsibility to make sure that the life we live together, in the same region, is a life of peace and understanding. And because he believed, he spoke and wrote with passion, thus converting many, near and far, into believers. Today, it is these believers who will carry forward his dream to be able to freely speak the truth, remember a shared, if painful, history, to recount the horrors of genocide in order to reject and condemn it once and for all, and to make new history together. Armenians and Turks together can ensure Hrant’s desire for peace across borders, dialogue among peoples and understanding between individuals.” The Minister’s letter and a floral wreath were delivered to the family immediately preceding the funeral.

 

From Moscow, Vartan Oskanian commented, “We were conducting dialogue to reach peace with Azerbaijan in Moscow, while an advocate of dialogue and peace, shot dead, was being laid to rest in Turkey. I couldn’t help but think that violence, war, extremism are not the answers to any of the region’s problems. I wonder if we will look back to this day and see Hrant’s death as the catalyst for a new hope for the region.”

 

[MosJan]

Dink’s Murderer Is a Member of a Radikal Organization Close to ‘Grey Wolves’

23.01.2007 16:53 GMT+04:00 Print version Send to mail In Russian In Armenian

 

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ “Hrant Dink’s murderer has been detained and will be prosecuted. Nevertheless, 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,” said specialist in Turkic philology Ruben Safrastyan, the head of Oriental Studies Institute of the RA NAS (National Academy of Sciences), during an interview to the PanARMENIAN.Net journalist. In his words, 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,” underscored Ruben Safrastyan.

[MosJan]

Resolution Condemning Dink’s Murder To Be Introduced In U.S. Congress

23.01.2007 15:53 GMT+04:00 Print version Send to mail In Russian In Armenian

 

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Caucus Rep. Joseph Crowley will introduce a resolution in the House of Representatives this week condemning the assassination of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink. 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. A similar resolution is expected to be introduced in the Senate later this week, the Armenian Assembly of America reports.

 

[MosJan]

The New York Times: Dink’s Assassination Leads to Conciliation Between Armenia and Turkey

23.01.2007 14:55 GMT+04:00 Print version Send to mail In Russian In Armenian

 

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The killing of an Armenian-Turkish editor Hrant Dink in Istanbul last week and the sorrow it has generated within Turkey are leading to rare conciliatory gestures between Turkey and Armenia, historic enemies, and to calls for changes in laws here defending Turkish identity, The New York Times writes. Hrant Dink like many other intellectuals has been sentenced to 6 month imprisonment for insulting Turkishness under 301 article of Turkish Criminal Code, underlines The New York Times. The magazine reports that Bulent Arinc, the parliamentary chairman from the ruling Justice and Development Party said he would back efforts to abolish the measure under which Mr. Dink was prosecuted. “It can be discussed to totally abolish or completely revise the Article 301,” Mr. Arinc said, adding that members of Parliament “are open to this.”

 

Despite the fact that the Armenian-Turkish border has been sealed since 1993 and diplomatic relations severed, Armenia is sending a deputy foreign minister, Arman Kirakossian, to the funeral, and the archbishop of the Armenian Church of America, Khajag Barsamian, also accepted the government’s invitation to the ceremony. High-level Turkish government officials are expected to attend the funeral.

 

Norman Stone, professor of history at Koc University in Istanbul, said Mr. Dink was killed at a time when Turkey was reacting to pressure to respond to the Armenian issue. Most Armenian Turks live in Istanbul, the diverse and cosmopolitan center of Turkey. But the anti-nationalist demonstrations that followed Mr. Dink’s killing also surfaced in Izmir, Sanliurfa and Hatay.

 

“Public opinion in both countries, weary of the years-long conflict, had reached a point of explosion,” said Kaan Soyak, a director of the Turkish-Armenian Business Development Commission, the only bilateral trade council of Turkish and Armenian executives. “That’s what lies behind the massive outpouring for Mr. Dink.” But many here still blame Article 301 for Mr. Dink’s death and see it as an obstacle to freedom of speech in Turkey, The New York Times reports.

 

[MosJan]

There Exists a Notion “State Within The State” in Turkey

23.01.2007 17:00 GMT+04:00 Print version Send to mail In Russian In Armenian

 

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ There exists a notion of “State within the State” in Turkey, the leadership of which consists of a group of people who are members of political, military and business circles of the country, stated specialist in Turkic philology Ruben Safrastyan, the head of Oriental Studies Institute of the RA NAS (National Academy of Sciences) to the PanARMENIAN.Net journalist. In his words, 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”, stressed Safrastyan.

 

He also reminded that the phenomenon of “Deep State” 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]

A Mass Rally Took Place in Yerevan In Hrant Dink’s Memory

23.01.2007 16:09 GMT+04:00 Print version Send to mail In Russian In Armenian

 

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On January 23 a mass rally took place in Freedom Square in Yerevan, near State Theatre of Opera and Ballet after Alexander Spendiarian in memory of ‘Agos’ weekly editor Hrant Dink. The rally was organized by Yerevan City Council with the assistance of political and non-governmental organizations. Members of Armenian National Assembly, as well as Deputy Foreign Minister Gegham Gharibjanian, U.S. Chargé d'Affaires vice-Ambassador Anthony F. Godfrey, representatives of Armenian Apostolic Church, international and local non-governmental organizations attended the rally.

 

The rally was opened by funeral prayer. Some 4-6 thousand people were present, who carried Hrant Dink’s photos and banners reading “Turkey, Is This Your Way to Europe?” One big photo from Hrant Dink was placed in front of State Theatre, where the participants laid flowers and brought burning candles. One more Dink’s photo was placed on the stage of Opera Theatre. Anyone one who wishes can bring flowers and candles during this whole day.

 

U.S. vice-Ambassador Anthony Godfrey stated to the journalists that the United States is shocked by the assassination. Expressing deep sympathy to the family and friends of Hrant Dink, as well as to the whole Armenian nation, nevertheless, Anthony Godfrey expressed hope that even by his tragic death the Armenian Turkish journalist will make a great contribution to the unsealing of the Armenian-Turkish border, for which he was fighting his whole life. Answering the question if Hrant Dink’s death could stimulate the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide, Anthony Godfrey stressed that this issue currently is being discussed in the U.S. Congress. “But the most important thing today is the unsealing of the Armenian-Turkish border and launching dialog between Armenia and Turkey. We are very sorry for what happened,” stated the vice-ambassador.

 

On January 25 a mourning march is scheduled from Shahumian Square till ‘Tsitsernakaberd’, the memorial complex to the victims of 1915 genocide in Ottoman Empire. The participants will lay flowers to the Eternal Fire in memory of Hrant Dink, IA Regnum reports.

 

[Arpa]

Ամէնա բարի թուրքը սատկազ թուրքն է:

It's about time.

MosJanը, այսինքն մեր Մովսէս Մարգարէն ամենեվին սուտ չի խոսի. Ինչպէս նաեւ մեր Հայր Աբրահամը :)

ՇԱՆԱԶԳԻ = ՇԱՆ ՍԱՏԱԿ

Edited January 23, 2007 by Arpa

[MosJan]

TENS OF THOUSANDS ATTEND DINK FUNERAL IN ISTANBUL

 

*

 

article's photo

Some 100,000 people thronged the streets of Istanbul on Tuesday to take part in the funeral of outspoken Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink whose assassination sparked an uproar in Turkey and around the world. Dink’s body was laid to rest at a local Armenian cemetery at the end of a huge funeral procession that stretched for several kilometers and shut down much of central Istanbul. The procession, broadcast live by Turkish television and retransmitted by Armenia’s state-run First Channel, began outside the offices of Dink’s “Agos” weekly newspaper, the scene of Friday’s deadly shooting that shocked many Turks and Armenians. The crowd greeted a hearse carrying the editor’s coffin, decorated with flowers, with rapturous applause. Some people also chanted “Murderous state must be held accountable!” and "Shoulder to shoulder against fascism!" Dink’s widow Rakel, surrounded by her three children, delivered an emotional speech to the crowd. "Seventeen or 27, whoever he was, the murderer was once a baby," she said, referring to a teenage man who has confessed to killing her prominent husband. "Unless we can question how this baby grew into a murderer, we cannot achieve anything." The mourners then marched behind the coffin to an Armenian cathedral where a religious service was held before the burial. Many of them carried black-and-white placards reading, "We are all Hrant Dinks" and "We are all Armenians," in Turkish and Armenian. Patriarch Mesrob II, the spiritual leader of Turkey’s 60,000-strong Armenian community, presided over the service attended by Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Ali Sahin, Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu and other senior Turkish officials. Armenia, which the Turkish government invited to the ceremony, was represented by Deputy Foreign Minister Arman Kirakosian. He delivered a letter of condolences and a wreath sent by Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian to the Dink family. In a speech read out in Armenian and Turkish, Mesrob thanked the Turkish authorities for promptly arresting the presumed perpetrator of the killing and for “standing by the grieving family of the deceased and our community at this difficult moment.” “But this is not enough. The real masterminds of the crime must also be identified,” he said, indicating his belief that the 17-year-old suspect, Ogun Samast, could not have acted on his own. The Turkish police say Samast has confessed to shooting Dink for nationalist motives. A nationalist militant friend of Samast, also under arrest, has admitted that he incited Samast to carry out the killing, according to the police. Another suspect is a university student who allegedly "inspired" the attack, “Hurriyet” newspaper reported Tuesday. Mesrob also stressed that individuals like Dink, who openly question official Ankara’s vehement denial of the 1915 Armenian genocide, should not only be spared death but also “not be tried and imprisoned.” It was a clear reference to a six-month suspended prison sentence handed to Dink under a highly controversial Turkish law dealing with “insults to Turkishness.” Turkey is under growing international pressure to scrap the clause. “It is our expectation that our state and the Turkish people will not forget that we Armenians have lived in these lands for thousands of years and are now citizens of the Turkish Republic, and that they will not regard us as aliens and potential enemies,” continued the Armenian patriarch. “We also hope that efforts, starting from textbooks and schools, will be made to eliminate notions portraying us as enemies.” Turkish authorities took tight security measures for the massive outpouring of grief, deploying hundreds of police along the eight-kilometer route from the “Agos” office to the Armenian church of Virgin Mary. Snipers could be seen positioned on the rooftops of nearby buildings and a police helicopter roared overhead during the funeral procession. A remembrance ceremony was also held on Tuesday in Yerevan where more than two thousand people gathered in the city’s Freedom Square to pay their respects to a man who has frequently visited Armenia over the past decade. The rally, which was timed to coincide with the start of Dink’s funeral, was organized by a group of local and Diaspora Armenian civic activists. “Hrant’s discourse was a message to the Armenian and Turkish peoples,” one of the speakers said. “Hrant believed that they must seek reconciliation.” The ceremonies in Istanbul and Yerevan were attended by the heads of U.S. diplomatic missions in Turkey and Armenia, underscoring Washington’s concerns about implications of Dink’s murder. "Hrant Dink was a great advocate in the country for freedom of speech and for reconciliation, in particular between Armenians and Turks," Ross Wilson, the U.S. ambassador to Turkey, was quoted by the Associated Press as saying. "He was one of the many advocates here for a more liberal Turkey," Wilson said. "All of them are making a statement about the kind of country they want Turkey to be. Judging by what you see on the streets, he did bring the people together." A pro-Armenian member of the U.S. House of Representatives announced on Monday that he will introduce this week a resolution condemning Dink’s killing. Representative Joseph Crowley of New Jersey said the resolution will also urge Turkey to abolish Article 301 of its criminal code, under which Dink was prosecuted. The Armenian Assembly of America said similar legislation will also be circulated in the Senate. The Assembly and another influential lobbying group, the Armenian National Committee of America, are pushing hard for the adoption of a House resolution which recognizes the 1915 mass killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide and is strongly opposed by Ankara. (AP-Photolur photo)

* By Ruben Meloyan in Istanbul and Emil Danielyan

 

[MosJan]

TURKS FLOCK TO EDITOR'S FUNERAL

 

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Tens of thousands of people have walked silently behind the coffin of murdered Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, in a vast funeral cortege in Istanbul. The newspaper editor, 52, was gunned down in the Turkish city on Friday, metres from his offices. Dink wrote controversial articles about the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World War I. Mourners carrying placards reading We are all Armenians paused and applauded as they passed where he was shot. Silent walk Many roads were shut to allow the mourners to reach an Armenian Orthodox Church five miles (8km) across the city, where the funeral service was led by the patriarch. He will be buried at Istanbul's Armenian cemetery. Dink had been put on trial for his views under a controversial Turkish law and found guilty of insulting Turkishness. His widow addressed the crowds before the cortege set off, telling them, We are seeing off our brother with a silent walk, without slogans and without asking how a baby became a murderer. The BBC's Sarah Rainsford in Istanbul says those who spilled onto the streets wished to express their sense of solidarity and horror at the murder. Many, she says, are already beginning to consider Dink a martyr. Turkish prosecutors said a teenager suspected of murdering Dink - shot three times outside his newspaper's offices - had confessed to the killing. Suspects held Ogun Samast was arrested after he was identified by his father from CCTV images taken near the murder scene. He was being questioned in Istanbul along with six other suspects. One of them was named as Yasin Hayal, a friend of Mr Samast, who has spent 11 months in jail for a 2004 bomb attack outside a McDonald's restaurant in Trabzon. Turkey's Hurriyet newspaper reported on Monday that during police questioning Mr Hayal said that he had given Mr Samast, aged 16 or 17, a gun and money. Investigators say that so far they have found no links between Mr Samast and any known political group. Turkish officials say there is a strong police presence in the city. Armenian government officials and religious leaders, as well as some members of Turkey's Armenian diaspora, have been invited to attend the funeral, despite the fact that Armenia and Turkey have no diplomatic relations. 'Genocide' Dink's murder shocked Turkey and Prime Minister Erdogan vowed repeatedly that his killer would be caught. Journalists and politicians in Turkey have expressed outrage at the killing, which many described as a political assassination, while the US, EU, France, and several human rights groups also voiced shock and condemnation. Dink had received multiple death threats from nationalists because of his views on the mass killings of Armenians during the final days of the Ottoman Empire. He was convicted in October 2005 for writing about the Armenian genocide in 1915, a claim denied by the authorities in Ankara. The issue is a sensitive subject in both Armenia and Turkey. Many Armenians have campaigned for the killings to be recognised internationally as genocide. Turkey admits that many Armenians were killed but it denies any genocide, saying the deaths happened during widespread fighting in World War I.

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[ED]

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

 

 

spaseq eh, dranq voch azg en, voch tsegh, voch el kext, nuynisk triq el chen, gone triq@ gyuxatsin tanum e "atar" e shinum, dzmer varum taqanum a, hats a txum, el chgitem inch en anum.......

dranq vochinch en, vochnchutyun!

[MosJan]

POLITICAL DEVELOPMENTS WILL REVEAL THE MURDER

 

 

The arrest of the killer immediately after the assassination of Hrant Dink can have two explanations. Either the Turkish government is interested in exposing the crime and therefore it did everything to reveal the killer right away, or official Ankara decided to stage a show to hide those who are responsible for the assassination. It is rather complicated to tell which one is real. The murder of Dink can really be the fruit of the “imagination” of the nationalist teenager. But the problem is that the consequence of this murder creates a favorable atmosphere for many political groups. Therefore, even if we suppose that this murder is but “romanticism”, we can be sure that its revelation will be politicized in any case.

 

Official Ankara has several reasons to politicize. First, by exposing the murder Ankara can show to the international community that everyone who encroaches upon freedom of speech is responsible. Besides, by revealing the murder Ankara can direct it against its internal political opponents. The Turkish government can use the investigation of the murder of Hrant Dink as a means of sustaining stability in the country, making an effort to negotiate with the political opponents and using the investigation to put pressure on them. Everything depends on where official Ankara expects a harder blow, from the outside or from the inside. Perhaps this will determine the process of investigation and the vector of exposing the organizers.

 

The world also has reasons to politicize the investigation of the murder. It can be divided into three parts, the United States, the European Union and also Armenia to some extent. The Turkish and American relation is not good. Considering the American plan to establish a Kurdish state, this relation will tend to become worse rather than improve. In this situation, the United States would not miss an opportunity to put pressure on Turkey. So does the European Union; Europe is looking for reasons to reject Turkey’s membership; at the same time, it lets Turkey hope. For this reason, it is quite possible that Europe may admit with every outcome of the investigation that the Turkish government made sufficient efforts to expose the murder. At the same time, however, the Europeans will be dissatisfied with the effectiveness of the investigation. And under this circumstance the factor of Armenia may be put forward. And Europe will express its dissatisfaction through Armenia and the Armenians as it usually does. And Armenia will gladly become engaged in this game, hoping to reach a favorable outcome in terms of the Armenian and Turkish relation. It is an illusion, of course, because the Armenian and Turkish relation will never improve through mediation, especially a mediated pressure, and Armenia cannot achieve any result if it is a mere object. This is another problem, however. And the murder of Hrant Dink will be revealed thanks to political developments rather than investigation. The logic of the political developments will make it clear who needed to kill Hrant Dink and why.

 

HAKOB BADALYAN

[MosJan]

Ertugrul Ozkok:Why Hrant Dink's murderer didn't throw away the gun

 

 

 

Yesterday morning at a meeting here at the newspaper, we argued. One of our female collegues even stood up and left the meeting. The argument started over some comments I made about Hrant Dink's murderer.

 

For days now, I have been saying, as I flip from channel to channel watching the coverage of this murder, "I hope this turns out to be an organized crime. It will be much more difficult if it turns out to be the work of a 'neighborhood thug.'"

 

But as it turns out, it was exactly what I feared. The murderer turned out to be a not-even-20-year old teenager, a teenager encouraged by an elder in the neigborhood to take on this mission. I can see so clearly what his psychology was. He didn't even take care to discard two of the most important pieces of evidence following the murder; his white beret and the gun he had used.

 

Even the police were amazed. But it is clear why he hadn't gotten rid of these crucial pieces of evidence: he was returning to Trabzon. Once there, he was going to boast to his friends "I killed Hrant Dink." Most likely, many of these friends wouldn't even believe him. Which is why he was bringing back the white beret (which had been seen on all the video footage that caught him as he was running away after shooting Dink) and the gun: to convince them.

 

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What scares me is this spiritual state. If it were an organized act of murder, either the state intelligence agency or the security forces might have broken into it. But who can we go after when it turns out to be just one person? Shall we break into the neighborhood, or shut down the city? Anyway, at the meeting at our Hurriyet offices, this is what I was explaining.

 

I said "If we really want to solve this business, we need to develop our feelings of empathy. We need to try and understand that kid from the Trabzon neighborhood. If someone who holds strong feelings of support for the Republic is uncomfortable with being called a "traitor to the nation," then we need to consider that other people might be uncomfortable with other terminology."

 

Maybe we should start to think about how stressing the negative aspects to nationalism might make people uncomfortable.....I was describing all this in the meeting. But some of my collegues knew Hrant Dink personally. And they reacted, showing that today might not have been the day to bring all this up. I understand well. I lost many friends in the period leading up to September 12.

 

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Maybe I should have written this column after Hrant Dink's funeral. But I figured there was nothing to lose. As a society, we are facing an enormous problem. There is a climate of hatred which is being nurtured in the cities of Anatolia and in our poorer, back hill, outskirt areas. We need to start thinking about how we can put out these flames of hatred, from today. I think we need to save ourselves from this "culture of blame." People need to stop accusing eachother of being traitors to the nation, of being this and being that. And on the other side, people have to stop labeling those who express their love for country and flag "racists fascists."

 

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A very serious "back hills-outskirts pyschology" threatens us all. Yesterday it was a priest. Today it's one of our Armenian citizens. Tomorrow, another one of us. The psychopaths from these city-outskirts have picked up the scent of blood and fame. In order to stop this, we have to search deep. And before accusing others, we have to take a look at ourselves. Yes, this is where we need to start if we want an honest and true solution.