Assassination Of Hrant Dink

[Arpa]

Yes Yervant. Now we are to celebrate Qarsun or yev Qarsun Gisher “harsanik? We will sing and dance the “halay” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfuQ4noMUjQ all over Hrant Dink’s “dead” body.

----

To quote from the Marash Dialect

Պէրմէրս էսէօր իժոմ** գնոց,

Տուն ու տեղը հէփ մեզ մընոց,

Պէօլմէճան*** տոռն է պոց մընաց,

Իկէք հարստէք ալոյ քէշինք

---

Կեսուրըս այսօր ժամ** գնաց

Տունն ու տեղը լման մեզ մնաց

Մառանի դուռն ալ բաց մնաց

Եկէք հարսներ "ալայ " քաշենք

----

My mother in law went to church today

House and home is left to us all ,

The pantry door is left all open.

Come on all brides, let’s dance the “halay”.

** Ժամ church

*** Pantry, maran/մառան http://beautifulwork.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/pantry.jpg

 

 

Did you see this?

Dink hit man Samast marries in jail

The teenage killer of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was married on Thursday at the Kandıra F-type Prison in the northwestern province of Kocaeli, where he is serving his prison sentence.

The hit man, Ogün Samast, and 19-year-old Selma Şahin's marriage was performed by the muhtar (local headman) of the village of Akçakese, near where the prison located, while the witnesses of the ceremony were prison employees. The wedding was reportedly attended by Şahin's relatives, who came from Giresun, Şahin's hometown.

Akçaköy muhtar Mevlüt Akdeniz noted that they received the application for the marriage two weeks ago, saying: “Following the legal procedures, we went to the prison. I presided over the ceremony, which was witnessed by employees of the prison. The girl said they were engaged six months ago.”

05.02.2010

News

TODAY’S ZAMAN

Edited February 5, 2010 by Arpa

[Yervant1]

Yes Yervant. Now we are to celebrate Qarsun or yev Qarsun Gisher “harsanik? We will sing and dance the “alai” all over Hrant Dink’s “dead” body.

Did you see this?

Yes I did see the headline, didn't bother reading, may he roth in hell for qarsun tari.

[Arpa]

The contest is on at the LIARS' CLUB in StanBULL.

The police FORGOT to INVITE??

What language does that “ermeni” witness speak? Zimbabweian? Maybe Martian?

And, this is the kind of faex populi we are negotiating with???

http://news.am/en/news/13975.html

Secret witness on Dink’s case — Armenian

12:07 / 02/10/2010

Another oddity occurred in the court trial on murder of Agos daily chief editor and renowned Armenian publicist Hrant Dink. The regular hearing started February 8 was adjourned. Secret witness was not brought for the hearing. According to the judge, policeman forgot to invite the secret witness into the courtroom.

According to Aksam daily, policemen forgot about both a witness and an interpreter. Hearings were already adjourned for such neglects several times, however no one admits the fault. Istanbul police claimed they received no instruction to invite the witness in.

Attendance of secret witness will definitely register significant breakthrough in the case, as he testified that was at crime scene and saw the murderer and his accomplice, plus other details. It has become known that the witness was Armenian.

Chairman of 14th Istanbul court on grave crimes Erkan Canak informed that they forgot to find interpreter as witness does not speak Turkish well, adding that both the witness and interpreter will undoubtedly attend the next hearing.

A.G

See also ;

http://hyeforum.com/index.php?showtopic=17488&pid=263774&st=0entry263774

Edited February 11, 2010 by Arpa

[Yervant1]

JOURNALIST KEMAL GOKTAS: POLICE KNEW ABOUT DINK MURDER PLOT

 

/PanARMENIAN.Net/

17.02.2010 13:30 GMT+04:00

 

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Kemal Goktas, a correspondent for Vatan daily in

Ankara, told an Istanbul court Tuesday that the Istanbul Police

Department knew about the plot to assassinate Turkish-Armenian

journalist, Agos newspaper editor Hrant Dink but did not take any

precautions.

 

In a hearing at Istanbul's 2nd Court of First Instance, Goktas, who is

being tried for revealing secret documents and jeopardizing the state's

police department, said that the Trabzon Police Department had informed

the Istanbul Police Department about the plans for Dink's murder.

 

"Then Intelligence Chief Ramazan Akyurek and the Istanbul Police

Department filed a criminal complaint against me for publishing the

document. This document showed how Hrant Dink was going to be murdered

and [proved that] police knew it beforehand. It shows that a group

headed by Yasin Hayal plotted to kill Dink," Goktas said.

 

In his book titled "Hrant Dink's Murder - Media, Judiciary and State",

Goktas had revealed how the Istanbul Police Department ignored warnings

from the Trabzon Police Department about Dink's murder.

 

Goktas, who is facing a three-to-five-year prison sentence, also said

Akyurek did not take steps to prevent the murder.

 

Meanwhile, 19 police officers, including Akyurek, that were charged

with negligence in the investigation into the Dink assassination have

been cleared by a report drafted by Interior Ministry investigators,

Today's Zaman reported.

 

Hrant Dink (September 15, 1954 - January 19, 2007) was a

Turkish-Armenian journalist, columnist and editor-in-chief of

Agos bilingual newspaper. Dink was best known for advocating

Turkish-Armenian reconciliation and human and minority rights in

Turkey. Charged under the notorious article 301 of the Turkish

Criminal Code, Dink stood a trial for insulting Turkishness. After

numerous death threats, Hrant Dink was assassinated in Istanbul in

January 2007, by Ogun Samast, a Turkish nationalist.

[Sovereign]

Armenians,

This concerns you only if you're a real Armenian and not one of the disgusting multitudes who use their "Armenian-ness" just to make money by making connections. It's a fact that both Democrats and Republicans are in bed with the Turks. They are military and political allies with the Turks. (Both Turks and the US are NATO allies and in the case of a war between Armenia and Turkey, the US will be on the side of the Turks.) Yes, a few of them are designated to play good cop, bad cop long enough to obtain campaign contributions and votes from Armenian-Americans until the elections are over. Don't pretend that you don't know. Stop being self-hating and show some courage. Only a third political party can be truly sympathetic to the Armenian cause. Support one of them and be associated with the future of this country instead of its treasonous past, i.e., the Democrats and the Republicans -- who also betrayed the American people as you've seen throughout the banking and real estate debacles. YOU CAN AT LEAST STOP SUPPORTING OUR ENEMIES, THE DEMOCRATS AND THE REPUBLICANS by not voting for them and not giving them campaign contributions, can't you? (And you know that if an Armenian-American calls himself a democrat or a republican than he's corrupt and NOT a real Armenian.) Armenian; if you want to be able to call yourself a human being, this is what you must do. Otherwise, you're no better the vermin that Turks and establishment Americans think that you are.

[MosJan]

 

Dink Lawyer Found Hanged in Apparent Suicide

[ 2010/06/04 | 14:10 ] diaspora

Kristine AghalaryanHakan Karadag, a lawyer for the family of Hrant Dink, was found hanged in his Istanbul apartment earlier this morning in what appears to be a suicide. Hetq has been told by editors at Agos that the cause of death has been ruled as a suicide.

 

According to witnesses, a friend of the deceased broke down the door of the apartment after not hearing from Karadag for a few days. The body was taken to the Forensic Council of Medicine for an autopsy. During the last court session in the Hrant Dink murder case, Karadag presented evidence against Ogun Samast. The attorney reported that afterwards Samast slipped a threatening note in his pocket. Karadag then filed a complaint with the judge.

 

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

Erdogan and Turkish army have agreed on closing Dink's case

 

14:24 - 09.07.10

 

 

Turkish authorities, part of the army in favor of the status quo and

the judiciary want to conceal those responsible for the assassination

of Hrant Dink, former chief editor of an Istanbul-based bilingual

daily Agos, reports local Turkish news agency ANF, citing the Dink

family's lawyers Fethiye Cetin and Gurai Dag.

 

Mentioning that the revelation of those responsible for the killing of

Hrant Dink is hampered both by political authorities and judicial

system, Cetin said that the case has been sent to the European Court

of Human Rights, and they are waiting now for an answer.

Dag in turn said that the court wants to close down the case as soon

as possible.

 

`What they want is to sentence the three suspects and in that way

close down the case without disclosure of the main [people]

responsible.'

 

Further ANF mentions that the next court hearing on Dink's case will

take place on July 12.

 

Three and a half year has passed now since the killing of Dink, but no

serious progress has been made so far.

[Aratta-Kingdom]

TURKISH JOURNALIST FACES IMPRISONMENT FOR COLUMN ABOUT DINK CASE

 

PanARMENIAN.Net

July 13, 2010 - 16:41 AMT 11:41 GMT

 

Hopes are dimming for justice in the murder of Turkish-Armenian

journalist Hrant Dink as the 14th hearing in the case is held in

Istanbul, with family members, lawyers and supporters saying the

investigation has been lacking, Hurriyet Daily News reports.

 

Expressing some of the same concerns Daily News columnist Cengiz

Candar is now facing a prison sentence of between one and three years

for a column about the case.

 

Expectations for the high-profile Dink trial have fallen as suspects

in the case have repeatedly been released, leaving just three men

under arrest, a friend of Dink said.

 

"The demands of the Dink family's lawyers from the court have not been

met thus far. Even the man on the street knows there are more people

behind this murder than these three suspects, but they are not here,"

said Hayko Bagdat, first Armenian who broadcasts a critical radio

program in Turkey.

 

The next hearing in the Dink case has been postponed until Oct. 25.

 

In a February column published in daily Referans and the Daily News,

Candar had expressed some of the same concerns as Bagdat. "No justice

comes, or can come, out of that [court] room. The Hrant Dink case

proceeds with such frivolity that it is impossible to expect justice

from such recklessness," Candar wrote in his column titled "Hrant and

'justice' being ridiculed," in which he criticized the court for,

among other things, "forgetting to bring in the most critical witness."

 

Candar is facing a prison sentence on charges of "insulting a public

officer." In his testimony to the prosecutor in charge of press crimes,

who summoned him to testify in the spring, Candar said his column

did not include any insult and that he held no personal hostility

toward the court. He added that even the judge allegedly insulted by

his column had agreed with the conclusion that the courtroom lacked

decorum and felt no need to proceed with the charges.

 

Undeterred, the prosecutor filed the case on behalf of the judge. A

court in Istanbul's Bakirkoy district accepted the indictment, but

postponed Candar's initial hearing to a new trial date of Dec. 13.

 

"It's rubbish, what can I say?" Candar said. "That in Turkey, in the

year 2010, this kind of threat should hang over freedom of expression

is clearly ridiculous."

 

Dink's family has spoken out in support of Candar. The indictment

opened against the columnist shows "the shameful face of Turkey,"

Dink's widow, Rakel Dink, said.

 

"Not the criminals but those who denounce the criminals are tried

in this country," said Fethiye Cetin, a lawyer for the Dink family,

referring to Candar's case. "Not the crime or the criminal but those

who write about it are tried. This shows us how justice works in

this country."

 

Arzu Becerik, another lawyer for the Dink family said: "Everyone knows

that those who ordered the murder are not [being tried] here. This is

proven in many ways, but unfortunately those who voice these truths

are punished."

 

 

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

HRANT DINK MURDER CASE: EYEWITNESS TESTIMONY CONTRADICTORY

 

news.am

July 13 2010

Armenia

 

The former policeman, one of the witnesses in the Hrant Dink murder

case, gave contradictory evidence about Ogun Samast at the July 12

court sitting.

 

One of the arrestees, Cavit Kılıc, said that on the murder day Ogun

Samast talked to five or six persons by means of MSN for two hours

and a half. However, he could not name the persons.

 

After Samast left the Internet club a shot was heard. Kılıc looked

out of the window to see Samast running away and crying he had

killed someone.

 

According to him, after the murder policemen entered the Internet club

and removed all the information from the computer. The information,

however, was not provided to the court.

 

The judge reminded the attendees that after Dink's murder Cavit Kılıc

told the police that Samast had not entered the Internet club at all,

he was not acquainted with Samast. In response, Kılıc said he did

not remember.

 

A 100-member group of Dink's friends gathered in front of the court

and held an action of protest against attempts to conceal the facts

about Hrant Dink's murder. One of the participants, Bulent Aydin,

pointed out that their slogan "For Justice, for Hrant" has been renamed

"For Hrant, for Hrant."

 

One of Hrant Dink's friends, Hyako Bagdat, read out Dink's last message

addressed to him. Dink expected the year 2007 to be a difficult one

for him. He did not know what injustice he was to suffer.

 

Hrant Dink was murdered on January 19, 2007. The trial has not yet

found answers to the key questions.

 

The lawyers of Hrant Dink's family stated on July 12 that the Turkish

authorities and military are trying to conceal the murderers and get

the case dismissed.

[Yervant1]

EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS FINDS TURKEY GUILTY

 

news.am

Aug 23 2010

Armenia

 

The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has found Turkey

guilty of failing to prevent the murder of Editor of the Agos daily

Hrant Dink and properly conduct an investigation to disclose the crime.

 

The Turkey-based Milliyet daily reports the Court verdict will be

published in the press this September.

 

Hrant Dink was accused of violating notorious Article 301 of the

Turkish criminal code, "insulting Turkishness," which set the scene for

the murder. The causes celèbres were the ones involving Orhan Pamuk,

one of the most prominent Turkish novelists and winner of the Nobel

Prize in Literature, and Hrant Dink. The former had to leave Turkey,

the latter was assassinated near his office in Istanbul in January

2007. As it turned out later, both police and gendarmerie were well

informed of the planned crime.

 

Turkish officials' actions show they expected the European Court

of Human Rights to sustain Hrant Dink's family claim. To justify

themselves, Turkish officials issued certain statements.

 

During his visit to Baku the Turkish President stated the Government

had not taken necessary measures to prevent the crime. A few days

later he invited Dink's brother to his residence.

 

Turkish FM Ahmet Davutoglu tried to justify himself by stating he

had not been informed of or signed the speech for the defense the

Turkish Government sent to the European Court. In that document Dink

was described as a neonazi.

[Arpa]

EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS FINDS TURKEY GUILTY

---

The Turkey-based Milliyet daily reports the Court verdict will be

published in the press this September.

----

Hrant Dink was accused of violating notorious Article 301 of the

Turkish criminal code, "insulting Turkishness," which set the scene for

the murder.

---

Turkish FM Ahmet Davutoglu tried to justify himself by stating he

had not been informed of or signed the speech for the defense the

Turkish Government sent to the European Court. In that document Dink

was described as a neonazi.

What is his name agian "dav-IT-oglu"?

Yes, of course Hrant and his ancestors collaborated with the kinds of this dog, not only once, twice...:

 

See what "IT" means in their non-language

Edited August 26, 2010 by Arpa

[Stormig]

http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/columnists-222200-the-hrant-dink-award.html

 

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

ANDREW FINKEL

The Hrant Dink Award

Any regular reader of this column -- or indeed anyone who has read it more than once -- will appreciate that while I sometimes take a stab at being sentimental, it is not really what I do best. So I am at a loss at how to describe the ceremony I attended the other night in İstanbul.

 

It was to bestow the second annual award named after the Turkish-Armenian editor Hrant Dink. “The award is presented to two people from inside and outside Turkey,” or so the rubric runs “who work for a world free of discrimination, racism and violence, take personal risks for their ideals, use the language of peace, and by doing so, inspire and encourage others.” It took place on Sept. 15, the day of Hrant’s birthday, and not Jan. 19, the day that he was slain. This, I take to mean, is that it is designed to commemorate his work and not to mourn his sacrifice. Yet the truth of the matter is that I found the occasion terribly, terribly sad.

I am sure I have succumbed in the past to the temptation of claiming a friendship with Hrant and to be affected by his death in order to justify my own opinions. “This is what Hrant thought,” I argued -- and so it has to be so. It is true that I liked him as a person and respected his opinions. I interviewed him once in detail and would phone to ask his view on this or that; but our lives did not intersect all that much and, if pushed, I would have to describe him as a colleague or acquaintance. I did write a public letter once protesting the cruel imbecility of the court sentence he received for insulting Turkishness and I am proud of my reward -- a big bear hug the next time he saw me. This, oddly enough, was at the trial of Orhan Pamuk, where Hrant was baited by the ultranationalist crowd in the street outside. I associate that hug with the one I received from the Armenian patriarch, Mesrob II, at Hrant’s funeral, his body wracked with sobs. That was the last time I saw Mesrob as well. He now suffers from a wasting illness.

 

So perhaps I was being indulgent in feeling maudlin, not uplifted, by the packed auditorium last Wednesday who applauded the modest speech delivered by Hrant’s widow Rakel. She lingered only to thank Tuba Çandar, the author of a new biography of her husband. I enjoyed, but did not sway to the beat of Arto Tunçboyacıyan -- joyous and as much Soweto as Yerevan. In all, it was a well-crafted event: entertaining with no dreary protocol speeches to distract from the purpose of the occasion. Only at the end, with a delightful bit of footage of Hrant tiptoeing back to pick up the award he left on the podium of another international award ceremony, was any sentimentality allowed to creep in that risked triggering the grief so near the surface.

 

It took one of the recipients of the award, the Spanish jurist Baltasar Garzón Real, to mention the elephant in the auditorium -- the recent ruling of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) that mocked the Turkish courts’ willful misreading of Hrant’s own writing that resulted in his conviction and, ultimately, death. The ECtHR has also reprimanded the Turkish state for failing to protect a life they knew was in danger. Real is the Spanish judge who tried to extradite Gen. Augusto Pinochet from Britain and who is now under suspension for exceeding his authority in trying to pursue now pardoned crimes committed under the Franco regime. It is not accidental that the committee chose to award a combatant in the battle against Spain’s deep state. The national winners were the Conscientious Objectors Movement in Turkey -- an organization whose existence, I confess, I was unaware of, but whose “covenant to fight against militarism and speak the language of peace” fit the mood of the evening. “With this award, from now on, we have given a promise to Hrant,” said Mehmet Tarhan who accepted the prize.

 

For many outside the auditorium, it is not so much a case of keeping faith with the memory of Hrant Dink as avoiding the shame and embarrassment his memory evokes. And that is the saddest thing of all.

 

21.09.2010

Columnists

[Yervant1]

HRANT DINK AND GABRIELLE GIFFORDS

 

Today's Zaman

http://www.todayszaman.com/columnistDetail_getNewsById.action?newsId=232285

Jan 13 2011

Turkey

 

The bullet that went through the brain of US Congresswoman Gabrielle

Giffords appears to have penetrated the consciousness of American

political commentators and helped rouse the political establishment

from their own self-induced coma.

 

No one questions that the assailant is mentally unhinged (although

few seem to ask how such a person, rejected by the not exactly

finicky standards of the US Army recruiting sergeant, should have

found it so simple to purchase semi-automatic weapons). The picture

of the assailant, Jared Loughner, with his shaved head, bulging eyes

and wryly confident smile, is a snapshot of madness incarnate. The

question is whether the madness and vitriol brewed in his veins was

not stimulated by the viciousness of the political discourse in his

country. Political rhetoric "falls on the unhinged and the hinged

alike," said former President Bill Clinton in an appeal for a change

in the political climate. Others, including supporters of Tea Party

icon Sarah Palin, accuse liberals of trying to reap political capital

from the tragedy. America is trying to escape from the infinity mirror

of trying to discuss the polarization of its political rhetoric using

language that is itself tainted.

 

In order to do so, it has to escape from the clutches of those who

benefit from a society divided against itself or who feel far more

comfortable in a world divided between "us" and "them." It is what New

York Times commentator Paul Krugman described as "the market for anyone

willing to stoke that anger." And this brings the discussion round

to Turkey, another society believed to be experiencing a Kulturkampf

between secularism and religious observance, and one in which voices

of tolerance and constructive dialogue shout to be heard.

 

It is a society, too, which has witnessed violence and tragedy and

another bullet to the head that called into question the whole tone

of the political debate.

 

Next week marks the fourth anniversary of the assassination of the

Armenian newspaper editor Hrant Dink. As in the Tucson shooting,

the perpetrator was soon caught, although unlike in even a deep red

state like Arizona, the apprehending officers did line up to have

their photograph taken with the youth they regarded to be a hero. And,

as in America, much debate ensued over whether the assassination was

the work of one warped psyche or the product of an atmosphere of hate.

 

There are differences, however. In the case of Congresswoman Giffords

people might describe the atrocity as something waiting to happen. In

the case of editor Dink, it seems increasingly as if it were an

atrocity which the authorities wanted to happen.

 

The Dink family's lawyer, Fethiye Cetin, has produced a fourth

year report on his death which documents, with chilling and detached

detail, the conduct of individuals in public employ who appear to have

systematically targeted the editor for public vilification and then

stood with their hands in their pockets while the seeds of hatred took

root and nationalist thugs sought to punish Hrant Dink for imagined

offenses to their creed. Ms Giffords proved tragically prophetic in

condemning as incitement acts like the map posted by Sarah Palin's

team which had Giffords' Tucson electoral district in the crosshairs

of a rifle sight. Such acts "have consequences," she said at the time.

 

The far more deliberate targeting of Hrant Dink also had consequences.

 

And it is becoming increasingly clear that his being singled out was

not a bit of rhetorical excess, but part of a deliberate strategy

to provoke violence. In 2004 the editor was interviewed by the

deputy governor of Ä°stanbul about an article in which he identified

Ataturk's adopted daughter, the aviator and nationalist heroine Sabiha

Gökcen, as an Armenian orphaned in 1915. Present at the interview were

intelligence officers who were subsequently indicted in the Ergenekon

trials. Before his death, Hrant Dink wrote of being deliberately

targeted and yet four years after his body hit the pavement outside

his office, prosecutors are still looking the other way, trying not

to connect the dots. Even those who want to see Ergenekon succeed in

discrediting the military's opposition to the government, and who have

been busy constructing a flow chart of ever elaborate conspiracies,

are reluctant to notice the impunity with which Hrant Dink's death

was engineered. At the moment what seems to unite the two sides of

the Kulturkampf in Turkey is the desire to turn a blind eye. What

should unite them is a sense of justice.

[Aratta-Kingdom]

 

No One Is Hrant Dink: 96 Years of Solitude and 4 Years of the Same

 

AsbarezOnline

 

Four years after Armenian journalist Hrant Dink’s assassination on a street in Istanbul, I still have not reconciled myself with the “We are all Hrant Dink, We are all Armenian” mantra that thousands in Turkey chanted at Dink’s funeral, and hundreds of writers repeated in the months and years that followed. Speaking at a Dink memorial event in Boston a few days after his assassination, I was not simply pointing out the obvious when I said that no one is Hrant Dink. I only saw one man—lying bullet-ridden, face down, on the sidewalk. He was alone. Where were all the other Hrant Dinks then?

 

After that fateful day—out of guilt, anger, or resignation, I do not know—many in Turkey who knew Hrant became more vocal. And many who hadn’t known him now did, and their lives were affected profoundly. Yet, despite the outpouring of emotion and ink, despite the outrage in Turkey and beyond, and despite—or should I say because of—the incessant repetition of “We are all Hrant Dink, We are all Armenian,” Hrant is no less lonely today than he was four years ago on that sidewalk.

 

After all, the individuals responsible for the crime have not been apprehended, and the person who allegedly pulled the trigger is counting the days until his imminent release. Moreover, Hrant’s name is being employed as a seal of approval and justification for the words and deeds of many of his colleagues and acquaintances—as if having known Hrant exempts one from the responsibilities that come with being a public intellectual.

 

To cement this edifice of infallibility by association, it was necessary to posthumously grant Hrant himself the status of infallibility. Oftentimes, critique of some of Hrant’s words and deeds has been dismissed categorically, without examination, and considered an insult to his memory. Worse, some progressive writers and activists in Turkey present their projects and products to Armenians, Turks, and the rest of the world by branding them as endorsed by Hrant—and therefore outside the realm of criticism.

 

 

 

 

No one is Hrant Dink. Even Hrant Dink was sometimes not himself, because one cannot fully be oneself—as a public intellectual and, more importantly, as an Armenian—and get away with it in Turkey, where the pressure to tone discourse down, to criticize and lament within limits, to applaud the most insignificant act of dissidence as the paragon of heroism is overwhelming, insurmountable. No one, then, is Hrant Dink, and no one, by the way, is Armenian. Lecturing in air-conditioned rooms about the importance of Turkey confronting the past does not equip an intellectual or activist in Turkey today with the right to “share,” “feel,” and “understand” the pain of Armenians, and mourn their destruction and dispossession—let

 

alone be Armenians. Speaking in Istanbul on April 24 to a group of intellectuals and activists, the one message I tried to convey was the impossibility to share, feel, and understand—and, in the greater scheme of things, its unimportance. The Turkish national economy (milli ekonomi) was built to a considerable extent on the violent dispossession of Armenians. The power asymmetry between Turkey and Armenia today is a product of that dispossession. And the burden of dispossession makes words of sharing, feelings, and understanding ring hollow, no matter how genuine they are.

 

But there is a way forward. A true engagement with Armenians begins from the point of utter dispossession and humiliation—on the sands of Der Zor. It is time for citizens of Turkey to leave the air-conditioned halls and walk in Der Zor in remembrance and commemoration; and then contemplate meaningful steps of addressing and redressing the Armenian Genocide and its consequences.

 

 

[vartan24]

This song HyePower talks about Hrant Dink's assasination:

[vartan24]

This song HyePower talks about Hrant Dink's assasination:

 

 

The name of the Ergenekon Street turned to Hrant Dink Street

 

 

This is an old story. The street is very close to AGOS and the erea was an old non-muslim settlement. ( Old name is Tatavla, a Greek name) But after republic step by step some street names changed, I dont know exactly when the street's name turned to Ergenekon, but there are some reliable resources about this issue in Turkish.If you want we can look at them and find exact date -probably in 70's or maybe earlier. Ergenekon is one of the famous stories originated from central-Asian Turkish mythology and nationalist are giving too much importance to this kind of things - and you know the trial in Turkey in the same name aginst a dark group called themselves as Ergenekon inside the army and the state bureaucracy which tried to realize a coup d'etat a few years ago, too many people believe -and actually know- that Dink suicide is a part of their works. One other example, Bozkurt (grey-wolf), it is another famous symbol for Turkish nationalism (very similar with Roman history). And another thing, this street is maybe 100 metres far from the point Hrant murdered.

[MosJan]

http://asbarez.com/97211/breaking-news-dink-murderer-sentenced-to-22-years/

 

 

BREAKING NEWS: Dink Murderer Sentenced to 22 Years

 

http://asbarez.com/App/Asbarez/eng/2011/07/0725dink.jpgDink murder suspect Ogun Samast

 

ISTANBUL (Hurriyet Daily News)—An Istanbul court sentenced the chief suspect in the 2007 assassination of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink to nearly 23 years in prison on Monday, Anatolian news agency reported.

 

The court condemned Ogün Samast to life in prison, but reduced the sentence to 21-and-a-half years since he was still a minor at the time of the 2007 murder. Samast also received an additional 16-month jail term for possession of an unlicensed weapon.

 

Samast was 17 and unemployed when he shot the journalist, who had angered nationalists with his articles on Armenians in Turkey.

 

Dink was the editor of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos. He was shot in broad daylight as he left his office in Istanbul’s Şişli district.

 

 

[MosJan]

 

HRANT DINK'S 57TH ANNIVERSARY ON SEPTEMBER 15

 

"1.500.000+1" Fatherland - Diaspora Cultural Bridge" NGO organizes an event dedicated to the 57th anniversary of Hrant Dink at the hall after A. Babajanian on September 15, the NGO reports. There will be a concert program during the event. Some of the works to be presented have been written especially for that day. Charles Aznavour, Alik Sargsyan and others are to be awarded with "Avetis Aharonyan" gold medal during the even

[Yervant1]

FIVE YEARS HAVE PASSED: "ALL OF US ARE HRANT DINK"

 

http://times.am/?l=en&p=3663

12.01.12, 17:16

 

January 19, 2012 is the fifth anniversary of murder of Armenian-Turkish

journalist, editor of the "Akos" weekly Hrant Dink.

 

According to Turkish media Dink's friends are going to hold a march

to the place where he was killed, at the editorial office of "Akos"

weekly. Dink's friends have also released an announcement on the issue.

 

The announcement especially says:

 

"On January 19, 2007 Hrant Dink was killed. Five years have passed but

no one can convince us that this murder was planned and fulfilled just

by two-three people. People who warned Dink, who ordered his murder

now have thrown the whole responsibility from their shoulders and now

mock our pain. We do not want the predicted judge process, we do not

want to see the punishment of the people who have just shot at Dink.

 

We have more to do. Every person who has a conscience have lived with

a great pain during these five years. If we forget about this we will

kill our friend once more, we will let new murders take place.

 

We must come together and must claim "this court trial will end then

we consider it is ended".

 

Even if 95 years are passed all of us are Hrant, all of us are

Armenians.

 

We are Hrant's friends, we are for Hrant", the announcement says.

 

Remind that Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink was killed on

January 19, 2007. 17 years old Oygun Samast was arrested as he was

suspended in the murder. He was sentenced with 21 years old on summer,

2011. Court trial on Dink's murder is continued till now.

[Yervant1]

TRIAL PROCESS 'COMEDY' - FETHIYE CETIN

 

Panorama.am

18/01/2012

 

The ruling on Hrant Dink's murder angered supporters of Dink who said

the trial failed to shed light on the alleged connections between

the murder and Turkish state officials, Radio Liberty reported.

 

Dink family's lawyer, Fethiye Cetin, slammed the ruling, saying it

meant that a "state tradition of political murders" was deliberately

left intact because it did not deal with accusations of state

involvement in the 2007 murder.

 

"Those who feel uneasy about the state being depicted as killing its

own people -- being murderers, assassins -- have done nothing to clear

[the state's] name," Cetin said. "They have squandered the chance

they had in hand."

 

She said the trial failed to shed light on "the darkness" - alleged

connections between the suspects and some state officials.

 

This case is not over ... for us this case is just starting," said

Cetin, vowing to appeal the verdict and likening the trial process to a

"comedy."

 

A panel of judges found Yasin Hayal guilty of instigating Dink's

killing, and gave him the life term despite a plea by a prosecutor that

the court should sentence seven of the suspects to life in prison,

including Erhan Tuncel - who until now has been portrayed as another

key instigator.

[MosJan]

Astvats Hogin Lusavori

[Yervant1]

TENS OF THOUSANDS IN TURKEY DENOUNCE ARMENIAN JOURNALIST RULING

 

www.worldbulletin.net

Jan 19 2012

Turkey

 

Outrage grows over the trial that failed to shed light on alleged

official negligence or even collusion.

 

Tens of thousands of people gathered in Ä°stanbul's Taksim Square on

Thursday to mark the fifth anniversary of Turkish-Armenian journalist

Hrant Dink's murder as outrage grows over a trial that failed to shed

light on alleged official negligence or even collusion.

 

Dink's family, friends and human rights organizations placed red

carnations on the spot where Dink was shot dead in Ä°stanbul, outside

the office of the Armenian newspaper he was editor-in-chief of, Agos.

 

Protesters, estimated to number 40,000, marched from Taksim Square

to Agos' office in Halaskargazi Street "for justice," a call shared

by Turkish leaders and leading businessmen who expressed unease with

this week's sentencing of one man to life in prison for masterminding

the killing, while another 18 were acquitted of charges of acting on

a terrorist organization's orders.

 

Many people carried black banners that read: "We are all Hrant,

we are all Armenian."

 

Journalist and writer Karin KarakaÅ~_lı, who is from Turkey's

Armenian community, read a press statement on behalf of the group

from the window of Agos, and slammed Tuesday's ruling.

 

"We want an end to this shame," she said, referring to the

five-year-long trial which has failed to shed light on the masterminds

behind the murder. "They are telling us that the [case] file has been

closed. The Dink case is not a file that can be closed. The Dink case

is a wound," she continued.

 

Protesters marching past the site of the killing carried banners that

read: "This case cannot finish like this." A black marble plaque

marking the spot bore the solemn words in Turkish and Armenian:

"Hrant Dink was killed here."

 

Dink was shot dead on Jan. 19, 2007 by the ultranationalist youth

Ogun Samast outside the offices of his newspaper in Ä°stanbul in broad

daylight. Even though five years have passed since his assassination,

Dink family lawyers and civil society organizations have long remained

concerned that evidence relating to the real perpetrators of the crime

is still being covered up and that even if the court's ruling punishes

the hit men, the public's sense of justice will not be satisfied.

 

Cihan

 

View photos at

http://www.worldbulletin.net/?aType=haber&ArticleID=84528

[Azat]

http://twitpic.com/895ad3

[Yervant1]

DINK CASE IS ACTUALLY CONFRONTATION WITH 1915 EVENTS

ERGUN BABAHAN

 

Today's Zaman

Jan 20 2012

Turkey

 

Tens of thousands of people that come together in Ä°stanbul's Å~^iÅ~_li

district every year, disregarding rainy or chilly weather, clearly

indicate that the murder of Hrant Dink caused a social trauma.

 

Consciences are wounded because even those who followed the case via

the newspapers see the Turkish state had a finger in the murder, and

that the state has busted a gut to hide its involvement in the murder.

 

The protestors realize this case is a small-scale repetition of the

1915 events. Similarly, a group of people who wanted to save the

country decided on the deportation of all Armenians, including women

and children, in 1915. The decision to deport hundreds of thousands

of people from Turkey was tantamount to killing them because of the

long journey.

 

When the truth about the deportation came out, there was a huge uproar

in the West but ending World War I was everyone's main concern.

 

Members of the Committee of Union and Progress who saw the Ottoman

Empire governors toppled meticulously destroyed the documents

concerning the deportation of Armenians. They were the key element

of the new regime that was founded in Turkey within a republic system.

 

On the one hand, the Republic denied and rejected the remnants of the

Ottoman Empire, and it tried to remove the language and traditions

of the Ottoman Empire. On the other hand, it tried to make people

forget about this massacre.

 

Murders carried out by ASALA, an Armenian terrorist group, were

needed to readdress the forgotten Armenian issue. However, the main

confrontation started in the last five years.

 

The fact that the military tutelary lost power and its effect on

academicians and the media world paved the way for this issue to be

studied and investigated, and discussed freely.

 

Hrant was murdered because he pointed out the massacre. In the lead-up

to his murder, first, issues were broadcast that caused Hrant Dink to

be perceived as "an enemy of Turks" in the opinion of general public.

 

And a sentence of imprisonment was given to him. Now, the clues

indicating this horrible cooperation are being found one by one.

 

People in streets can clearly see the process of cooperation that

started with Veli Kucuk and Kemal Kerincsiz and extended to the

columnists of big newspapers. People now see through the state better.

 

The murder indicates the existence of a gangster state that doesn't

abstain from killing its own citizens because of their ethnic or

religious origins and sees human as pawns that may be manipulated

for its goals.

 

Within the state, there are still remnants of this understanding that

started with the toppling of the Ottoman sultans in the past and moved

on to the killings of citizens that stood against the impositions

of the state in the republican era. This mindset still exists among

police, in the gendarmerie, judiciary, media and universities.

 

Eliminating this mindset will not be easy, but the scenes we saw

in the streets of Å~^iÅ~_li on Thursday indicated that thousands of

people, who are neither interested nor not interested in politics,

are for confrontation and eliminating this mindset.

 

These people, who cried as they heard Hrant's favorite Armenian

ballads and demanded the people responsible for the murder of Armenian

intellectuals in 1915 be called to account, featured the voice of

humanity in Å~^iÅ~_li. This was a crowd of people that had learned

that corruption and dark games occurred in the recent past. This

was a crowd that had learned about the corruption of this structure,

which calls itself a state.

 

We are more bothered by the murder of Hrant than the murder of other

intellectuals.

 

We know the murderers of Ugur Mumcu and Cetin Emec couldn't be found.

 

However, the fact that the murder of Hrant has attempted to be hushed

up wounds our feelings. It's because, deep inside, we know this isn't

only about killing a person, but it is the last of a series of murders

that has been going on for 100 years. Therefore, this case will not

be closed here.

[Yervant1]

THE UNIVERSITY OF HRANT DINK

 

Today's Zaman

Jan 20 2012

Turkey

 

One of the best ways to show our respect to the memory of Hrant Dink,

his personality and work is to give his name to a university in Turkey.

 

This is better than naming a few streets and a park after him. I am

not even sure if this much has been done. Names of other prominent

personalities such as Ugur Mumcu who were brutally assassinated have

been given to several streets, parks and neighborhoods, but it is

impossible to find Dink's name on any Turkish map.

 

As far as I could learn from Google, the Å~^iÅ~_li Municipal Council

agreed to name a street after Hrant Dink, but Google Maps and the

Ä°stanbul Greater Municipality's official map do not know of any

street by this name. When an ethnic Turk or Muslim is murdered, you

can easily name places, streets and so on after them, but when the

murdered person is a citizen of Armenian origin, nobody cares. Is this

not strange? My question is of course rhetorical and this attitude

towards Dink's memory is of course not strange. Let me repeat what I

keep writing in this column: We are all children of Kemalistan. One

of the vital ramifications of this inherent, genetically transferred

cultural disease is either our transparent or latent nationalism.

 

Even an overwhelming majority of practicing Muslims or leftists in

Kemalistan suffer from nationalism, which only in extremely rare and

exceptional cases is close to benign patriotism or positive inclusive

nationalism, and even this is dangerous, as the boundary between this

and crude nationalism is always blurred.

 

There are maybe millions in Turkey who sincerely respect Dink's memory

and are very sorry for his loss. Nevertheless, either keeping his

memory alive by naming streets and places after him has either not

entered these people's minds or they are afraid to push for putting

it into practice. In this country, we love to keep changing street

and place names either because of a sickness of cultural-historical

amnesia imposed by the Kemalists in a top-down fashion or because

in a polarized society every new municipal government changes street

and place names from whom they dislike and replaces them with their

ideological relatives.

 

In some sad cases, the word ideological simply, but of course

deliberately, drops from the expression and "ideological relatives"

neatly becomes "relatives." In even sadder cases, administrators

prefer to name streets and places after themselves. I remember reading

in the newspapers that there were not only one or two but several

street names named after the mayor in Ä°stanbul's Eyup district a

few years ago. If I was not afraid of being attacked by our blind

Justice and Development Party (AKP)-lover friends and colleagues,

I would also mention how brazen-faced the AKP is being by changing

the name of Rize University to Recep Tayyip Erdogan University. Yet,

let us play safe and say "nevermind."

 

If we really would like to respect Dink's memory and teach our

younger future generations our modern political history, we must

name a university, I would prefer it to be a new one, the Hrant Dink

University. In this university, only arts, humanities, journalism

and social sciences would be taught and they would be taught in a

"Dinkian" spirit, focusing on shared experiences, tackling amnesia and

employing memory, intercultural dialogue, multiculturalism, the Ottoman

pluralistic experience that was brutally assassinated by nationalists

(Turks and others), anti-nationalism and human rights.

 

We must do it to seek forgiveness from Allah for our sin of not doing

much to protect a member of a minority group who was entrusted to

us by Allah. Readers of this column who are practicing Muslims will

recognize what I mean. It should be added for the pragmatic minded

that this will also positively contribute to both Turkey's soft power

and its aspiration to be a role model.