Assassination Of Hrant Dink

[Dave]

It is ironic that Trabzon was included in the Armenia that was drawn in the Sèvres Treaty.

[MosJan]

YASIN HAYAL: I THOUGHT PERPETRATOR WOULD REMAIN UNKNOWN

 

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article's photo

Yasin Hayal, the Trabzon man who has admitted being behind the murder of Agos Armenian-Turkish newspaper editor Hrant Dink, told police that he thought the perpetrator of the crime would "remain unknown" after the event, reports Hurriyet. Hayal also said in his admission that he had told another Trabzon resident, Zeynel Abidin Yavuz, that if he killed Dink, Yavuz would "become a hero" and that the "whole world would know his name." Yavuz later rejected Hayal's urgings to carry out the crime, at which point Hayal turned to 17 year old Ogun Samast, the young man who was caught after pulling the trigger on the gun that killed Dink in broad daylight on an Istanbul street two Fridays ago.

[MosJan]

TURKISH INTERIOR AFFAIRS MINISTRY WARNS AGAINST PROVOCATIONS

 

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article's photo

Ministry of Internal Affairs has warned authorities to take urgent measures for possible provocations which may occur after Hrant Dink’s killing. Ministry of Internal Affairs Secretary Şahabettin Harput has sent a circular order to 81 provinces which warned governors about protest actions occurred after the Dink killing. The circular order said, due to developments occurred during Dink's funeral, some segments of the society have begun showing violence-oriented actions which caused events that negatively effected the public order in the country. "In the days to come, there might be possible violence actions across the country. In order to prevent those who aim to inflame the popular feeling by provocative actions, provincial governments should pay extra attention for such groups and organizations,” said Harpur, reports Sabah newspaper.

[MosJan]

PAMUK REJECTED TRIP TO GERMANY FEARING FOR HIS LIFE

 

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article's photo

Nobel Prize-winning writer Orhan Pamuk refused from a trip to Germany to avoid possible assassination. According to Pamuk’s German publisher, the writer refused to be present at the awarding ceremony of the Free Berlin University scheduled for February 2. In Germany Pamuk will be more secure than in Turkey but he cannot run the risk of leaving his residence, observers say. It’s also reported that Pamuk was shocked by Hrant Dink’s death. Like Agos newspaper editor he was accused of “insulting Turkishness” for stating that 1 million of Armenians were slaughtered in Turkey in early 20th century, reports RFE/RL.

[MosJan]

HOLD THE GOVERNMENT TO ACCOUNT OVER ARMENIA AND JOIN TRIBUTE TO DINK

 

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Dear Comrades, Now that Armenian journalist Hrant Dink has paid with his life for speaking out on the truth of the Genocide of Armenians, we can aid his work for reconciliation with Turks by asking our MPs to make representations to the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary to ask them to end the government's compliance with Turkey's denial of the Armenian Genocide. Importantly, we can also ask our MPs to sign the Early Day Motion on the Armenian Genocide (no 357) put down by Bob Spink MP. It is this Denial of the genocide which demonizes Armenians in Turkey who speak out about the truth of their past. The position of the UK government is untenable i.e. that the large-scale massacres do not constitute genocide as defined by the 1948 UN convention. This convention is quite short and simple as shown below. Article 2 of the 1948 UN convention: "In the present Convention, genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: (a) Killing members of the group; Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

 

(e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another." As Foreign Minister Geoff Hoon has accepted that over a million Armenians were killed in the massacres of 1915, does not this fit exactly into the definition of genocide given in the convention? He should ask at what level in the government has this issue been discussed, and which experts have been consulted on the matter? Also could they please name one single historian in the UK who still denies the Armenian Genocide? The murder of Hrant Dink for standing up for the truth proves that this is not an issue which concerns just historians. The way past British governments have let down the Armenian nation ever since the time of Disraeli leaves a bitter taste for all UK Armenians. Let's face it. Turkish democracy is based on a lie, that there was no Genocide of Armenians. Even Turkey's present borders are based on the success of the Genocide. The British government continues to placate Turkey concerning this issue as usual, for its selfish strategic and economic interests. You can help us by attending our "Vigil for Armenia and Tribute to Hrant Dink"" outside the House of Commons from midday till 2.00 p.m. next Tuesday (30th January). Your sincerely, Eilian Williams

* Morning Star/UK, Friday 26 January 2007

 

[MosJan]

ERDOGAN: DINK’S MURDER COULD BE LINKED TO UPCOMING PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

 

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Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his government would deal with the Hrant Dink murder case effectively and that the investigation into the case would continue at full speed, PanARMENIAN.Net reported.

 

Two top officials in Trabzon, where Dink’s suspected murderer Ogun Samast comes from, were removed from the office last week and Erdogan implied that more officials could be removed from their posts in other provinces. Asked if the Dink murder could be linked to the upcoming presidential election, Erdogan said, “That’s possible,” Today’s Zaman reports.

 

The premier also noticed that changes in election time are possible. Asked whether parliamentary elections, scheduled for November, could be held at an earlier date, Erdogan said changes in the date were possible. “What we want is to have a democratic, undisputed election and get the results as soon as possible,” he said.

[zurderer]

I have always defended you in Armenian, in English and in PMs, when all users treated you like shit.

 

Great. Thanks. Anyway, I dont realy care If every users treat me like shit.(It is side effect of wasting my time at armenian forum.)

 

Not because I admire your eyes that I don't even see but because I have met Turks on other forums that posted unbelievably vicious messages. I thought of you as a relatively tolerant Turk that had some potential of being civilized.

 

Infact, I have beatiful blue eyes, but well I am sure you dont care it much. No. I am not tolerant, I am only realist. (accepting genocide but refusing Turkey acceptance of it.)

 

Civilized? not much. Dont follow political correctness.

 

I don't remember having insulted you"(Personally)" so this only shows that you are just a typical Turk and as the beautiful Persian proverb goes:

 

No, you prefer to insult my nation.

 

The wolf's whelp will become a wolf in the end

Even though it grows up among men

Too bad

 

Indeed, all turks are barbarians and I am also a turk. So I am wolf too.

 

So in which one of these do you see yourself?

 

I think I should repeat it 1.500.000 time that I believe armenian genocide.

That is the daftest thing I've read in a while.

 

Realy? Maybe you did not hear enough stupidy. I prefer an intelligent evil guy to a good stupid. I still insist, stupidy is biggest crime humanity ever see.

 

No wonder Zurzerrots and his ilk are making a mockery of us.

 

arpa, do you know that I am from trabzon? Supprize.

 

It is ironic that Trabzon was included in the Armenia that was drawn in the Sèvres Treaty.

 

It is also ironic, trabzon never had an armenian majority.

 

[Dave]

Perhaps the Armenians weren't a majority, but that doesn't mean that Turks were a majority either. Besides, Armenian probably reigned Trebizond in the commercial aspect. Edited January 31, 2007 by Dave

[zurderer]

There was more turks than armenians too. I dont see any reason to give trabzon to armenians.

 

Oh except, might is right mentality.(Not I accuse this mentality)

 

commercial aspect.

 

well, so? It is a known fact, both greeks and armenians were traders of ottomans.

[Dave]

There were Pontians, Laz, Armenians, and others too. Face it, Turkey wasn't "homogeneous" until the 20th century.

 

Anyway, what do you say to those degenerates who praise Hrant's assassins?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7PJrMOWu34...ted&search=

[neko]

There was more turks than armenians too. I dont see any reason to give trabzon to armenians.

 

Due to the ill-treatment of its non-Muslim inhabitants, and the big non-Turkish non-Muslim element in its population, and its historical Greek identity, it was proposed that the city was removed from Turkish dominion and incorporated into Armenian territory (giving it to Greece would have been impractical due to the geographical distance). This would both protect the Christian population from further Muslim attrocities and give Armenia access to the sea.

Obviously there were more Turks than Armenians because almost no Armenians survived the genocide! The Greek population was probably the largest single ethnic group. Even today, the majority is probably not Turkish. (Read back to my post, posted before the origin of Dink's assassin was known, in which I had actually mentioned Trabzon, and had pointed out that the most fanatical Young Turks had come from areas where Turks were minority populations).

[Dave]

Of course there were no more Armenians in Trebizond after the genocide, but I was talking about the Armenians who lived there prior to 1915

[Aratta-Kingdom]

I find that hard to believe. Treating people like shit is your trademark.

 

I seen you doing the same with the others.

 

 

How kind of you, you patronising **** without the smallest potential of ever being civilized.

 

 

Who the hell are talking about being civilizes while you target others for speaking the truth?

 

 

 

 

 

Given that you like to insult everyone in vast areas of the World, insulting individuals personally probably isn't something you would notice doing.

 

 

If he doesn't, then I do. I noticed that you have insulted several member of this forum including the armenian nation.

 

 

 

 

You seem to be very fond of "Iranian" sayings which are about as exclusively Iranian as bread and cheese are.

 

You like to eat too much, don't you?

 

 

 

 

Zurderer has already said, and said on several occasions, that the genocide is a fact and he has also gone as far as accepting a reasonable accurate figure for the numbers killed.

 

 

Zurderer is a Trojan Horse that is sent to defend the turkish interests.

 

 

Edit: fixed the quotes...

Edited January 31, 2007 by vava

[Error 404]

Trojan like http://www.shelterserra.com/artwork/trojan.jpg ?

[Aratta-Kingdom]

"Great. Thanks. Anyway, I dont realy care If every users treat me like shit.(It is side effect of wasting my time at armenian forum.)"

 

Then get the hell out of the Armenian forum.

 

 

 

"Infact, I have beatiful blue eyes, but well I am sure you dont care it much. "

 

 

Who gives a sh!* about that?

 

 

 

 

 

"No. I am not tolerant, I am only realist. (accepting genocide but refusing Turkey acceptance of it.)"

 

 

 

Is there a limit to turkish hypocrisy? or like Billy Hayes from 'Midnight Express' said, 'For a nation of pigs, it sure is funny you(the turks) don't eat pig.

 

"Civilized? not much. Dont follow political correctness.

No, you prefer to insult my nation."

 

Article 301 doesn't work outsdie of turkey.

 

 

 

"Indeed, all turks are barbarians and I am also a turk. So I am wolf too."

 

 

You are who you are. Many have spoken about the turks and according to the old saying 'Where the turk goes, no green grass grows'.

 

 

"I think I should repeat it 1.500.000 time that I believe armenian genocide."

 

 

Sure you are accepting the armenian genocide "but refusing Turkey acceptance of it', right?

 

 

 

 

 

"Realy? Maybe you did not hear enough stupidy. I prefer an intelligent evil guy to a good stupid. I still insist, stupidy is biggest crime humanity ever see.J"

 

 

That is why you and your government keep the turks in darkness. In fact, you even dare to speak for the people of turkey in an open forum.

 

 

"arpa, do you know that I am from trabzon? Supprize.

It is also ironic, trabzon never had an armenian majority."

 

 

Just get the hell out of the hyeforum, the armenian highland and go back to Mongolia.

Edited January 31, 2007 by vava

[Aratta-Kingdom]

There was more turks than armenians too. I dont see any reason to give trabzon to armenians.

 

 

go to hell

 

 

Oh except, might is right mentality.(Not I accuse this mentality)

well, so? It is a known fact, both greeks and armenians were traders of ottomans.

 

 

 

 

thake this crap to a turkish forum and fool those who would want to be fooled.

Edited January 31, 2007 by vava

[Aratta-Kingdom]

Trojan like http://www.shelterserra.com/artwork/trojan.jpg ?

 

yes, if you think with your d***

Edited January 31, 2007 by ArmoArmeN

[Aratta-Kingdom]

Hrant Dink's brutal murder is blow to democracy and human rights

 

 

 

30.01.2007

 

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ In a letter dated on January 26, 2007 with heading

from the Armenian National Council from Lebanon and under the aegis of

Mr. Mohammad Baalbaki, President of the Lebanon Press Order, 15

Editors-in-chief representatives the principal Lebanese newspapers

signed a petition to the intention of Mr. Oktay Eksi, Chairman of the

Turkish Press Council, condemning the murder of Hrant Dink and

expressing their solidarity at the Armenian National Committee (Hay

Tad). Independent corespondent Jean Eckian told the PanARMENIAN.Net

journalist that the latter calls this brutal act a blow to democracy

and human rights. It also calls to protection of freedom of thought

and expression.

 

[vava]

Ok boys. Let's stop the flame fest. You're all so busy hurling insults, you all seem to fail to see the true tragedy behind all this.

[Aratta-Kingdom]

Dink's assassination confirmed Genocide issue is not excluded from agenda

 

 

 

30.01.2007

 

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Hrant Dink's assassination once more confirmed

Armenian Genocide issue is not excluded from agenda, stated Armenian

Ambassador to Great Britain Vahe Gabrielyan during an interview to

English edition of "Al Jazeera" TV company. In his words, the Armenian

Genocide in the Ottoman Empire is not subject to discussions and

doubts and was proved by many documentary materials, including by

evidences of Turkish historians.

 

`Instead of discussing if it happened or not, it is necessary to

discuss the problem of recognizing the Armenian Genocide and improving

the Armenian-Turkish relations. After all, the Turkish special

tribunal in 1919-1920ies sentenced some of the organizers of the

Genocide to death penalty or other punishments, but today this fact is

being forgotten,' Gabrielyan said.

 

Alongside he underlined Armenia is not EU member and cannot put

forward preconditions for recognizing the Armenian Genocide in front

of Turkey to enter the European Union. `But the Copenhagen standards

demand from the EU member states to establish good neighboring

relations with all neighbors, solution of existing problems,

improvement of the situation with national minorities. All this

supposes recognition of the Armenian Genocide. A number of EU states

have already raised this question and Armenia hopes on EU's principled

stance over this issue,' underscored the Armenian diplomat, the RA MFA

Press Office reports.

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

 

The slogan that turned everything upside down in Turkey

 

30.01.2007

 

 

Marlena Hovsepyan

"Radiolur"

 

As it was expected, Turks were to try to find the murderer of Hrant

Dink outside the country. Currently an absurd version is circulating

among the public circles of Turkey that Dink's assassination was

ordered by the United States or the Armenian lobby.

 

Erhan Tunjel, suspected of murdering Hrant Dink, declared during the

inquiry that before the crime he informed the regional security

directorate of Trapizon about it.

 

According to CNN Turk, instructors that left for Trapizon confirmed

that the security directorate of Trapizon was previously

informed. Tunjel said no one paid attention to address to the

directorate on `threatening Hrant Dink.'

 

The same source informs that the security directorate did not take the

information serious because of lack of sufficient proofs.

 

Despite existing proofs, an absurd version is being circulated among

the Turkish society, editor-in-chief of `Marmara' daily Rober

Hatechian told ` Radiolur.'

 

`The most dangerous is the opinion that the crime against Hrant Dink

was organized by an outside force, the US, is connected with the

discussion of the Armenian Genocide bill in the US Congress and was

perpetrated by the Armenian lobby,' Mr. Hatechian says.

 

It should be noted that the slogan `We are all Armenians, we are all

Hrant Dink' that created an atmosphere of unity during Dink's funeral

does not leave Turkey calm up until now. Supporters and critics of the

slogan still continue the dispute.

 

`Connected with Hrant Dink's murder, two different powers have

launched a struggle with each other. Hrant Dink's assassination has

really turned everything upside down in the country,' Rober Hatechian

continues. Everything else has been forgotten ` the issue of Iraq,

even Turkey's accession to the European Union.

 

The noise after Dink's murder centered the attention of Turkish

nationalists on the Armenian community. The editorial office of Agos

daily continues to receive threats from Turkish nationalists.

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

Press Release

 

Reporters without borders - France

 

 

 

Jan 30 2007

 

Despite reassuring statements from government officials, journalists

continue to be threatened and prosecuted

 

Reporters Without Borders today reiterated its call for the repeal of

article 301 of the criminal code punishing attacks on the Turkish

identity, as the country continued to be abuzz with protests and

reactions to the 19 January murder of newspaper editor Hrant Dink,

whose funeral on 23 January drew 100,000 mourners.

 

The editor of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, Dink had

been convicted under article 301 and was facing another prosecution

under the same article at the time of his death. Foreign minister

Abdullah Gül has said the article is clearly problematic and that

changes need to be made. While supporting his comments, Reporters

Without Borders believes the article should be completely repealed.

 

Gül's comment is not the first. Last November, a European Union

commission that is monitoring Turkey's progress towards joining the

EU stressed that: `Article 301 and other provisions of the Turkish

penal code that restrict freedom of expression need to be brought in

line with the European Convention of Human Rights.' Anticipating the

commission's comments, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had

already appealed to civil society to suggest how the article could be

reformed.

 

`Despite that, nothing concrete has so far been initiated and for

this reason, we would like to stress today that promises are not

enough,' Reporters Without Borders said today.

 

A person who has confessed to being one of the instigators of Dink's

murder, Yasin Hayal, uttered threats against Nobel literature

laureate Orhan Pamuk when he was brought before an Istanbul court

last week. Ogün Samast, the 17-year-old youth who fired the shots

that killed Dink, told police when first questioned that he `felt no

remorse.' He said Dink had deserved to die for insulting the Turkish

people

 

Nationalism was the driving force behind Dink's murder and it

continues to fuel threats against journalists. Agos contributors

requested, and obtained, police protection after getting death

threats in an e-mail message signed by the Turkish Brigades for

Revenge (TIT). It was a TIT member, Semih Tufan Günalthay, who

ordered the 1998 murder of Akin Birdal, Turkey's leading human rights

activist. At least six journalists and writers are currently getting

police protection.

 

A 36-year-old ex-soldier yesterday surrendered to the police after

threatening to blow up a ferry in northwestern Turkey in protest

against the pro-Armenian slogans chanted at Dink's funeral. The man,

who was carrying a very powerful kind of explosive known as C4,

unfurled a Turkish flag over the ferry and announced that: `I did it

for Turkey.' The daily newspaper Tercuman said on 26 January that

those who were not proud of being Turkish should leave the country.

 

Although the repeal of article 301 is now being widely discussed,

journalists are still being prosecuted under it. They include Umur

Hozatli, who is being prosecuted over two articles published last

September in which he criticised a police raid on the premises of

Özgür Radio and the leftist weekly Atilim and accused the police of

`cooperating with certain judges to illegally imprison people

regarded as separatists or terrorists.'

 

Last November, Reporters Without Borders noted that at least 65

people, including many journalists and writers, had been prosecuted

under article 301 since its adoption as part of the new criminal code

in June 2005.

 

Six people have so far been charged in connection with Dink's murder.

Samast is charged with shooting Dink. Hayal is accused of being one

of the instigators. Ahmet Iskender, Ersin Yolcu, Zeynel Abidin Yavuz

and Erhan Tucel, are also charged with inciting the murder. Tucel is

a student who supports a national group in Trabzon, Samast's home

town.

 

Dink was killed by several shots fired at him outside the Istanbul

offices of Agos, for which he wrote columns as well as being the

editor. A well-known journalist and one who was respected by his

colleagues, Dink had been the target of several prosecutions over his

views on the massacre of Armenians under the Ottoman empire. In 2005,

he received six-month suspended sentence for `humiliating Turkish

identity.' He was prosecuted again in September 2006 over an

interview he gave to Reuters in which he referred to the massacres in

Anatolia during the First World War as `genocide.' He had been facing

a possible three-year prison sentence.

 

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yes, if you think with your d***

I heard this answer before but from female.

[Aratta-Kingdom]

http://www.newropeans-magazine.org/index.p...2&Itemid=86

 

 

 

Hrant Dink - Would Doves Still Flutter in Turkey Today?

 

 

Newropeans-Magazine

Written by Harry Hagopian

 

 

31 January 2007

Hrant Dink, the 52-year-old Armenian Turkish editor-in-chief of the bilingual weekly Agos (furrow, in Armenian) was murdered in cold blood on 19th January by the so-called ultra-nationalist teenager Ogun Samast from Trabzon. Hrant’s crime resided in his being an Armenian Turkish citizen from Istanbul who spoke out about the Armenian Genocide, pushed the boundaries of freedom of expression and often called for dialogue and reconciliation between Armenians and Turks.

 

I remember clearly how I first heard about this murder. Steve, a friend, texted me a short message in which he stated simply that “Dink was killed”. So befuddled was I that I texted back asking whether he meant “Hrant Dink”. Yes was the ominous answer, and with it came the realisation that another Armenian voice in Turkey had been muffled forever. After that initial shock, the tributes poured in from all quarters, from those who knew him or did not, from those who had liked him in the past or had not, and numerous articles were written about Dink and his mission. At his funeral, Turkish Istanbul transmogrified into Armenian Istanbul, and there was both a popular movement to show respect to Dink who had been cheated by the insidious angel of death and a rallying round his wife Rakel, their children and other members of his family.

 

I had met Dink twice only, so cannot claim to know him at all. For me, he was the man who had frequently ended up in Turkish courts after being indicted for “insulting Turkishness” according to Article 301 of the Turkish penal code. In fact, the last judgment against him was a suspended six-month sentence (meaning he would have been imprisoned if found guilty of the same offence again), although two more cases were pending in the Turkish judicial pipeline. It seems that just before Dink’s death, his lawyer Fethiye Çetin had also seised the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg on his behalf.

 

 

So I set out to read some of his Agos editorials and listen to a couple of interviews he had given last year, including one to VEM in Armenia during the Armenia-Diaspora annual forum. My own mental portrait of this man is of someone who was embedded in his native Armenian Turkish homeland, culture, values and traditions, and who wished to stay in his country despite the ‘psychological torture’ he - and his family - were being subjected to from different corners. But there was also the winningly naïve side to this man that shone through - and possibly helped him surmount the enormous stress. For instance, in one of his vignettes, he writes that ‘my only weapon is my sincerity’, whereas in another he adds that ‘unfortunately, I am more popular nowadays and feel the look of the people telling each other: “Look, isn’t it that Armenian?” And just as a reflex action, I start to torture myself. One side of this torture is curiosity, the other uneasiness. One side is caution, the other side is skittishness.’ And with much foreboding, he concludes that ‘probably the year 2007 will be a more difficult year for me. Trials will continue, new cases will come up in court. Who knows what kind of injustice I will encounter?’

 

 

So why would a man with such a fervent wish for reconciliation who acknowledged the Armenian Genocide on the one hand whilst he also encouraged Armenians to bolster Armenia and Armenia-Turkey relations be murdered with such malice aforethought? And was Ogun Samast - besides the other six suspects who were detained, one of whom having apparently incited the killing - a lone culprit in committing this murder? Or is Turkey in its institutional sense also guilty of this crime?

 

 

What struck me most in the wake of Dink’s murder were the conciliatory gestures between Turkey and Armenia, let alone the throngs of people who gathered spontaneously in front of the Agos building or walked at his funeral. Despite the fact that Armenia and Turkey entertain no diplomatic relations, and that Turkey has kept the Armenian-Turkish border sealed since 1993, Armenia sent its deputy foreign minister, Arman Kirakosyan, to attend the funeral. Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, from the eastern diocese of the Armenian Church of America, also attended the interment. Those and other gestures - the write-ups, the interviews, the popular rallies, the representations, and the statements from ordinary Turks or Armenians as well as from officialdom - together represented hopeful stations at a painful moment of history for both peoples.

 

 

For the space of one moment, I actually felt that common humanity and mutual solidarity had transcended the deep furrows cleaving both peoples’ lives. But although such decent gestures were indeed promising and healthy, I fear that they remain ephemeral in the present climate. Besides, they do not facilely exonerate Turkey. Why? Simply because successive Turkish governments - including the incumbent government of Reçep Teyyip Erdogan and his Justice & Development party - have nourished [rather than challenged] the culture of fear, intimidation and persecution within Turkey against those who protest the injustices and discrimination that are still part and parcel of everyday Turkey today. It is true that the chief culprit for the recent spate of persecutions (from which Dink suffered during his latter years, as have others like Ragip Zarakolu, Orhan Pamuk, Elif Shafak and Murat Belge) is the notorious Article 301 of the Turkish penal code. After all, this Article has incited virulent negative nationalism within some Turkish ranks and led to its judicial misapplication time and again by nationalist lawyers the likes of the ubiquitous leader of the Turkish Lawyers’ Union Kemal Kerincsiz who are hell-bent on keeping Turkey out of the EU and in the process also vilifying anybody who dared speak about the Armenian Genocide.

 

Following Dink’s murder, the parliamentary chairman of the ruling party Bulent Arinç stated that he would back efforts to abolish Article 301 - adding that members of Parliament were open to its total abolition or complete revision. But I would argue that such sanguine statements become redundant if they are devoid of any concrete strategy that is matched by equally concrete steps. For Turkey to move forward in its broader EU-friendly agenda, it must not only repeal this article or - more likely - tinker with it in order to make it harder for courts to apply it. Rather, Turkey must invest in this grassroots wave of goodwill to push through a reformist and forward-looking agenda that tackles a host of issues (defined in the Chapters under negotiation with the EU) and create a suitably EU-friendly legal environment. Otherwise, how could it aspire toward accession when its standards of human rights and fundamental freedoms, for instance, do not subscribe to the normative values of the free world? To take one simple illustration, how is it that Hrant Dink (alongside other Armenians in Turkey) was disallowed from using his first name in his passport, but had to use his designated official Turkish name of Firat instead?

 

 

One elegiac reflection to Dink came from Dr Fatma Müge Goçek who wrote In Memoriam: Hrant Dink, 1954-2007:

 

 

How had Hrant Dink achieved, how he had managed to overcome that ever-consuming, destructive, dangerous anger to fill himself instead with so much love and hope for humanity, for Turkish society, for Turkish-Armenian reconciliation? How could he have done so in spite of the memory of 1915 and in spite of the subsequent prejudice and discrimination he faced in Turkey?

 

 

It was for me that particular quality which made Hrant Dink a great human being and a great role model: his unwavering belief in the fundamental goodness of all humans regardless of their race, ethnic origin, regardless of what they had personally or communally experienced; his unwavering vision that we in Turkey were going to one day be able to finally confront our past and come to terms without faults, mistakes and violence as well as our so brandied about virtues; his unwavering trust that we all would manage to live together in peace one day.

 

 

Addressing issues of ethnicity, Dink often emphasised that identities need not be mutually incompatible. As an Armenian from Turkey, he considered himself a good Turkish citizen, believed in the republic and strove to make it stronger and more democratic. He also encouraged people to keep the dialogue between Armenians and Turks going, just as he sought to redress Turkey’s amnesia about its role in the slaughter of over one million Armenians in 1915. In promoting freedom of speech, even when it came to a subject as sensitive as the genocide, he was still even-handed and stressed that legislation in Western European countries outlawing the denial of this holocaust was also an affront to free speech. Yet, his liberal philosophy antagonised those who adhere to the belief that nationalities are hermetically sealed and mutually opposed.

 

Addressing issues of ethnicity, Dink often emphasised that identities need not be mutually incompatible. As an Armenian from Turkey, he considered himself a good Turkish citizen, believed in the republic and strove to make it stronger and more democratic. He also encouraged people to keep the dialogue between Armenians and Turks going, just as he sought to redress Turkey’s amnesia about its role in the slaughter of over one million Armenians in 1915. In promoting freedom of speech, even when it came to a subject as sensitive as the genocide, he was still even-handed and stressed that legislation in Western European countries outlawing the denial of this holocaust was also an affront to free speech. Yet, his liberal philosophy antagonised those who adhere to the belief that nationalities are hermetically sealed and mutually opposed.

 

In Turkey today, there is clear pressure for reform from the EU as well as from some intellectual resources within Turkey. In my opinion, this battle for reform - and that would include historical memory in my own thinking - has not yet seriously impacted Turkey’s stance toward the genocide. In fact, I am not even sure that Dink’s murder would lead to more openness for recognition. Whether it is due to rabid nationalism, a fear of facing up to the past with its gruesome conclusions, or even possible reparations and restitution, Turkey today is still entrenched in a denial that is fomenting hatred, violence and homicide. Dink, who described himself as an optimist, often voiced the opinion that such recognition would happen - but later rather than sooner. However, he also thought that the pressures for reform, just like those for recognition, should come from the bottom up, rather than imposed from the top. This is perhaps why it is vital to try and encourage ordinary Turks to come face-to-face with their history, wrestle with it, and liberate themselves - and Armenians - from its debilitating hold. As the prize-winning Turkish author Kemal Yalçin stated once, I bow to the memory of Armenians and Assyrians who lost their lives on the road of deportation through planned killings. This is the great pain of our century, the stigma on the face of humanity. Your pain is my pain. I beg forgiveness from you and from mankind. This will not be easy, or quick, especially when the country and its press are still muzzled by noxious laws that oppose transparency. But it must be facilitated - or at least not opposed - by the top echelons. This is where Turkey today is also failing: denialist groups, such as the Association on Struggle Against Armenian Genocide Acknowledgement, should no longer be permitted to control the future agenda of civil society so the legal and political cultures of Turkey would transform gradually and Armenians, let alone Assyrians, Kurds and other minorities, could move forward in their legitimate quest for fundamental freedoms, rights and claims.

 

 

In an editorial, Dink described himself as a restless dove, adding that he was confident the people in Turkey would not touch or disturb doves. But a criminal hand both touched and disturbed this dove. Still, once the immediacy of his murder wanes from our short memories, we should not lose sight of the fact that he lost his life for his peaceful but insistent quest for inclusiveness, dialogue, recognition and reconciliation. I therefore suggest it is the duty of every Armenian and Turk to follow the optimistic path he charted in order to exorcise the ghosts of the past, build bridges for the future and pave the way toward mutual understanding. We witnessed an unusual glimpse of such optimism last week, so could we possibly try to help recreate it? Could we perhaps prove that doves would still flutter in Turkey today?

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

I heard this answer before but from female.

 

 

hyeforum is not what you been looking for.

 

you seem to be lost on your way to a whorehouse.