Assassination Of Hrant Dink

Yervant1 · September 16, 2014

HE MADE TURKISH INTELLECTUALS THINK OF ARMENIAN CAUSE: HRANT DINK WOULD TURN 60 TODAY

18:31 * 15.09.14

Chief Editor of the Agos monthly, the only Armenian-Turkish periodical
published in Turkey, Hrant Dink would turn 60 today.

In an interview with Tert.am, Chief Editor of the Turkey-based Marmara
daily Rober Hattechyan said that Hrant Dink was able to get the
Armenian Cause put on the Turkish agenda. By speaking of the Armenian
Cause bravely on numerous occasions, he made Turkish intellectuals
start thinking of the Armenian Cause, whereas they had not had their
own stance on the issue before.

"I think that was Hrant Dink's greatest service. And during that
period he made both friends and enemies, who were concerned over his
speeches. That was actually the cause of his tragic fate. Dink used
to make quite interesting statements, and I can frankly say that I did
not agree with all of his conceptions. But sometimes he would prepare
such materials - no one else would ever think of - that I would have
been happy to write further articles about that in my newspaper."

Mr Hattechyan recalls Hrank Dink's statements that had the greatest
impact on him.

"Once he said: 'Yes, we have our eyes set on the Turkish land - not
to capture it, but to lie under it.' That was a rather symbolic word,
and I should say that our wish is not only to lie under, but also
to live a happy life in this land. We want justice, but Dink's word
had a different meaning, and it evoked wide response. And now many
newspapers writing about him have to quote his words because they
had a great impact on public opinion in Turkey."

As to whether any Turkish intellectuals are continuing Hrank Dink's
cause, Mr Hattechyan said that some Armenian young people can continue
Dink's cause in Turkey with zeal.

On the other hand, Tiran Loqmagozyan, who once worked for the Agos,
told Tert.am that he does not see any person in Turkey who could be
a second Hrant Dink.

"The problem is that many people are making use of Hrant's name, even
people espousing fascist ideologies are making use of his thoughts. I
am speaking of both Armenians and Turks. But I think they do not have
even little in common with Hrant," he said.

As regards Hrant Dink's impact on the public opinion in Turkey Mr
Loqmagozyan said that he did not have any serious impact on Turkey's
70-million-strong population. However, he did have serious impact
on certain circles, making them change their opinion on the Armenian
Cause.

"He changed something with his death. That is, things progressed more
rapidly. But if he lived on, he would have been able to get something
changed for a longer period. I would like to note that Hrant Dink
did not speak of Armenians' problems alone. As a humanist, he spoke
of Turks' problems as well. By means of his newspaper he would defend
the rights of the afflicted. He was a straightforward person. He did
not think of what he was saying and where and thus made enemies in
certain circles. On the other hand, he made many friends."

Mr Loqmagozyan noted that many other people spoke of the problems
existing in Turkey as well. However, Hrant Dink was an Armenian,
and his voice was better heard.

"No Armenian had been so outspoken since the Armenian Genocide. He
thought that he could speak out because he was saying the truth. He
thought Turkey was changing, but, unfortunately, we have seen nothing
is changing. He was an Armenian and a citizen of Turkey and he wanted
Turkey to become a democratic country, where both Turks and Armenians
would live a good life. He was always focused on the Armenian Cause
and used to speak of that."

One of Hrant Dink's most important thoughts was:

"This is Genocide, even if, back in 1915, you had transported Armenians
by gold airplanes. You cut the people off its roots."

http://www.tert.am/en/news/2014/09/15/dink/

Yervant1 · January 18, 2015

PRESS RELEASE
AGBU Europe
Email: contact@agbueurope.org
Tel: + 32 2 761 12 17
GSM: + 32 495 77 08 67
Web: http://www.agbueurope.org/

Ana.gallego-mesas@europarl.europa.eu

On January 19, 2007, the journalist Hrant Dink was assassinated in Istanbul.

His assassination was the culmination of a decade-long campaign of
harassment by the country's authorities, by the military and by
extremist groups. But it triggered an unprecedented upswell of
solidarity and pro-democracy activism in Turkey after more than 100
000 attended his funeral.

Today, Dink has become an icon of the movement for civil liberties in
Turkey and in Europe. His memory serves as a beacon for intellectuals,
activists and a wider public to challenge prejudice and intolerant
nationalism. Hrant Dink was an Armenian, in a country where Armenians
have long lived in fear. He was a journalist, in a country where, more
than ever free-thinking journalists are subject to pressures and
persecution. And as an advocate of peace, he was reviled by
nationalists.

After his death, Dink's family and friends established a foundation
that has since continued and broadened his work in Turkey for civil
liberties, for the rights of minorities and for peaceful relations
with neighbours, particularly Armenia.

2015 will mark the 10th anniversary of the start of Turkey's acession
negotiations and the Centenary of the start of the Armenian
Genocide. The commemoration on January 21 will provide an opportunity
to invoke Hrant Dink's intellectual and political legacy, and to take
stock of the situation of the movement for civil rights and tolerance
that his assassination helped to start.
SPEAKERS
Frank Engel, MEP
Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, MEP, Vice-President of the European Parliament
Rakel Dink, President of the Hrant Dink Foundation (Istanbul)
Alexis Govciyan, President of AGBU Europe
Claude Moraes, MEP, Chairman of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs of the European Parliament
Benjamin Abtan, President, European Anti-racism Grassroot Movement
Levent Sensever, Coordinator, DurDe! (Istanbul)

For more information:
Ani Paitjan - contact@agbueurope.eu
Phone number: +32 2 761 12 17

Yervant1 · January 20, 2015

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A Wish for Aladdin and the Future of Atonement

By Eric Nazarian on January 19, 2015

The following is the text of the speech given by Eric Nazarian in Ankara, Turkey, on Jan. 17, 2015, for the conference, ‘1915, Hrant and Justice.’ Henry Theriault, chair of the Philosophy Department at Worcester State College, also participated in the conference.

Thank you for being here today and for inviting me. When I was a kid I loved the Aladdin fairy tale. What child doesn’t want a genie in a bottle to grant three wishes? I remember my conversations with the imaginary genie walking home from school. I had a wish list that I would write down in my secret notebook. My wishes would vary from “I wish I could grow wings and fly” to, as I got slightly older, kiss Sophia Loren and sing like Charles Aznavour. Since 2007, my wish to the genie has remained the same around this time of year: I wish all of us today were celebrating Hrant’s Nobel Peace Prize with him and not commemorating the 8^th year of his assassination.

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Eric Nazarian stands in front of posters for the conference, ‘1915, Hrant and Justice,’ in Ankara.

A lot has changed since those childhood days under the spell of Aladdin, Tom Sawyer, and Hovhannes Toumanian. Fairy tales, classic Hollywood movies, poems, and paintings all came to life on the dinner table of my parents’ and grandparents’ home in Los Angeles. My parents were born in Tehran, I was born in Armenia, my brother was born in Hollywood. As we say in Armenian:Vorteghits vortegh—from where to where—did we land? That is the eternal story of the Armenians.

Following in my father’s footsteps, I fell in love with the movies and books of his youth and grew up to become a filmmaker and writer. Black-and-white images were everywhere in our home. Marlon Brando, Stanley Kubrick, Simone Signoret, Albert Camus. These legends became windows into the world away from our working-class apartment, yet at the same time, they seemed so close and relative. They were inspiring, beautiful, and “harazat,” which means familial.

One of my earliest memories is of a wall in my family home with Charlie Chaplin next to a painting of Mount Ararat and Little Ararat. Laughter and majesty were side by side. The other image I remember wasn’t a painting or a film; it was one word in a poem by the magnificent Yeghishe Charents that my relatives would recite. The word was “arevaham.” Literally translated, it means “taste of the sun,” but it’s honestly lost in translation. I will never forget that word because it evoked the taste of sun-dried apricots. That’s what Armenia was to me—a sun-drenched ancient paradise where we came from. Charents taught me that poems, like images, could also make us see and feel things just like in the movies and music. As a child, this word and the images of my father’s favorite artists, including Martiros Saryan, Hakop Hakopian, Gabriel Garcia-Marquez, Federico Fellini, and Hovannes Aivazovsky, illuminated our daily lives. Before homework, after dinner, and during coffee and cigarettes, stories of these mythical artists, pictures, and movies on VHS continued to enrich our little apartment in Glendale. Art was the world and music was a universal tie that bound all cultures. These were the lessons I was taught as a child. To love culture, art, knowledge, creativity and to go beyond borders as a global citizen.

Then I learned of the Armenian troubadour and ashugh Sayat Nova, who composed and sang in all the languages of the Caucasus. Kani Vor Janim, Yar Ki Ghurbanim…

The voice, timbre, lament, and deep soul of those songs always evoked goose bumps and a teenage melancholia in my heart that I could not name. There was a warmth in that sadness wrapped inside Sayat Nova and Komitas’s blanket of music, and the images of the magnificent image makers that my father taught me about, among them Henri Cartier Bresson, Ara Guler, and the great photojournalists of the world.

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Black and white photographs from the Armenian Genocide lined the hallways leading to the conference in Ankara. (Photo by Eric Nazarian)

The honeymoon period during my “Arevaham” childhood in America inevitably came to an end in my teenage years when I discovered a different kind of image that was far from the well-composed glamour shots of Elizabeth Taylor, the vibrant oil on canvases of Martiros Saryan, and the sweet Parisian fragments of Cartier-Bresson. The image of my teenage years was a faded and scratched black-and-white photograph of eight beheaded Armenians piled on top of one another. This was when I learned of the Armenian Genocide and what had happened on April 24, 1915. This image opened a Pandora’s Box in my consciousness. Never again would I be able to look at images in the same way.

The photographer of this image was not Ara Guler or Yousuf Karsh or Cartier-Bresson. It was an anonymous person who clicked the shutter and, without realizing it, immortalized one fragment of unimaginable horror that has traveled 100 years, and will travel well into the future long after we are gone.

And with the sighting of this image, a psychological and personal journey began that lasted more than 20 years until this very day of a painful and endless education about the immensity of the Armenian Genocide and its immediate and long-term aftereffects globally. I learned of the name Armin T. Wegner and the images he secretly photographed of the deportations in the provinces he witnessed. Each image told a different fragment of a much bigger story about the people in them, and we have no way of knowing who they were or what eventually happened to them.

From Armin Wegner and the anonymous photographers that remain unknown until today, we have visual documentations of what happened on these lands 100 years ago. The deeper I went into photographic research, the mountain of stories got bigger and I found myself in a labyrinth of countless narratives. Survivors upon survivors. Orphans upon orphans. Horror upon horror. Similar narratives told by people on opposite sides of the earth who had managed to escape the inferno of genocide. I discovered them in books, in the letters and dispatches of American and European missionaries, in the wrinkled eyes of survivors and descendants that spoke volumes with their silence in documentaries. From Adana to Beirut to Los Angeles…vorteghits vortegh.

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Conference goers walk by photographs depicting the horrors of the Armenian Genocide. (Photo by Eric Nazarian)

Well into my teenage and university years, my consciousness was very clearly split in half like akarpuz: On the one hand there were the celluloid heroes of my childhood and the glamour of Hollywood’s dream factory where everybody was happy and sexy. On the other hand, the darkness lingered over the ancient paradises of Historic Armenia where one and a half million of my people were annihilated in the hills, valleys, and deserts of the Ottoman Empire.

When the subject of Armenians came up in school, my teachers would tell me nonchalantly, “When I was a child if I didn’t finish my food, my grandmother always reminded me of the Starving Armenians.” Those two words, every time I heard them, erupted a burning feeling of humiliation I tried to keep buried inside. But I couldn’t.

In school, my American teachers didn’t know about Sayat Nova or Komitas or the word “arevaham.” Everything they knew about Armenians was relegated to a pop culture phrase that was seeded in America after World War 1 and well into the 20^th century, continuing to this very day. When the subject of Armenians came up in school, my teachers would tell me nonchalantly, “When I was a child if I didn’t finish my food, my grandmother always reminded me of the Starving Armenians.” Those two words, every time I heard them, erupted a burning feeling of humiliation I tried to keep buried inside. But I couldn’t. One time I remember I ran out of class crying. At home, I would stare at the dinner table stuffed with Dadeeg’s delicious dolma and saffron rice and ponder the mountains of bones in the Der Zor desert. Why did the Turks do this to women and children? Who took the photo of the eight Armenian heads? The buried apparitions and visions eventually instilled a need to tell the story of my people and hopefully find catharsis through cinema.

And here we are in 2015, 100 years after the start of the genocide. Back then the Armenians were atop Musa Dagh fighting for their lives. And just a few months ago, the Yezidis were forced up Mount Sinjar fighting to survive. A lot has changed and a lot has stayed the same, unfortunately. In this quagmire that the Middle East has become in the past few years, lately I wonder a lot: What is my role as a storyteller? Why make images of suffering? Do stories and images even matter when tens of thousands of people are being uprooted, exiled, and deported just like the Armenians in 1915? What is the significance of images and stories during this very critical year that marks the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide? What images will come tomorrow that can hopefully heal and help us to face our pain and anger of being forgotten?

As an Armenian, we tell our stories and make images not to be forgotten. We build monuments worldwide to commemorate and immortalize through stone and mortar the martyrs for the nameless travelers of tomorrow’s generation. We film stories, put ink to paper, and digitize faded black-and-white photographs by Armin Wegner hoping that the preservation and knowledge of the genocide’s past atrocities can lead to the prevention of future ones. We also seek justice for a monumental crime against humanity that Hitler used as an example on the eve of invading Poland in 1939. This very same crime against humanity was an impetus for a young lawyer named Raphael Lemkin to coin the word “genocide.”

Empires and kingdoms draw lines on the earth that continue to shift based on impermanent power structures, but the truth remains rooted and untouchable, regardless of time, ravage, and injustice. The themes of justice and healing and the threat of erasure have evolved into themes central to the Armenian psyche worldwide since the genocide. It informs our art, music, images, poems, and daily yearnings to find wholesomeness within the broken root of our homeland that has been restricted to us. One century or several, the stones in Akhtamar, Palu, Soradir, Sassoon, Bitlis, Kars, Moush, and Diyarbakir continue to tell our stories and remain standing as a testament that the past will never fade and the truth is to be found within that past.

Today, I landed in Ankara by way of Los Angeles and Bolis. I first came to Turkey in 2010 when I was invited to make a film about the Armenians of Istanbul for an omnibus called Unutma Beni Istanbul (Do Not Forget Me Istanbul). The title of my film is “Bolis,” the Armenian word for Istanbul derived from the Greek name “Konstantinopolis.” Again, as a storyteller I was drawn to themes of memory and not being forgotten. I wanted to make the film a love letter to Old Bolis, Eski Bolis, as seen through the eyes of an ambivalent Diaspora Armenian oud master returning to Kadikoy with only a photo of his grandfather’s oud shop on a street called Tellalzade.

Just before docking in Istanbul, I experienced a silent panic attack in the plane above the skies of the Bosphorus. My mind suddenly became raided by images of Komitas, Daniel Varoujan, Siamanto, and Krikor Zohrab being arrested in the dark April night and driven to the interior on trains. I thought of Zabel Yesayan fleeing in the night. I thought of my American teachers uttering the words “Starving Armenians.” I thought of the ocean of bones in Der Zor…What the hell was I doing returning to the epicenter of the genocide?

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Hrant Dink

The answer, tragically, was simple and current. Hrant Dink. What he stood for and what he fell for became the third awakening in my life. I needed to see the city he loved so much. I needed to breathe in the air of Istanbul, despite my silent panic upon seeing the city for the first time from a bird’s eye view. We landed but the dread hung over me as I roamed the streets of Istanbul with a group of filmmakers who fast became friends—and helped me realize my cinematic mission to make a film about the long-term effects of the genocide on a Diaspora Armenian with an oud and a mission to find his grandfather’s music store in Kadikoy. He searches to find something that no longer exists and ultimately finds something he did not expect: a brief moment of friendship and empathy. Perhaps my film reflected my own journey. I came here to find the echoes of old Bolis. But I was really looking for empathy. I was looking for Hrant.

In the film, Armenak, the lead character, is asked by another character if he likes Istanbul. He replies ambivalently that “the demons of the past will never let me forget what happened here in 1915.” For us Armenians returning to this ancient city, we see the majesty of the surface geography, but everywhere we turn we are haunted first by buried apparitions of faces, places, and histories that have been erased from the collective consciousness and the history books.

This is why it is important, now more than ever, in the wake of Hrant, to continue to tell the stories and live to see the stories told. Through storytelling, we can rectify the lies that have polluted the truth of the ravaged and buried histories of this region’s minorities: Kurds, Greeks, Jews, Assyrians, and Armenians.

And in telling our stories, we nurture the need and hopefully fulfill the first steps of attaining justice. Telling stories is an act of civic rebellion as much as a protest.

Refusing to be silenced, refusing to be dehumanized, refusing to be forgotten, singing louder and clearer and more resolute all the truth that must be told is where I find the courage in men and women in this region and worldwide still suffering from the plagues of genocide, injustice, displacement, exile, and racism.

The broken record player of history has been repeating itself in strange and ugly ways this past year. I hope that through civil society groups, open hearts, and a refusal to dilute or distort the suffering of indigenous minorities, there may be a deeper justice and a new awakening found. With citizens waking up to the nightmare that was our history on these lands 100 years ago, may they combat intolerance and the denial of the Armenian, Greek, and Assyrian Genocides with empathy, open hearts and knowledge that dispels the lies.

If I could convince myself today that the genie of my childhood would come alive again on my shoulder and grant another wish for tomorrow, I would wish for every child in the world to know the story of this beautiful human being named Hrant Dink, and for his message of peace and sincerity to be sowed in our hearts to guide us toward a true path of reconciliation through truth, justice, and empathy. The memories of the Tigris and the Euphrates are very long and the pen will always be mightier than the sword.

Yervant1 · January 20, 2015

EuroNews, EU
Jan 19 2015

Thousands march for journalist Dink murder anniversary

Thousands of people have taken to the streets of Istanbul to
commemorate the death of journalist Hrant Dink, eight years ago.

The prominent ethnic Armenian editor was gunned down outside his
newspaper office in broad daylight and many feel angry that his murder
, blamed on a conspiracy, remains unsolved.

"There is an unfinished case in which those responsible are unknown.
Actually it is clear who they are but there's cover-up. I am a Turkish
citizen, I'm Turk and Armenian as well. This kind of incident is
hurting us. We feel bad. We want those responsible to be punished
soon," said one protester.

For seven years there was no progress in the case until last year when
the Supreme Court decided to investigate whether he was the victim of
organised crime. According to our correspondent, that's led to the
detention of several police officers.

"Dink's friends are more hopeful this year for justice, since the
police officers who are accused of his death were arrested last week,"
said Bora Bayraktar.

http://www.euronews.com/2015/01/19/thousands-march-for-journalist-dink-murder-anniversary/

Yervant1 · January 22, 2015

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Martin Luther King Jr. and Hrant Dink: They had a dream

By Jonn Bass the U.S. Ambassador to Turkey

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On Jan. 19, the lives and tragic deaths of two men – Martin Luther King Jr. and Hrant Dink – were commemorated and honored in the United States and Turkey. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led the modern civil rights movement in the United States, tirelessly advocating for equal rights and opportunities for African-Americans and all citizens until he was murdered in 1968. From the civil rights movement that began with the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955 to later campaigns against poverty and segregated housing, Dr. King’s consistent embrace of peaceful, non-violent protest earned him widespread admiration and respect. Hrant Dink worked as an activist and journalist here in Turkey. Meanwhile, he, too, was a champion not only for the rights of his own immediate community – Armenian citizens of Turkey – and for Turkish-Armenian relations, but also for democracy and human rights for all of Turkey’s citizens. Like Dr. King, Hrant Dink faced a series of death threats as a result of his work and he, too, was ultimately assassinated in 2007. Despite their differences, as I reflect on the legacies of both men I am also struck by a number of remarkable similarities.

Both Martin L uther King Jr. and Hrant Dink dedicated their lives to advancing peace, achieving equality, promoting justice, and securing and protecting basic human and civil rights. Both men were kind, compassionate, virtuous; qualities that also enabled them to establish deep and meaningful connections with all aspects of society. Both men rejected violence and hatred, embracing instead peace and love as a way to bridge differences and bring communities together.

Both men possessed clarity of speech – as exemplified by Martin Luther King’s electrifying speeches and by Hrant Dink’s penetrating newspaper editorials – that gave voice to countless others who lacked the courage to speak out against injustice. Both men were true patriots who believed firmly that rectifying injustices would make their countries stronger.

Dr. King may be best remembered for winning the Nobel Peace Prize and for the 1963 March on Washington, when he stood and spoke before the Lincoln Memorial to an assembled crowd of 200,000 people. Decades later, a similar crowd of hundreds of thousands of mourners thronged the streets of Istanbul to pay their respects after Hrant Dink’s brutal assassination. Thousands of people, of all ethnicities of the Turkish Republic, still remember him every year.

Those crowds were inspired by the many remarkable qualities shared by these two men – dedication, compassion, justice – but also by their vision. Martin Luther King Jr. and Hrant Dink both inspired their many admirers with a vision of a future in which people of all races and ethnicities transcend the painful memories and injustices of the past, a future in which they live in peace and share the same basic human rights and privileges.

As we reflect on their memories and their legacies, we should remember that these visions have still not been fully realized. Recent protests in the United States over the deaths of unarmed African-Americans at the hands of the police are a stark reminder that there is still work to do in the United States to make Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream a reality. And, here in Turkey, different ethnic communities continue to advocate for equal rights, as well as for more peaceful and harmonious relations within the Republic of Turkey. When you stop and think about it, both Martin Luther King Jr. and Hrant Dink shared the same “dream” of a future in which all citizens are truly equal. And King’s dream of “a future where people are not judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character,” is altogether in keeping with Hrant Dink’s appeal: “Come, let us first understand each other … Come let us respect each other’s pain … Come, let us first let one another live.” In 2015, we must continue to embrace the legacy and sacrifice of these men, and work towards making their dream a reality.

Jonn Bass is the U.S. Ambassador to Turkey.

January/21/2015

www.hurriyetdailynews.com

Edited January 22, 2015 by Yervant1

Yervant1 · January 22, 2015

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ZORYAN INSTITUTE

Response to the Statement by Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on the Commemoration of Hrant Dink

January 21, 2015

Your Excellency Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu:

Indeed “It has now been eight years since Hrant Dink was taken from us,” suddenly and cruelly, from his family and friends. Your wishes for our patience seem insincere, since your government has been unable or unwilling to bring all those responsible for his murder to justice after all this time.

I am one of those Anatolians by heritage and also a Canadian citizen, who held Hrant Dink very dear. My roots, our roots, are still there in our ancestral land, Anatolia, as Hrant always talked and wrote. That is why it is so troubling to see the dichotomy you present between Hrant’s Armenian heritage and his loyalty to Turkey. His loyalty to the homeland of his forefathers, and his love for all the people of Anatolia—Turks, Kurds, Alevis, Armenians, Assyrians, Greeks, Jews, and others—was an integral part of his identity. There was no need for him to compromise, as there was no separation of his Armenian heritage from his loyalty to the country and people. Yet, you make the prejudicial assumption that a compromise should have been expected between Hrant’s Armenian heritage and Turkish loyalty. You would never make or accept such an assumption about an ethnic Turk. Please remember, it was his land as much as it is yours. This is what Hrant was trying to explain. Alas, they, the real killers, did not accept his message. That is why they killed him.

It is jarring to see the anniversary of Hrant’s murder used as an opportunity to obfuscate the events of 1915. They were not as you state, simply “the inhumane consequences of the relocation policies essentially enforced under wartime circumstances, including that of 1915,” but rather, the killing, planned and executed by the state apparatus, of about 1.5 million Armenian citizens with the clear intent to exterminate the entire race and even the memory of the existence of the Armenians.

I also yearn for “friendship and peace” between our two peoples and wish very much “to open new path into hearts and minds.” But, how can we achieve that? How can you expect patience after 8 years, without bringing to justice those who were the real murderers of Dink, or those who took turns to get their photos taken in front of the Turkish flag with Ogün Samast?

How do you show empathy for Armenians when, on the day you commemorate Hrant’s death, 19 January 2015, the Turkish court lifts a travel ban imposed on Doğu Perinçek, so that he can attend a hearing at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) related to his denial of the Armenian Genocide, scheduled to take place on Jan. 28? How can you talk about “Fostering a sense of mutual trust and cooperation,” when the Turkish Government actively defends Perinçek’s denial of the Armenian Genocide at the ECtHR, a man convicted in Turkey of being a member of Ergenekon, described by the Turkish court as an armed terrorist organization bent on overthrowing your own government?

This is a man who, following Hrant’s assassination, wrote a letter to the Armenian Patriarch Mutafyan in Istanbul and distributed in mosques, condemning the public sympathy for Armenians displayed at Hrant’s funeral as “a rally of war against Turkey.”[1] The Ergenekon evidence included a May 2007 letter from Perinçek addressed to Armenian schools in Turkey, urging them “to publicly declare in demonstrations, in their neighbourhoods, workplaces and social activities that allegations of genocide or other wrongdoings are lies,” warning that otherwise Armenians would soon be “counting the coffins to see how many real Turks there are in this country.”[2]

In the Ergenekon judgment, the Istanbul court also found “similarities between the murder of … Hrant Dink and [other Christian minorities] which took place in different places of Turkey,”[3] supporting the prosecution’s allegation that these were “not separate individual incidents but killings done in accordance with a plan by the Ergenekon Terror Organisation with the aim of accomplishing a common goal.”[4]

Given the Istanbul court’s finding concerning Perinçek’s “leadership role” in “psychological war and propaganda,” within both the Talaat ***** Committee and the Ergenekon Terror Organisation, and incitement to anti-Armenian hatred and violence, including Hrant Dink’s and other murders, it is astonishing that your government has intervened in support of Perinçek in this case.

It is my hope that human values, fortified with the knowledge of historical truth, will eventually empower Turkish civil society to demand more effectively that your government embrace the facts of history. It is worth recalling here the recent op-ed by Cengiz Aktar, titled “Entering 2015,” in which he wrote the following:

…The Armenian genocide is the Great Catastrophe of Anatolia, and the mother of all taboos in this land. Its curse will continue to haunt us as long as we fail to talk about, recognize, understand and reckon with it. Its centennial anniversary actually offers us a historic opportunity to dispense with our habits, understand the Other and start with the collective therapy.

When I read words such as these, full of wisdom and truth, it demonstrates the growing understanding of Turkish civil society of the fundamental issue, which your government continues to deny. Civil society’s movement in this regard is already evident in that the Human Rights Association of Turkey has made a strong argument for the racism inherent in the Armenian case. They wrote, “…we are the most immediate, direct witnesses of how the denial of the genocide against Armenians and other Christian ethnic groups of Asia Minor has right from the start generated an anti-democratic system, allowing racist hatred, hate crimes, and violation of freedom of expression and human rights in general…This has paved the way for Armenians in Turkey to be treated as a ‘fifth column’ throughout the Republican history, to be discriminated against, to be destined to lead their lives in constant fear as their lives were threatened during various nationalist upheavals and pogroms that took place during the Republican period.”

Moreover, two Turkish human rights organizations have partnered with the International Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (A Division of the Zoryan Institute) to jointly submit a brief to the European Court of Human Rights in the Perinçek case – a matter of genocide denial – documenting his discriminatory and racist activities and statements against Armenians in Turkey and Switzerland. Such instances of co-operation do strengthen contacts between our two societies and take us on a genuine course “towards a horizon of friendship and peace.”

While your commitment “to press ahead with resolve to give due recognition to the Armenian cultural heritage in Turkey and those Armenian personalities who made inestimable contribution to Ottoman/Turkish culture” would be a valuable confidence-building gesture, it would lose its impact if your government continues its official policy of denial of the Armenian Genocide.

My wish is that you, as the prime minister of the country, would become an agent of change, bringing your government and the country on the side of the true history of 1915. With that truth acknowledged, it would be possible “to heal the wounds and re-establish friendship.”

Respectfully yours,

K.M. Greg Sarkissian,

President, Zoryan Institute

[1] Vatan, 26 July 2007, “Perincek’s letter to Mutafyan distributed in mosques”, at http://www.gazetevatan.com/perincek-in-mutafyan-a-mektubu-camilerde-dagitildi-105788-gundem/.

[2] Three-page document stamped, signed and numbered 319783, pages 193, 194 and 195, by the Public Prosecutor included in the Ergenekon Court File; see also Milliyet, 19 May 2007, “Armenian schools receive threats”, at http://www.milliyet.com.tr/2007/05/19/guncel/gun08.html.

[3] Ergenekon Judgment, Book Two (A), Legal Opinions, Item 6.2, Opinion established by Chief Prosecutor of Ankara, at p. 1720/6573.

[4] Zirve Publishing House Massacre Case, Indictment, Section 1, under the heading “Evaluation of Section One”, p. 23/1; see http://haber.sat7turk.com/tag/zirve-iddianame-tam-metin/. See also Zirve Publishing House Massacre Case, Indictment, Section 1, p. 85.

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Yervant1 · January 22, 2015

Hurriyet, Turkey
Jan 20 2015

Why was Turkey present in Paris but not on Hrant Dink's march?

by Barcin Yinanc

If I had not read Hayko Bagdat's article last week in daily Taraf, I
would not have realized that there are more similarities than meet the
eye between the Charlie Hebdo killings and the murder of
Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink. Their common point is not
limited to both incidents being attacks on freedom of expression.

In his article, Bagdat recalled the first testimony of Ogun Samast,
who shot Dink in front of his newspaper Agos in January 2007. Samast
told the police that he first went up the stairs to meet Dink, but
could not get in as he was told he had to make an appointment. "I then
called Yasin Hayal [who is charged with being the instigator of the
assassination]. I thought of going back to the newspaper and killing
other Armenians. But Yasin said 'there is no need,'" he said.

In other words, Dink's colleagues at Agos could have faced a similar
tragedy to that of Charlie Hebdo, where 10 journalists and two
policemen were killed on Jan. 7.

As was the case with the Charlie Hebdo tragedy, which was followed by
a march of solidarity by millions, a similar yet unexpected phenomenon
took place in Turkey, as Dink's funeral turned into a march attended
by thousands carrying banners reading "We are all Hrant Dink; we are
all Armenian." Now, each year, the day of his murder is marked by a
march.

Yesterday, on the eighth anniversary of Dink's death, mourners marched
to commemorate him. Unfortunately, the event was not attended by any
officials. Ministers had to attend the cabinet meeting chaired for the
first time by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. However, as was
underlined by Bagdat, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP)
has preferred to abstain from the march for the past seven years.

In contrast, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu made the right move and
attended the solidarity march in Paris on Jan. 11. In fact, French
Ambassador to Turkey Laurent Bili told me that Davutoglu proposed to
make the trip to Paris to present his condolences in person, even
before a decision was made to organize a march.

Exactly why a slain Turkish journalist has been deprived of a gesture
of solidarity shown to French journalists is a legitimate question
that the government should answer. We know that part of the answer
lies in the fact that the government has never approached Dink's
assassination with a genuine democratic reflex. Judicial proceedings
have been very problematic, and if there are still some developments
taking place about the case today, this is not done out of justice to
Dink, but rather with the purpose of hitting at Gulenists in the
police.

Dink was actually the victim of a smear campaign. At one stage, a
single sentence from his column on the Armenian identity was pulled
out of context and his critical approach towards the attitude of
diaspora Armenians about their relations with Turkey was completely
distorted. A lot of people were led to mistakenly believe that he was
insulting Turkish identity, which was not the case at all.

Currently, top Turkish officials are unfortunately making similar
efforts at distortion by targeting daily Cumhuriyet. If Davutoglu
opted to go to the Paris march to show solidarity with the victims of
Charlie Hebdo, then it is only natural for Cumhuriyet to print the
latest issue of Charlie Hebdo to show its solidarity with the
satirical magazine. However, while Cumhuriyet decided not to run the
front page of the magazine -which pictured the Prophet Muhammad -it
was not spared harsh criticism from both Erdogan and Davutoglu.

But the fact that two of its writers ran the cover page in their
columns did not deserve Erdogan and Davutoglu's fury. After all, the
picture did not contain anything insulting; in fact, quite to the
contrary. However, both Turkish leaders spoke in such a manner that
many would believe that Cumhuriyet's content was explicitly insulting
the prophet. It is, of course, their right to criticize Cumhuriyet's
decision, but using such heated rhetoric shows we do not have
responsible statesmen. Instead, we have politicians who resort to
polemics to increase their public support.

Yervant1 · January 23, 2015

WHY WILL THE HRANT DINK MURDER NOT BE SOLVED? -

January 22, 2015

By Orhan Kemal Cengiz

Zaman Daily - After Hrant Dink was murdered, gendarmerie and police
officers took turns taking photos with his murderer, Ogun Samast,
at the offices of Samsun's counterterrorism unit. They took these
photos in front of a calendar on which Ataturk's words, "The homeland
cannot be abandoned," appeared on a Turkish flag.

When Samast was taken into BayrampaÅ~_a Prison after he was arrested,
there was a very warm welcome for him. According to eyewitnesses,
gendarmerie officers and prison guards lined up in the hall and they
all applauded Samast.

After Samast was arrested, all of a sudden some young football fans
started to wear white berets to show their sympathy with the murderer,
who was wearing a white beret when he killed Hrant.

On Jan. 19, 2014, when the last commemoration of the Dink murder
took place, some police officers were wearing white berets on the
streets as the procession passed by even though the weather was 18
degrees Celsius.

Do you know who Turkey's first ombudsman was? He was a member of the
chamber of the criminal court that approved Hrant Dink's sentence
of insulting Turkishness, under Article 301 of the Constitution. I
assume you can recall how Hrant was convicted. Some of his words
were cherry-picked from a long series of articles he wrote mainly for
diaspora Armenians. And these carefully tweezed words were represented
as insults to Turkey. It was so obvious that his remarks had nothing
to do with Turks; he was addressing Armenians.

Dink called on Armenians to get rid of their hatred towards Turks,
and so on. Even though legal experts and even some prosecutors pointed
out that his words said nothing to insult Turks, the appeals court
"misunderstood" them.

When Hrant's murderer was caught, he referred to these "misunderstood"
words and said he had punished Hrant for insulting Turkishness.

Do you know who brought this case against Hrant? The complaint was
made by a very famous lawyer who was conducting a psychological
lynching campaign against religious minorities and intellectuals.

Lawyer Kemal Kerincsiz was later on arrested for his connection to
the Ergenekon organization. However, he is free now, like all the
Ergenekon suspects.

Before Hrant was killed, intelligence reports arrived at the Ä°stanbul
Police Department stating that Samast had traveled from Trabzon to
Ä°stanbul with the intention of killing Hrant. None of the officers
acted on this intelligence.

You see, when we talk about Hrant Dink's murder we are talking about
a huge subject. There are hit men, provocateurs, people who aided and
abetted murderers, officers who did nothing to prevent a murder they
knew was coming and so on. At the same time, there is a culture and
atmosphere of hatred towards Armenians that is fed by the denial of
past atrocities.

Today, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) wants us to believe
that they will solve this murder by arresting a few police officers,
and somehow these police officers are said to be associated with the
Gulen movement, with which this government has been in a huge war
for quite some time.

They are the ones who chose this ombudsman, who freed the Ergenekon
suspects and who promoted the former governor of Ä°stanbul to the post
of interior minister. And they are the ones who continue to deny what
happened to Armenians in 1915.

And they want us to believe that they will solve this murder by making
a few apologies!

http://www.horizonweekly.ca/news/details/60154

Yervant1 · January 23, 2015

LETTER: HRANT DINK (1954-1915)

By Raffi Bedrosyan on January 21, 2015

Dear Editor,

The title is not a misprint.

Hrant Dink was murdered in 1915.

Hrant Dink was murdered because of 1915... because he brought out
the truth about 1915.

Hrant Dink

The same criminals who planned and implemented 1915 also murdered
Hrant Dink.

The criminals in 1915 did not only murder people like Hrant Dink--the
leaders, the brains and hearts of the Armenian nation--but they
followed up by murdering most of the men.

They kidnapped the victims' wives and daughters. They took them as
wives, maids, or even worse. They branded them with tattoos, and sold
them as slaves in slave markets.

They took the orphaned grandchildren. They placed them in Moslem
homes. They Turkified and Islamized them.

They took the victims' assets--houses, shops, valuable possessions--and
divided them among themselves. The government legalized this plunder
by handing out deeds to the stolen properties.

They did this not only to the leaders, the brains and hearts of the
Armenian nation, but to hundreds, thousands, no, hundreds of thousands
of families, until one and a half million Armenians were wiped out
from their homeland.

This is the truth about 1915; and it is still denied by the Turkish
state. The peoples of Turkey are now beginning to discover the truth,
but--unfortunately--only after Hrant Dink's murder.

As we commemorate the 8th anniversary of the murder of Hrant Dink,
we also commemorate the centennial anniversary of the attempted murder
of the Armenian nation.

The Armenians who survived the Genocide will continue the struggle
until truth and justice prevails.

Sincerely,

Raffi Bedrosyan

http://armenianweekly.com/2015/01/21/letter-hrant-dink-1954-1915/

Yervant1 · January 23, 2015

http://armenianweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/cropped-armweeklyheader.png

Fethiye Cetin Speaks at 8th Hrant Dink Commemoration in Toronto

By Raffi Bedrosyan on January 20, 2015 in Canada,

On Jan. 18, the Toronto-Armenian community gathered to commemorate the 8^th anniversary of the assassination of editor and journalist Hrant Dink, who was murdered in Istanbul on Jan. 19, 2007, in front of the “Agos” newspaper offices.

More than 700 people filled the Armenian Community Center to hear keynote speaker Fethiye Cetin, one of the most prominent lawyers in Turkey. Cetin was Hrant Dink’s lawyer while he was alive, and continued to serve as his family’s lawyer after his assassination, relentlessly pursuing and investigating the perpetrators of the still-unsolved murder.

I was the master of ceremonies of the event. The commemoration started with a candlelight vigil and a moment of silence remembering Hrant Dink, as well as the latest victims of intolerance toward free press, the murdered journalists of the Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris.

http://armenianweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/dink.jpg

Hrant Dink

I explained how Hrant Dink became a target of Turkish ultranationalists within the “deep state” that planned his murder, and how officials in the intelligence bureaucracy and state police didn’t move a finger to prevent his murder, even though there was overwhelming evidence related to its preparation and implementation. After a beautiful rendition of Gomidas’s “Andouni” and of “Anin Desnem ou Mernem” (words by Hovhannes Shiraz, music by Majag Toshikyan) by young soprano Lynn Anoush Isnar, accompanied by pianist Lena Beylerian, I introduced Fethiye Cetin.

Cetin was born in Maden, Elazig province, and studied law at Ankara University. She is recognized as being the foremost human rights lawyer in Turkey, specializing in minority rights cases. She defended Hrant Dink against charges brought by the state for “insulting Turkishness,” only because he dared to speak about the Armenian Genocide. In 2004, Cetin wrote a book, titled My Grandmother, revealing her Armenian roots. In it, she explained how her Armenian grandmother was captured as a nine-year-old orphan by a Turkish soldier during the death march of 1915. Although her grandmother was Islamicized—and her name changed from Heranoush to Seher—she kept her Armenian roots secret until she was 70 years old, and opened up to her granddaughter, Fethiye Cetin, asking her to find her long-lost brother. After years of searching, Fethiye did find her Armenian relatives in New Jersey, but only after her grandmother had passed away.

http://armenianweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/The-Grandchildren.jpg

Cover of ‘The Grandchildren’

My Grandmother has been translated into more than a dozen languages. It immediately became a best-seller in Turkey, and opened the floodgates to hundreds of similar stories about hidden, Islamicized Armenians. As a result, Fethiye Cetin, in collaboration with Ayse Gul Altinay, edited another book, calledThe Grandchildren, a compilation of dozens of stories of hidden Armenians. She also initiated a restoration project for destroyed Armenian fountains in her hometown village of Habap in 2009; several Armenian, Turkish, and Kurdish youth from Turkey, the United States, and France came to Habap to collaborate with local villagers and reconstruct the historic fountains that supplied water to the village.

After Hrant Dink’s assassination, Fethiye Cetin represented his family in the murder trials and investigations, which are still unresolved and continue to this day. In 2013, she presented the failure of the judicial system in finding and sentencing the real perpetrators of the Dink murder, as well as the gross negligence and cover-up of state officials, in a book titled, I Am Ashamed: The Trials of the Hrant Dink Murder Case.
In a moving speech at the Jan. 18 event, Cetin explained the struggle between individuals’ memory and conscience versus state pressure to make people forget past crimes. Below are excerpts from the speech.

***

“My grandmother was about 70 years old when she told me her story, as seen by her as a 9-year-old girl, about the 1915 disaster, the death march, followed by silence, pain, and loneliness. Nearly 60 years had passed after the terror that she experienced, but my grandmother still remembered very clearly her village, her house, all the names of her relatives, including her grandmother, her grandfather, her cousins, even the name of the village official. Despite all the external attempts to make her forget, she remembered everything that she and her family had lived through. It was as if she had kept repeating the story to herself for 60 years, in order not to forget.…

http://armenianweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/fethiye-cetin-300x201.jpg

Fethiye Cetin (Photo: Hetq.am)

“The official state version of history in Turkey is also subject to a similar policy of permanent amnesia regarding the 1915 events. A typical example is a statement given by Sevket Sureyya Aydemir, the author of Mustafa Kemal’s biography: ‘I believe the fighting and settling of accounts between Turks and Armenians is a page of human history best to be forgotten. Which side was responsible? Who was guilty? I think it is better not to find out answers to these questions and forget these events forever.’…

“But unfortunately, despite all attempts, laws, and pressures to make people forget these events forever, this policy cannot be implemented.…

“On the other hand, the state which forces individuals to forget the past keeps all the information, records, documents about the past under its control, in locked safes and rooms, in places beyond the reach of the public, in order to bring them out and use them as discriminatory policies against the minorities, the ‘sword leftovers,’ the ones defined as ‘others.’ In other words, in one hand the state uses every means to make people forget the past, but on the other hand the state never forgets the past and keeps reminding the people about the differences in the minorities. As a result, the forced amnesia policy becomes converted to a policy of continuous remembering.…

“With the emergence in recent years of many stories about the past, with biographies, books, films, documentaries, panels, and conferences, one can conclude that the monopoly of the state in controlling the past has come to an end.…

“Local memories have started a revival because the great crime was witnessed by all local people. Despite the attempts to wipe out traces of the past, it is impossible for the local memories to be forgotten.…

“Remembering and facing the past is now a must for the Turkish people.…

“Truth and justice are deadly fears of the perpetrator. The perpetrator attempts to hide the truth with all its might, mechanisms, and institutions. This is why memory is the enemy of the government.…

“In my country the most important name of this resisting force is Hrant Dink. Because Hrant Dink, with his stand, kept on reminding them of their past full of crimes, the past which they desperately tried to make people forget. Because Hrant Dink not only kept reminding them of the truth about the past, but everyone that he touched with his words—his readers, his listeners, his followers, people in the street—everyone believed him. They murdered Hrant Dink, because he stood right where the state had drawn the red lines, the taboos that it feared. Hrant Dink became the only visible target for the historical hatred against Armenians, and he stood in the crosshairs of both opposition and government forces.…

“The hatred for Armenians also became quite apparent in all the trials and investigations following the murder, as the perpetrator of the crime—the state—ensured that all the state officials would be exempt from any investigation. During these eight years since the murder, the competing forces in the government still use the murder as war material against each other.…

“I am one of the closest witnesses of Hrant Dink’s murder. I was with him in the court cases throughout the long preparation stage of the murder. My evidence is based on my eyewitness account. I presented and continue presenting to the judiciary and prosecution all I know, I see, I think about this murder. But unfortunately, all my efforts so far have ended up in countless binders or in notes attached to desk calendars. They were not included in formal prosecution inquiries, evidence that I pointed out was not investigated, suspects that I pointed out were not questioned.…

“The history of this country is full of cases where criminals are not tried, even if tried are not punished, where the perpetrators do everything possible to make the society forget the crime. Our history has countless political assassinations and unsolved murders.…

“I acted as Hrant Dink’s lawyer before his murder, and I am his family’s lawyer after the murder. Obviously I do not possess the force and resources of the prosecutor to uncover the real planners and perpetrators of this murder. I don’t have intelligence organizations at my control either, which could provide me with clues and information. I base my case only on what I witness, and what I see in the trial documents.

“Yes, our history is full of shameful events, unaccounted crimes, unsolved murders. We inherited this shame from the past, but we are responsible not to pass it on to future generations. I want to pledge, with you as witness, that I will try to bring to account all the shame and present a clean future to the next generations. My promise is a promise to Hrant, that I will continue to seek truth and justice, to the utmost of my abilities and until the end of my life.”

***

The Toronto commemoration was more proof that Hrant Dink’s legacy lives on and gains more momentum every year, both within Turkey and in all four corners of the world, with demands of truth and justice to prevail for 1.5 million Armenians plus one—for Hrant Dink himself.

Yervant1 · January 26, 2015

Turkish Intellectuals Who Have Recognized The Armenian Genocide: Tuba Çandar

By MassisPost
Updated: January 23, 2015
By Hambersom Aghbashian

Born in 1948, Tuba Çandar completed her education in the United States
after secondary schooling in Austria High School in Turkey. She
graduated from the International Relations Department of the Ankara
University Faculty of Political Science. She lived in Germany
following March 12 military coup. Returning to Turkey, she became the
editor-in-chief of "Bizim Almanca" magazine under Cumhuriyet daily.
She also worked as an editor at "Gergedan" magazine. At Yeni Yüzyýl
daily, she wrote culture and arts and travel pieces. She had a
"Portraits" column in "Gazete Pazar." Her first book about the life of
Mualla Eyubýðlu Anhegger, "Hitit Güneþi" (Hitite Sun), was in 2003. In
2007, she had "Murat Belge Bir Hayat" (Murat Belge A Life). Her latest
book, "Hrant" came out on the birthday of Hrant Dink on Sept. 15 in
2010.(1).

Hrant Dink was born in Malatya on September 15, 1954. A Turkish
intellectuals of Armenian descent. He was shot on 19 January 2007 on
the sidewalk in front of his Agos newspaper. Tuba Çandar's book
"Hrant" is the story of his unique life. According to
www.goodreads.com , the average rating of her book "Hrant" is rated
4.8 which is almost 5 stars.(2). About Çandar's "Hrant" book,
"istanbulgibbs.blogspot.com" mentioned "The writers are the hundreds
of friends, relatives and coworkers that loved and admired Hrant. They
tell his story from birth to death. I liked Hrant Dink. He seemed like
he had been a man of integrity. He reached out to all sides on the
Armenian issue and became the first to speak out on taboos decades old
in an effort to reconcile Armenians and Turks. And he spoke out for
others as well, for all of Turkey's downtrodden and martyred without
fear or compromise, regardless of race, creed, or political
background. He had been branded a traitor and a hater of Turks by the
media for suggesting Sabiha Gökçen, Atatürk's adopted daughter, had
been an Armenian orphan.(3)

In an interview with civilinet.am, on Jan. 12, 2012, Hrant Dink's
biography writer Tuba Çandar said, "We were all shot. It was not Hrant
only who was shot. We were all shot that day." It took her 3.5 years
to finish the 700 pages biography, which is in Turkish and was very
well in Istanbul, also in Diyarbakir, Malatya, Ankara and Izmir. The
book will be translated by a london based publisher to other
languages.(4)

Tuba Çandar is one of the Turkish intellectuals who is supporting the
Armenian cause, by disclosing and revealing the fact about the
Armenian Genocide. Her 700 pages book about Hrant Dink, originally
wrote in Turkish is a good source for the young Turkish generation who
like to now some of the fact about the Armenian Genocide.

Yervant1 · February 7, 2015

CLARK U.'S AKCAM RECOGNIZED WITH HRANT DINK SPIRIT OF FREEDOM AND JUSTICE MEDAL

Targeted News Service
February 5, 2015 Thursday 10:11 PM EST

WORCESTER, Mass.

Clark University issued the following news release:

Clark University History Professor Taner Akcam was recently presented
with the Hrant Dink Spirit of Freedom and Justice Medal by the
Organization of Istanbul Armenians on the 8th commemoration of Dink's
assassination. The late Hrant Dink was a prominent Turkish-Armenian
journalist known for his efforts of reconciliation between Turks and
Armenians and his advocacy of human and minority rights in Turkey.

Professor Akcam holds the Robert Aram and Marianne Kaloosdian and
Stephen and Marian Mugar Endowed Chair of Armenian Genocide Studies
at Clark. It is the only chair in the world dedicated to research
and teaching on the subject of the Armenian Genocide. He was the
first Turkish scholar to publicly express his conviction that the
1915 Armenian genocide occurred under the Ottoman Empire.

"It is a great honor for me to receive this award," said Professor
Akcam. "Hrant Dink was the Martin Luther King Jr. of Turkey; he
symbolized freedom of speech and justice. It is critically important
to remember him and to work to keep his spirit alive as we continue
to fight for the recognition of Armenian genocide."

Akcam will add this to his growing list of honors and accolades. In
2006, he was recognized by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for his
outstanding work in human rights and for fighting genocide denial. He
also received the Hrant Dink Freedom Award from the Armenian Bar
Association for being "a champion of historical truth about the
Armenian Genocide" and for his "courageous defense of liberty and
free speech."

This is the second year the Hrant Dink medal has been awarded; last
year's recipient was Khatchig Mouradian, editor of the Armenian Weekly
and professor at Rutgers University and Worcester State University.

Mouradian is a PhD. candidate at Clark, where he is working on his
dissertation on the second phase of the Armenian Genocide. He has
also taught courses at Clark.

Yervant1 · February 26, 2015

KEY FIGURE IN HRANT DINK MURDER DETAINED IN ANKARA

13:50 â~@¢ 26.02.15

A high-ranking Turkish police chief has been detained in Ankara as
part of the investigation into the 2007 murder of Turkish-Armenian
journalist Hrant Dink, the Hurriyet Daily News reports.

Ramazan Akyurek, who was detained in Ankara on Feb. 26, had served as
the head of the police in the Black Sea province of Trabzon between
December 2003 and May 2006. He then served as the head of Police
Intelligence between May 2006 and October 2009. Dink was murdered in
January 2007.

Akyurek was removed from his position right after the Dec. 17, 2013,
corruption and graft operation, along with hundreds of other senior
police officers allegedly linked to U.S.-based Islamic scholar
Fethullah Gulen, the government's ally-turned-nemesis. An Ankara
court had rejected Akyurek's dismissal in January 2014.

The Istanbul Prosecutor's Office initially aborted an ongoing probe
into the alleged negligence of nine public servants, but the 8th Heavy
Penal Court in Istanbul's BakÄ±rkÃ¶y district cancelled the decision,
reopening the probe on June 6, 2014.

Akyurek was detained after all the criminal files regarding the Dink
murder were combined into a single probe in Istanbul, as instructed
by Istanbul Prosecutor GÃ¶kalp KÃ¶kcu.

In his testimony in October 2014, Akyurek had placed the blame of
the murder on the Istanbul Police Director, while using the phrases
"I don't remember" and "I don't know" a total of 27 times in response
to the prosecutor's questions.

Under Turkish law, the crime described as "committing a premeditated
murder through an act of negligence" has the penalty of a maximum 20
to 25-year prison sentence.

Previously, three high-ranking police officials, Muhittin Zenit, Ozkan
Mumcu and Ercan Demir, had been arrested by the court in the Dink case.

http://www.tert.am/en/news/2015/02/26/hrant/1602005

Yervant1 · May 27, 2015

TURKISH CITY TO NAME PARK AFTER DINK

18:27 * 25.05.15
http://www.tert.am/en/news/2015/05/25/diarbeqir/1686481

The municipal authorities of a south-eastern Turkish city have
made a decision to name a park after Hrant Dink, the assassinated
editor-in-chief of the Istanbul-based Armenian weekly Agos.

The park, which will eternalize the Turkish-Armenian journalist,
has a total area of 24,000 sq m. It is situated in the city Kaypanar,
Diyarbekir province, the publication's website reports.

The other park in the city has been named after Hafiz Akdemir, a
Turkish journalist who was killed in an armed attack in Diyarbekir
in 1992.

The park is 2,842m long and has a total area of 120,000 sq m.

Kaypinar is reported to be a leading city in Turkey in terms of the
per capita allotments of green areas.

Yervant1 · October 7, 2015

ISTANBUL PROSECUTOR ORDERS ARRESTS IN ARMENIAN-TURKISH JOURNALIST HRANT DINK MURDER CASE

Daily Sabah, Turkey
Oct 6 2015

DAILY SABAH WITH ANADOLU AGENCY
ISTANBUL

Prosecutors in Istanbul on Tuesday ordered the arrests of nine people
suspected in the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink.

Dink was one of the founders of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian Agos
newspaper and was killed outside his office in Istanbul on Jan. 19,
2007.

His murder sparked widespread protests and led to speculation about
the involvement of far-right groups and claims of a cover-up.

Ogun Samast, who was aged 17 years at the time of the killing,
was jailed for 23 years in 2011. He claimed he killed Dink for
"insulting Turkishness".

An earlier investigation showed that the prosecutors who worked on
the case ignored serious allegations into the involvement of top
police officers in the murder.

The prosecutors are accused of having ties with the Gulen Movement, a
group whose widespread infiltration of the judiciary and police enabled
them to influence cases or fabricate them for their own interests.

http://www.dailysabah.com/nation/2015/10/06/istanbul-prosecutor-orders-arrests-in-armenian-turkish-journalist-hrant-dink-murder-case

Yervant1 · October 20, 2015

NEW INTELLIGENCE REPORTS REVEAL GULENIST COVER-UP IN DINK MURDER

13:28, 20 Oct 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

New details have emerged in investigation into the murder of
Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink that shows officials linked to
the shady Gulen Movement hid intelligence on the murder and covered
up their tracks, Daily Sabah reports.

Intelligence reports hidden from investigators inquiring into the
murder of prominent Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink disclosed
a plot to cover up Gulenist involvement in the killing.

Prosecutors investigating the murder found that police chiefs and
intelligence officers linked to the Gulen Movement, members of
which now face terror charges, deliberately ignored intelligence
reports concerning the 2007 murder. Findings show the Gulen Movement,
which has been accused of attempting to overthrow the government,
aimed to wrongly place the blame on a "a gang" for the murder. The
gang in question was Ergenekon, which has seen dozens of military
officers, journalists and dignitaries imprisoned in what they termed
a Gulenist plot.

The inquiry into the murder, which was initially carried out by
prosecutors linked to the Gulen Movement, was restarted last year,
and several suspects in the cover-up were detained and interrogated. As
the inquiry nears its end, new details in the probe reveal a "parallel
structure" operating within the police and courts sought to expand
its influence in the police by distorting facts around the murder.

Among the previously hidden intelligence reports is a document
presented to prosecutors by Engin Dinc, the police intelligence
director in Trabzon at the time of the murder. Trabzon was the
hometown of Ogun Samast, the teenager who shot Dink dead outside his
newspaper's office in Istanbul. The northern city was also the city
where the murder plot was allegedly hatched by a police informant. The
report shows a list made before the murder naming Ogun Samast as a
potential hitman.

A cover-up regarding the links of officers to the murder has long
been suspected by prosecutors. A recent search into the archives of
Trabzon's intelligence service revealed some documents which were not,
but should have been, entered into the national intelligence database.

A document found in the archives contained statements made by Erhan
Tuncel, a police informant. According to the recovered document,
Tuncel said a new assassin was found to kill Dink and named him as
"Ogun." Suspects interviewed by prosecutors said details on the murder
plot were not sent to the general directorate of police intelligence
in a blatant cover-up.

The investigation also found that Ramazan Akyurek, Trabzon police
chief at the time of the murder, ordered the detention of Erhan
Tuncel after the murder for 14 hours. Documents suggesting that the
officers possessed foreknowledge of the murder were destroyed while
Tuncel was in detention.

According to judiciary sources, Akyurek, a suspected Gulenist police
chief, pressured the head of the Trabzon intelligence branch not
to send information about Tuncel to Istanbul police investigating
the murder.

Another allegation accuses officers of creating a plot to remove the
head of the Istanbul's police intelligence department. Ahmet Ä°lhan
Guler, Istanbul director of the intelligence, was suspended from duty
following the murder over allegations of police negligence in the
murder and Ali Fuat YÄ±lmazer, a suspected Gulenist police chief,
was assigned to the coveted post. Following YÄ±lmazer's assignment,
the Ergenekon investigation was launched, leading to a lengthy trial
and detention process for defendants who were only released after
a purge of Gulenists from key posts in the police and judiciary,
and a law abolishing specially-authorized courts hearing the case.

Sabri Uzun, who was the head of the National Police Intelligence
Department, had claimed his subordinates hid tip-offs in the lead up
to Dink's murder. When questioned about the murder, Uzun claimed that
Ali Fuat YÄ±lmazer, his subordinate in the intelligence department,
hid an intelligence report from him regarding the plot to kill Dink.

YÄ±lmazer was already imprisoned for nine months as part of another
case involving alleged crimes committed by Gulenist infiltrators
in the police. He was re-arrested earlier this month on charges of
illegal wiretapping thousands of people in a new inquiry into an
alleged Gulenist infiltration of the police and judiciary.

http://www.dailysabah.com/investigations/2015/10/20/new-intelligence-reports-reveal-gulenist-cover-up-in-dink-murder

http://www.armradio.am/en/2015/10/20/new-intelligence-reports-reveal-gulenist-cover-up-in-dink-murder/

MosJan · October 20, 2015

GULENIST COVER-UP ? hetaqrqira

Yervant1 · October 21, 2015

ISTANBUL PROSECUTOR REQUESTS ARREST WARRANTS FOR 25 SUSPECTS IN HRANT DINK MURDER CASE

20:51, 20 Oct 2015
Siranush Ghazanchyan

ror and Organized Crimes Prosecutor GÃ¶kalp KÃ¶kcu submitted on Tuesday
an indictment over the Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink's murder
case to Istanbul Public Prosecutor's Office requesting the arrests
of 25 alleged suspects, for forming an organization to commit crimes,
deliberate killing, and forgery on documents, Daily Sabah reports.

Suspects include the former Chief of Istanbul Police Department,
Celalettin Cerrah and former head of Istanbul Police Intelligence
Department, Engin Dinc.

Dink, then editor-in-chief of the Armenian Agos newspaper, was shot
dead by a teenager on Jan. 19, 2007 outside his office in Istanbul.

Dink drew the ire of hardline Turkish nationalists in his lifetime,
as he was one of the most outspoken voices calling for a debate
to start on the controversial Armenian genocide issue. He received
numerous death threats before his murder and faced several lawsuits
for "denigrating Turkishness," an act punishable with prison terms,
for his articles and editorials on Armenian Genocide.

The role of police officers and public officials in the plot to
kill the Dink had come to light as a new investigation focused on
an alleged cover-up of the murder by officials linked to the Gulen
Movement, which is accused of attempts to overthrow the government.

http://www.dailysabah.com/investigations/2015/10/20/istanbul-prosecutor-requests-arrest-warrants-for-25-suspects-in-hrant-dink-murder-case

http://www.armradio.am/en/2015/10/20/istanbul-prosecutor-requests-arrest-warrants-for-25-suspects-in-hrant-dink-murder-case/

Yervant1 · October 21, 2015

POLITICAL RESPONSIBILITY WILL NOT END

Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Oct 20 2015

Today, it is absolutely certain that Turkish-Armenian journalistHrant
Dink was victim to a murder that could have been easily prevented.

Just like Gabriel GarcÃa MÃ¡rquez Marquez's novel "Chronicle of a
Death Foretold," everybody knew who was going to be killed and who
would commit the murder.

According to stories recently published in a pro-government newspaper,
the reason why the murder was not prevented was that "parallel
policemen" were looking to secure important positions in the police
intelligence agency. They wanted this in order to implement the
Ergenekon plan that they had prepared.

It's no secret that the murder of Hrant Dink could have been prevented,
and the authorities in the Trabzon and Istanbul security department
did not raise a finger to prevent his murder.

We have known this from the very first day. At the time, the head of
the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government - which did not
grant permission for an investigation into the authorities in question,
thus preventing the enlightenment of the murder - was Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Investigation into potentially responsible officials was not permitted
and, moreover, those responsible even received promotions. Some
became governors; some became police chiefs; some were promoted to
top positions in the security department. One was even made a cabinet
minister by Erdogan.

I don't remember how many times I wrote in those days to say
investigation permits should be granted in order to solve this murder.

Shortly after this, the wave of Ergenekon cases started and the
"political prosecutor" of them was none other than Erdogan, the person
who had blocked the investigations into the Dink case.

Of course, as he holds power right now, no prosecutor will question
his responsibility in these incidents.

However, it should not be forgotten that his political responsibility
for these incidents will not stop following him wherever he goes.

A very interesting case

Meanwhile, the indictment in the "conspiracy case," in which Fethullah
Gulen is among the defendants, has been accepted by the court and
the proceedings will begin in January.

The prosecutor is claiming that the Dec. 25, 2013, bribery and
corruption investigations were a conspiracy to topple the government.

I wonder why this case is not merged with the Dec. 17, 2013, graft
investigation case, because at the base of both cases is the accusation
that a conspiracy was plotted against the government. Maybe this
merging will take place as the case proceeds; we will see.

The most interesting aspect of the case will be the evidence that the
prosecutor submits, such as the notorious phone conversation about
"zeroing the money." In it, a father tells his son to "zero" the money,
but the son cannot reach the cash after trying to distribute it all
day long. Then the other sibling steps in to help, etc...

At the mentioned hour and day, the signals of the cell phones were
determined. Now, since the office of the prosecutor is claiming that
this was a conspiracy, I am guessing he will submit some documents. It
was also claimed by experts at the time that this wiretap was a
fabricated one.

I had asked before: Would a similar conversation, let's say between
Republican People's Party (CHP) head Kemal KÄ±lÄ±cdaroglu and his son,
be fabricated?

There are other taped phone conversations of course. The bidet to be
installed at the villa, the money for the pool, a businessman who
will be made to sit on laps because he did not bring enough money;
they all need to be proven fake.

It will really be an interesting case. Let us all watch...

October/20/2015

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/political-responsibility-will-not-end-.aspx?pageID=238&nid=90084

Yervant1 · October 27, 2015

GULENIST POLICE CHIEFS FACE LIFE SENTENCE OVER DINK MURDER

Daily Sabah, Turkey
Oct 26 2015

DAILY SABAH
ISTANBUL

Two police chiefs linked to the controversial Gulen Movement may
face life sentences for their role in the murder of Armenian-Turkish
journalist Hrant Dink, as a new indictment on police involvement in
the murder case unfolds

Former police chiefs have been indicted by a prosecutor investigating
the 2007 murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink for their
role in the plot to kill Dink, and face life sentences on charges of
premeditated murder.

Ramazan Akyurek and Ali Fuat YÄ±lmazer, affiliated with the shady
Gulen Movement, are among 25 suspects including other top police
officers accused of deliberately neglecting intelligence about the
possible murder of Dink who was shot dead by a teenager in front of
his Istanbul office. Akyurek was the chief of police in Trabzon -
the hometown of Dink's assassin, Ogun Samast, who was convicted of
murder - when Dink was assassinated, and later served as the head of
the National Police's intelligence unit. YÄ±lmazer was deputy director
of the police's intelligence department, and allegedly thwarted an
investigation into the police's role in the murder plot.

Akyurek, the former head of the Turkish National Police's intelligence
unit, who is believed to have ties with the Gulen Movement, was
arrested in February on the order of an Istanbul court one day after
he was detained as part of an inquiry into Dink's murder.

Sabri Uzun, who was the head of the National Police's Intelligence
Department, had claimed his subordinates hid tip-offs warning of
Dink's murder. Questioned about the murder, Uzun said YÄ±lmazer,
his subordinate in the intelligence department, hid an intelligence
report from him regarding the plot to kill Dink. YÄ±lmazer was already
imprisoned for nine months as part of another case involving alleged
crimes committed by Gulenist infiltrators in the police, which was
accused of illegal wiretapping activities. He was re-arrested earlier
this month on charges of illegally wiretapping thousands of people
in a new inquiry into alleged Gulenist infiltration of the police
and judiciary.

The Gulen Movement has long been claimed to be behind the murder
plot and was accused of trying to shift the blame for the murder
to Ergenekon, an alleged gang of generals, journalists and several
prominent figures imprisoned in a trial conducted by Gulenist
prosecutors.

Followers of the movement - headed by the powerful, U.S.-based cleric,
Fethullah Gulen - were found to have infiltrated key posts in the
police and judiciary in an attempt to overthrow the government,
according to several ongoing legal inquiries.

An indictment concerning the murder leaked to the press asks for prison
terms of up to 25 years for several other senior police officers in
Istanbul and Trabzon. Police officers in Trabzon are accused of not
informing higher-ranking authorities about a plot to kill Dink in
Istanbul. An earlier indictment had found key details in the plot,
which were known by a police informant working for the Trabzon police,
and was hidden from officers in Istanbul. Former police intelligence
chiefs in Istanbul are also accused of not taking security measures to
protect Dink despite intelligence reports, even though these reports
were dubious, according to media outlets.

Celalettin Cerrah, who was the head of the Turkish National Police's
Istanbul department at the time of the murder, are among suspects
indicted on charges of abuse of duty for not acting on intelligence
reports.

The indictment is different than previous indictments on the case
as both police chiefs linked to the Gulen Movement and those without
any known ties to the movement are included.

Dink, then editor-in-chief of the Istanbul-based Agos newspaper, was
shot dead by Samast on Jan. 19, 2007. Dink drew the ire of hardline
Turkish nationalists in his lifetime, as he was one of the most
outspoken voices calling for a debate to start on the controversial
Armenian genocide issue. He received numerous death threats before
his murder and faced several lawsuits for "denigrating Turkishness,"
an act punishable with prison terms, for his articles and editorials
on the mass deaths of Armenians in 1915.

Muammer AkkaÅ~_, the first prosecutor assigned to the case, and his
successors, all allegedly linked to the Gulen Movement, had not
investigated the allegations that Akyurek deleted electronic and
telephone logs at the National Police Department that could help shed
light on the murder, according to media reports. Moreover, according
to reports, security camera footage of the murder was not properly
examined and the role of police intelligence officials and gendarmerie
officers both in Istanbul and Trabzon, where the perpetrators allegedly
planned the murder, were not investigated.

http://www.dailysabah.com/investigations/2015/10/27/gulenist-police-chiefs-face-life-sentence-over-dink-murder

Yervant1 · November 14, 2015

TURKEY PROSECUTOR GENERAL'S OFFICE: GENDARMERIE INTELLIGENCE AGENTS WATCHED DINK'S MURDER

00:04, 14.11.2015
Region:Armenia, Diaspora, Turkey
Theme: Politics

Intelligence agents of Turkey's Trabzon Gendarmerie, who cooperated
with Hrant Dink's murderer Ogun Samast, were present at the moment of
the Turkish-Armenian journalist's murder, the statement of the Turkish
Prosecutor General's Office reads. The latter returned the indictment
on the case of Dink's murder to the prosecutor investigating the case.

The Prosecutor General's Office explains the return of the
aforementioned indictment by the fact that at the moment of Dink's
murder the video footage shows suspicious persons, who later turned
out to be the intelligence agents of Trabzon and Istanbul gendarmeries,
the Turkish BirGun reports.

One of the attorneys of the Dink family, Hakan BakÄ±rcÄ±oglu, said
that GÃ¶kalp KÃ¶kcu'ye, the prosecutor dealing with Dink's murder,
works well and it's necessary that exactly he completes the case. The
attorney also noted that the Prosecutor General's Office addressed
a complaint to the Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors against
that very prosecutor.

http://news.am/eng/news/296044.html

Yervant1 · January 20, 2016

REMEMBERING DINK: TODAY MARKS 9 YEARS SINCE TURKISH-ARMENIAN JOURNALIST'S DEATH

11:55 â~@¢ 19.01.16

Today marks the ninth anniversary of the death of Hrant Dink, the
assassinated editor-in-chief of the Istanbul based bilingual Armenian
weekly Agos.

The late Turkish-Armenian journalist and intellectual, who often
compared himself with a dove, had a firm belief that doves are never
killed in Turkey.

Shortly after his assassination, Ogun Samast, a 17-year-old Turkish
ultranationalist, was detained. Despite the mass protests that
followed the deadly incident, Samast received a hero's welcome by
the Turkish police, with photos that went viral later showing the
assassin photographed with different police officers.

Dink had earlier repeatedly voiced concerns over threats against him,
but the corresponding Turkish government bodies failed to take any
measure to prevent the incident.

Moreover, a recent probe into the criminal case revealed that the
police and intelligence were aware of the plot. It turned out that
Samast was followed by plain-clothed police officers up to the moment
of committing the murder.

The Turkish ultranationalist has been sentenced to 22 years in prison;
Yasin Hayal, who was identified as the mastermind behind the plot,
was given a life sentence.

Nine years after the bloody crime, the probe into it still continues.

Many former police and intelligence officials are still expected to
face court.

Turkey's first ever official address, dedicated to Dink, was made by
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in 2015.

Wishing patience to the assassinated journalist's family and loved
ones, the Turkish official called for efforts towards building bridges
of friendship between the Turks and the Armenians.

Turkey is hosting today different events to commemorate Dink. The
Turkish-Armenian journalist will be remembered also in Istanbul, with
the main event traditionally scheduled outside of his editorial-office
which became the assassination site.

The Turkish police have already issued a statement saying that several
streets in Istanbul will be closed during the events.

http://www.tert.am/en/news/2016/01/19/dink-9/1903506

Yervant1 · January 20, 2016

RACIST NOTE SEEN ON THE WALL OF ARMENIAN SCHOOL IN ISTANBUL

15:41, 19 Jan 2016
Siranush Ghazanchyan

An anti-Armenian phrase appeared on the wall of the Armenian Kalfayan
School in Istanbul on the 9thanniversary of murder of Turkish Armenian
journalist Hrant Dink, Akunq.net reports, quoting Turkish media.

The note reads "suffering to Armenians."

The Kalafyan School was founded in 1866 by Srpuhi and Nshan Kalafyan

http://akunq.net/am/?p=48426

http://www.armradio.am/en/2016/01/19/racist-note-seen-on-the-wall-of-armenian-school-in-istanbul/

http://akunq.net/am/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Irkci-yazi-300x174.jpg

Edited January 20, 2016 by Yervant1

Yervant1 · January 20, 2016

http://www.armradio.am/en/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Hrant-Dink-rally-620x300.jpg

RALLY IN ISTANBUL MARKS MURDER OF TURKISH-ARMENIAN JOURNALIST HRANT DINK 9 YEARS ON - VIDEO

20:49, 19 Jan 2016
Siranush Ghazanchyan

Photo: DHA

Several thousand people gathered Tuesday at the site in Istanbul
where Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was gunned down nine
years ago, recalling a notorious killing that only recently led to
charges against Turkey's security forces, Agence France-Presse report.

The crowd -- estimated at around 2,000 people according to an AFP
journalist -- marched to the offices of the bilingual Agos weekly in
downtown Istanbul where Dink was editor-in-chief.

With Turkish riot police out in force, the crowd chanted
anti-government slogans: "Murderer state will account for this,"
"Shoulder to shoulder against fascism."

"We are all Hrant Dink," "We are all Armenians" read black-and-white
placards written in Armenian on one side and Turkish on the other.

"We won't forget, we won't forgive" read another at the memorial
rally that has become an annual event since the murder of Dink on
January 19, 2007.

Dink, 52, was shot dead with two bullets in the back of the head in by
a teenage ultranationalist in broad daylight on a busy street outside
Agos, but questions still linger about the circumstances of his death.

Ogun Samast, then a 17-year-old jobless high-school dropout, confessed
to the murder and was sentenced to nearly 23 years in jail in 2011.

Dink's assassination sent shockwaves through Turkey and grew into a
wider scandal after it emerged that the security forces had known of
the murder plot, but failed to act.

An Istanbul court last month finally accepted an indictment against
25 public officials, including former police and intelligence chiefs,
on charges of "forming a criminal organisation," as well as voluntary
manslaughter and negligence.

The accused, including former Istanbul police chief Celalettin Cerrah,
may face a trial.

Every year since Dink's murder thousands have rallied to remember
the journalist, whose life-long campaign for reconciliation between
Turks and Armenians won him as many enemies as admirers.

Turkish nationalists especially resented that he qualified the
massacre of hundreds of thousands of Armenians in the final years of
the Ottoman empire, the precursor of modern Turkey, as a genocide,
a term Ankara has always rejected.

Almost a decade after Dink's death, activists express growing alarm
over the limits on freedom of expression under President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan.

Prosecutors last week began a vast investigation into over 1,200
academics for engaging in "terrorist propaganda" by signing a petition
condemning the military crackdown in the Kurdish-dominated southeast.

Memorial rallies were also held in Ankara as well as Armenian capital
of Yerevan and a few European cities on Tuesday.

http://www.armradio.am/en/2016/01/19/rally-in-istanbul-marks-murder-of-turkish-armenian-journalist-9-years-on/

Yervant1 · January 20, 2016

ARMENIA REMEMBERS YOU: YEREVAN CITIZENS PAY TRIBUTE TO HRANT DINK

19:48, 19 January, 2016

YEREVAN, JANUARY 19, ARMENPRESS. Remembrance event dedicated to
the 9th anniversary of the murder of Istanbul-Armenian journalist,
founder and editor in chief of "Agos" newspaper Hrant Dink took place
in Yerevan. "A New Awakening" NGO operating in Istanbul and "Hrant
Dink" foundation conducted a petition at the Yerevan Municipality
aimed at naming one of Yerevan streets after Hrant Dink.

Dozens of citizens joint the petition. After conducting a silent
assembly for nearly one hour at the Yerevan Municipality, the
organizers submitted a request to the Yerevan Municipality calling
to name one of the streets of Yerevan after Hrant Dink.

In an interview with "Armenpress", Yerevan representative of "A New
Awakening" NGO Nshan Kyuregh mentioned with sorrow that no large-scale
events or protests are conducted in Armenia on the remembrance days of
Hrant Dink. "It would be very desirable if the political parties of
Armenia organize events or protests dedicated to the memory of Hrant
Dink on these days, like it happens in Istanbul. Now our goal is to
success in naming one of Yerevan streets after Hrant Dink, because
we do not hear the name of Hrant Dink very frequently in Armenia. I
would like very much that in 2017, which is the 10th anniversary of
Dink's death, political parties of Armenia become more active and
organize large-scale activities", he said.

After submitting the results of the petition and the request to
the Municipality, the participants walked in the direction of the
Republican Square. Participants of the event reached Mashtots
Avenue chanting "Armenia remembers you", "We are all Hrant",
"Street, struggle, freedom" from where they took the direction to
the Republican Square from Amiryan Street. Petition went on at the
Republican Square. Numerous citizens joint it.

The event dedicated to the memory of Hrant Dink ended at the Republican
Square with a candle-lighting ceremony.

http://armenpress.am/eng/news/832590/armenia-remembers-you-yerevan-citizens-pay-tribute-to-hrant-dink.html

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