Assassination Of Hrant Dink

[Arpa]

Pls. He have children and wife. why should Turkey get his property?

Arpa, a camera captured his face. So they cannot find innocent murderers.

And, you dare to show your ugly MONGOLOID face here at such a tragic time!

What else is new?

When you sense that you are losing the argument, use of the yataghan of 1915 , and 2007 use of the bullet to settle the argument, has failed , when you have NO ARGUMENT to untie the “Gordian Knot” in a civilized manner, you resort to the power of the sword/bullet, whatever.

COWARDS!!!

Btw. ARPA stands for “Anayinizin Rahmetlik Postalini Agladajaniz”.**

** In case we forget what “postal” means read Grigor Zohrab’s “Postal”, i.e.the turkified version of the Latin to mean “boots” ,, that is, an aperture where another “member “ enters. Is there a coincidence here? Shup up Sip “Kir-a-KOS-ian” "How do I Love Thee"?. "Let me count the ways"

See below the connection of “Gordium” and the Armenian town “gorduk”, not to forget the Armenian words “gort/frog” and “gotnuk/wart”. I will explain if necessary.

http://www.livius.org/aj-al/alexander/alexander_t06.html

Alexander, whoever the F hemay be, when he could not logically (observe that "logos" and "logic" are Greek/Macedonian word) cuts the Gordian knot with his sword.

In the first months of 333, Alexander united his armies in Gordium. Here, a strange incident took place. Asia. The Greek author Plutarch of Chaeronea, describes it in section 17 of his Life of Alexander.

The translation was made by Mr. Evelyn and belongs to the Dryden series.

The citadel of Gordium

Then he subdued the Pisidians who made head against him, and conquered the Phrygians, at whose chief city, Gordium, which is said to be the seat of the ancient Midas, he saw the famous chariot fastened with cords made of the rind of the cornel-tree, which whosoever should untie, the inhabitants had a tradition, that for him was reserved the empire of the world.

Most authors tell the story that Alexander finding himself unable to untie the knot, the ends of which were secretly twisted round and folded up within it, cut it asunder with his sword. But Aristobulus tells us it was easy for him to undo it, by only pulling the pin out of the pole, to which the yoke was tied, and afterwards drawing off the yoke itself from below.

From hence he advanced into Paphlagonia and Cappadocia, both which countries he soon reduced to obedience, and then hearing of the death of Memnon, the best commander Darius had upon the sea-coasts, who, if he had lived, might, it was supposed, have put many impediments and difficulties in the way of the progress of his arms, he was the rather encouraged to carry the war into the upper provinces of Asia.

home : index : ancient Persia : ancient Greece : Alexander

Edited January 20, 2007 by Arpa

[neko]

The wheels are turning. The process has already begun. The games of “pass the buck”, “pin the tail on the donkey” is in full swing. Of course! We have to cast doubts on the, Allah forbid , Turkish ethnicity of the murderer.

From Sabah .Thanks MosJan;

The murderer is identified as “MP, aged 23 ….” Does MP stand for Mehmet “*****“?

http://english.sabah.com.tr/F213E849632444...AD73D4B98D.html

"The suspect born in Şırnak

The suspect taken into custody is stated to be M.P. aged 23 born in Şırnak. It was learnt that the eye witnesses will be faced with the two suspects for identification. The police started to investigate the computers of Dink. It is investigated if there is any threat messages or e-mails. Five eye witnesses who saw the attack very closely watched the videos recorded by the security cameras."

Sirnak, pronounced Surnekh(?) by the locals, is a town right in the heart of “Kurdistan” a couple of hundred miles south of Van.

Here is the Armenian connection.

 

I think you should have taken a glance at a map of Turkey before reposting that. It is just muddying the water.

Sirnak is not some little town, it is a city and the capital of a region of the same name. About 400,000 people live there (and probably the same number who are from there, but now live elsewhere in Turkey). That there were until recently some Armenians living isolated in some villages is irrelevant to this event. And let's remember that all of the most fanatical members of the Young Turk movement came from areas of the Ottoman Empire where Turks were in the minority. And remember also the recent murder of the Italian priest in Trabzon, again an area where Turks are in the minority.

 

[Yervant1]

http://www.atilim.org/haberler/fotogaleri/

[neko]

There is a photo of the alleged assassin on wikipedia.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Hrantdinksassassin.jpg

 

 

Does he look 19 to you?

[phantom22]

Zurderer,

 

Yes he has a wife and three children. It is the fact that Christian churches have no rights to their church properties and the fact that all our family's resources were confiscated that makes diaspora Armenians wonder.

 

Arpa, yes we are all angry, but will you please stop with your assinine racial comments. Have a little respect for Hrant's memory.

 

Who will inherit his property?

 

If his property is confiscated by the Turkish state, that is about as evil it gets.

 

[Yervant1]

There is a photo of the alleged assassin on wikipedia.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Hrantdinksassassin.jpg

Does he look 19 to you?

Take the mustache off, more or less yes he does look young.

[Aratta-Kingdom]

This is not the governments doing, he was moderate and known also to criticise the Diaspora, I won't be surprised if it end up that some fanatic Turk did it. Even a nationalist Turk will know and even if he could hate the guy that this is not a positive thing for Turkey.

 

In a country where the government controls every aspect of the life, in the country where people are prosecuted for saying the word 'genocide, in a country where the secret service agents spread terror, in a country which is ruled by the generals, in a country where, like Hrant Dink said, the courts defend the government and not the citizens(Akos-01.10.07), no kind of a fanatic turk will ever dare to make a moving without the approval of the government.

Edited January 20, 2007 by ArmoArmeN

[Zartonk]

Yes he looks 19.

[Aratta-Kingdom]

The Independent

 

Robert Fisk: Award-winning writer shot by assassin in Istanbul street

20 January 2007

Hrant Dink became the 1,500,001st victim of the Armenian genocide yesterday. An educated and generous journalist and academic - editor of the weekly Turkish-Armenian newspaper Agos - he tried to create a dialogue between the two nations to reach a common narrative of the 20th century's first holocaust. And he paid the price: two bullets shot into his head and two into his body by an assassin in the streets of Istanbul yesterday afternoon.

 

It was not only a frightful blow to Turkey's surviving Armenian community but a shattering reversal to Turkey's hope of joining the European Union, a visionary proposal already endangered by the country's broken relations with Cyprus and its refusal to acknowledge the genocide for what it was: the deliberate mass killing of an entire race of Christian people - 1,500,000 in all - by the country's Ottoman Turkish government in 1915. Winston Churchill was among the first to call it a holocaust but to this day, the Turkish authorities deny such a definition, ignoring documents which Turkey's own historians have unearthed to prove the government's genocidal intent.

 

The 53-year-old journalist, who had two children, was murdered at the door of his newspaper. Just over a year ago, he was convicted under Turkey's notorious law 301 of "anti-Turkishness", a charge he strenuously denied even after he received a six-month suspended sentence from an Istanbul court.

 

The EU has demanded that Turkey repeal the law under which the country also tried to imprison Nobel Prize-winning novelist Orhan Pamuk. At the time of his trial, Dink appeared on Turkish television in tears. "I'm living together with Turks in this country," he said then. "And I'm in complete solidarity with them. I don't think I could live with an identity of having insulted them in this country."

 

It is a stunning irony that Dink had accused his fellow Armenians in an article of allowing their enmity towards the Turks for the genocide to have a "poisoning effect on your blood" - and that the court took the article out of context and claimed he was referring to Turkish blood as poisonous.

 

Dink told news agency reporters in 2005 that his case had arisen from a question on what he felt when, at primary school, he had to take a traditional Turkish oath: "I am a Turk, I am honest, I am hard-working." In his defence, Dink said: "I said that I was a Turkish citizen but an Armenian and that even though I was honest and hard-working, I was not a Turk, I was an Armenian." He did not like a line in the Turkish national anthem that refers to "my heroic race". He did not like singing that line, he said, "because I was against using the word 'race', which leads to discrimination".

 

Pamuk had earlier faced a court for talking about the 1915 genocide in a Swiss magazine. Leading Turkish publishers say that there is now an incendiary atmosphere in Turkey towards all writers who want to tell the truth about the genocide, when vast areas of Turkish Armenia were dispossessed of their Christian populations. Tens of thousands of men were massacred by Turkish gendarmerie - and by Kurds - while many Armenian women and children were raped and butchered in the northern Syrian deserts. The few survivors still alive have described the burning of living Armenian children on bonfires.

 

In fact, a book published in Turkey and in the United States by Turkish scholar Tamer Akcam gives documentary details of the orders passed down from the Ottoman government in what was then Constantinople for the deliberate and industrialised killing of the Armenians. Thousands were also suffocated in underground caves in what were the world's first gas chambers. Adolf Hitler asked his generals in 1939: "Who remembers the Armenians?" And he went on to begin the Holocaust of the Jews of Poland. Whether the police discover that Dink's murderer is a Turkish nationalist - or even, though it might seem inconceivable, an Armenian nationalist outraged by his earlier remarks - will be an important proof of the country's willingness to confront its past.

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

ARMENIAN ASSEMBLY OF AMERICA EXPRESSES OUTRAGE OVER ASSASSINATION OF

HRANT DINK

 

Calls on Turkey to End Denial of Armenian Genocide

 

Washington, DC - The Armenian Assembly of America was shocked and

appalled to learn of the tragic murder of one of the most prominent

Armenian voices in Turkey, Hrant Dink, who was gunned down outside his

newspaper office in Istanbul, Turkey, in what was a blatant political

assassination. Dink was frequently and unfairly targeted by Turkish

nationalists who labeled him a "traitor" for his public statements on

the Armenian Genocide.

 

The Assembly condemns the Turkish authorities for their failure to

provide a safer political environment for Armenians in Turkey, despite

repeated calls from the United States, the European Union and human

rights groups urging Ankara to improve conditions for minorities in the

country. Turkey is currently home to some 60,000 Armenians.

 

The Assembly also remains deeply troubled by Ankara's refusal to heed

international calls to abolish Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code,

which stifles freedom of speech and criminalizes public discussion of

the Armenian Genocide. Hrant Dink himself stood trial several times for

his public comments on the genocide and was convicted in October 2006

for "insulting Turkishness" under the much-criticized law. He received

a six-month suspended sentence and was set to appear in court again in

March 2007 for telling a foreign journalist that the events of 1915

constituted genocide.

 

When prosecutors in Istanbul announced the new "denigration" charges,

Amnesty International expressed dismay, saying "the organization

considers that this prosecution is part of an emerging pattern of

harassment against the journalist exercising his right to freedom of

expression - a right which Turkey, as a State Party to the European

Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms

and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights has a legal

obligation to uphold."

 

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), "in the last 15

years, 18 other Turkish journalists have been killed for their work,

making [Turkey] the eighth deadliest country in the world for

journalists." CPJ research further shows that "journalists, academic,

and others have been subjected to pervasive legal harassment for

statements that allegedly insult the Turkish identity."

 

"It is past time for Turkey to reform its laws and take serious steps to

protect the rights of all its citizens," said Assembly Board of Trustees

Chairman Hirair Hovnanian. "No other human being in Turkey should have

to pay the price with his life for his government's lack of resolve to

uphold the rule of law and respect for human rights."

 

The Armenian Assembly also calls on the United States, as a world

leader, to end the vicious cycle of genocide denial in Turkey by

adopting a congressional resolution reaffirming this fact of world

history.

 

Bryan Ardouny, Executive Director of the Armenian Assembly, said that

"sadly 92 years after the start of the Armenian Genocide, Hrant Dink is

now the latest victim of Turkey's outrageous campaign of denial and

intolerance."

 

"In light of this terrible tragedy, it is all the more inappropriate for

the Administration to oppose congressional reaffirmation of the Armenian

Genocide," added Hovnanian.

 

"In memory of Hrant Dink, we reaffirm our commitment to fight for

universal reaffirmation of the Armenian Genocide," Hovnanian continued.

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGEUR440012007

 

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

PRESS RELEASE

News Flash

 

AI Index: EUR 44/001/2007 (Public)

News Service No: 012

19 January 2007

 

 

Turkey: Turkish-Armenian journalist murdered

Amnesty International deplores the murder today of the prominent Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink. The organization believes that he was targeted because of his work as a journalist who championed freedom of expression.

 

Hrant Dink, editor of the newspaper Agos and contributor to the influential daily Zaman, was reportedly shot three times today in Istanbul outside the Agos offices. Hrant Dink, 53, was a passionate promoter of the universality of human rights who appeared on different platforms with human rights activists, journalists and intellectuals across the political spectrum. Best known for his willingness to debate openly and critically issues of Armenian identity and official versions of history in Turkey relating to the massacres of Armenians in 1915, Hrant Dink also wrote widely on issues of democratization and human rights.

 

"In Turkey there are still a number of harsh laws which endorse the suppression of freedom of speech. These laws, coupled with the persisting official statements by senior government, state and military officials condemning critical debate and dissenting opinion, create an atmosphere in which violent attacks can take place," said Nicola Duckworth, Europe and Central Asia Programme Director at Amnesty International.

 

Last year, Hrant Dink was prosecuted for the third time on charges of “denigrating Turkishness” under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code. Amnesty International called for the repeal of that law and condemned his prosecution as part of a pattern of judicial harassment against him for peacefully expressing his dissenting opinion. Hrant Dink had already been given a six-month suspended prison sentence in July 2006 following an October 2005 conviction on charges of “denigrating Turkishness”.

 

Amnesty International calls on the Turkish authorities to condemn all forms of intolerance, to uphold the rights of all citizens of the Turkish Republic and to investigate the murder of Hrant Dink thoroughly and impartially, to make the findings of the investigation public and to bring suspected perpetrators to justice in accordance with international fair trial standards.

 

For further information about Amnesty International’s concerns regarding Article 301 please see Turkey: Article 301: How the law on “denigrating Turkishness” is an insult to free expression (AI Index: EUR 44/003/2006).

Edited January 20, 2007 by ArmoArmeN

[Aratta-Kingdom]

Leading Armenian journalist murdered in Istanbul

Sam Knight

 

Times Online/UK

January 19, 2007

 

 

 

Hrant Dink, a vigorous defender of Armenians who frequently fell foul

of the Government's free-speech laws and hardline Turkish

nationalists, was shot several times in the neck as he emerged from

the offices of the Agos newspaper in Istanbul this afternoon.

 

In his final newspaper column Dink, 53, described how his willingness

to criticise the Government and articulate the views of Turkey's

Armenian community had led to dozens of death threats. He complained

that he had been offered no protection by the police.

 

"My computer's memory is loaded with sentences full of hatred and

threats," he wrote. "I am just like a pigeon ... I look around to my

left and right, in front and behind me as much as it does. My head is

just as active."

 

Witnesses and Turkish media reports described the gunman as a young

man, around 18 or 19, wearing denim jacket and a white hat. The

Turkish Prime Minister later said that two men had been arrested over

the shooting and top officials from the Justice Department had been

appointed to investigate.

 

The killing of Dink, who was convicted last year under laws that

forbid journalists from "insulting Turkish identity", caused the

Turkish stock market to fall. The country's fractious relationship

with its writers and its past, notably the Armenian genocide that

followed the First World War, is seen as a major obstacle to Turkey's

eventual admission to the EU.

 

At a rushed news conference, the Prime Minister, Tayyip Erdogan,

described the murder as an attack on Turkey's peace and

stability. Hundreds of bystanders gathered around Dink's body, which

lay face down and covered by a white sheet, and chanted "the murderer

Government will pay".

 

Friends of Dink said the writer and editor challenged Turkey's

reluctance to face up to its past and failure to properly respect its

minority communities. "Hrant was a perfect target for those who want

to obstruct Turkey's democratisation and its path towards the European

Union," said Aydin Engin, a journalist for Agos, where Dink's brother

also works.

 

"This bullet was fired against Turkey... an image has been created

about Turkey that its Armenian citizens have no safety," Taha Akyol,

the editor of CNN Turk.

 

Dink had been prosecuted several times because of articles published

in Agos, an influential bilingual newspaper that appears in Turkish

and Armenian. He was unafraid to confront the Government with the

history of the Armenian genocide and in late 2005 was charged with

insulting Turkey for referring to the long-held Armenian wish to live

separately from Turks.

 

Last July, Dink told Reuters that his writings had led to several

death threats but that he refused to go abroad, a decision his friends

spoke of with dismay today.

 

"I will not leave this country. If I go I would feel I was leaving

alone the people struggling for democracy in this country. It would be

a betrayal of them. I could never do this," he said.

 

In the end, Dink was convicted of trying to influence his trial by

allowing a series of articles to appear in Agos criticising Turkey's

penal code. His six-month suspended prison sentence ' an unusually

harsh penalty ' was then upheld last year by Turkey's court of appeal,

a verdict that led to condemnation from Brussels. Earlier this month,

he predicted that 2007 would a difficult year, but that he would

survive.

 

"For me, 2007 is likely to be a hard year. The trials will continue,

new ones will be started. Who knows what other injustices I will be up

against?"

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

ARF Bureau Statement on Hrant Dink's Murder

 

The Bureau of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation condemns the murder of "Agos" Weekly editor Hrant Dink in Istanbul.

 

This abhorrent crime brings new threats to the rights and existence of the Armenian community in Turkey. The Turkish state and its government are fully responsible.

 

Dink was killed for his political beliefs, which, in his own manner conveyed the state of the Armenian community in Turkey, as well as the civil rights of other minorities, Turkish-Armenia relations and the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by Turkey, always taking into consideration and defending the interests of a "civilized" Turkey... Beliefs, for which he was constantly pursued by the Turkish government. Dink's murder, once again, proves that there is no tolerance in Turkey for differing views.

 

On the occasion of Dink's murder we offer our condolences to his family.

 

ARF Bureau

 

January 19, 2007

 

Yerevan

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

OSCE REPRESENTATIVE APPALLED BY MURDER OF TURKISH JOURNALIST HRANT DINK

 

VIENNA, 19 January 2007 - The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Miklos Haraszti, expressed profound shock today over the murder of the well-known Turkish journalist Hrant Dink.

 

"I condemn the murder of Hrant Dink, one of Turkey's outstanding commentators on Armenian-community related affairs," said Haraszti. "This is a cowardly act resulting in tragic loss."

 

According to reports, Hrant Dink, editor of the Armenian-Turkish language weekly Agos Magazine, was shot dead in front of the Istanbul offices of his newspaper.

 

In October 2005, Dink received a six-month suspended sentence on charges of "insult to the Turkish identity", according to article 301 of the Penal Code.

 

"Those who commit violence against journalists cannot be allowed to do so with impunity. Therefore, I call upon the Turkish authorities to track down those responsible as quickly as possible. It is a basic OSCE principle that acts of violence and intimidation must be thoroughly investigated based on the rule of law. This is also a vital element contributing to a climate genuinely allowing for freedom of expression and discussion within a society," said Miklos Haraszti.

 

The OSCE Representative has asked the Turkish authorities to remove all criminal provisions, allowing the prosecution of anyone who expresses opinions that differ from that of state institutions.

 

Contacts: Office of the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media Kaerntner Ring 5-7, Top 14, 2. DG A-1010 Vienna Austria Tel: +43-1-512-21-450

 

[Aratta-Kingdom]

"Pls. He have children and wife. why should Turkey get his property?"

 

the barbarian turks and the fascist government of turkey have been confiscating properties from the armenians since the day you mongolian leftovers set a foot on the land of the armenians. even the orphanage opened by Hrand Dink has been closed and the land confiscated.

 

 

 

"Arpa, a camera captured his face. So they cannot find innocent murderers."

 

'a fixed camera' captured the face of the assassin? who ordered the assassination of Hrant Dink and for what purpose? what was the message you bastards tried to pass to the international community...'DON'T PUNISH ME OR I'LL BEHAVE BADLY' ? guess what you filthy son of a turk, the assassination of Hrant Dink is the beginning of the end for turkey. after what you fascist government did, more and more turks from the ghetto republic of turkey have started to use their fat heads. in Hrant Dink's words 'the government of turkey fears not from the external pressure, but from the awakening of it's people'. now that there is a crack in a wall of silence, there is nothing else you can do anymore.

Edited January 20, 2007 by ArmoArmeN

[Stormig]

How much crap did Dink receive from Armenians who are now all of a sudden crying and in mourning? Let's search this forum alone. I would therefore not be surprised if we receive the same sort of reaction if, god forbid, Mutafian gets assassinated.

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

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

[hytga]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/4485546.html

Jan. 20, 2007, 3:36PM

Suspect in Turkish editor's death held

 

By BENJAMIN HARVEY Associated Press Writer

© 2007 The Associated Press

TOOLSEmail Get section feed

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ISTANBUL, Turkey — Police on Saturday detained a man suspected in the slaying of an ethnic Armenian journalist, acting on a tip from the suspect's father after his pictures were broadcast on television, a police official said.

 

The suspect, who authorities identified earlier as Ogun Samas, was caught on a bus in the Black Sea city of Samsun, the official said on condition of anonymity because an official announcement had not yet been made.

 

Hrant Dink, the 52-year-old editor of the Turkish-Armenian newspaper Agos, was gunned down outside his newspaper's office on Friday.

 

Most Turks assume he was targeted for his columns saying the killing of ethnic Armenians by Turks in the early 20th century was genocide. Nationalists consider such statements an insult to Turkey's honor and a threat to its unity, and Dink had been showered with venomous insults and threats.

 

Earlier, private NTV television reported that the suspect's father and 10 other people had been detained by police for questioning in the Black Sea city of Trabzon.

 

Accompanied by pleas for the public to help track down the suspect, photographs were broadcast on television showing a thin man in his late teens or early 20s, with an angular face and a wisp of a mustache. One photo captured him running, tucking a pistol into his waistband.

 

Istanbul Gov. Muammer Guler said the man photographed by security cameras was also identified by Dink's secretary, who said he had requested a meeting with Dink the day he was killed, the Anatolia news agency reported. The man said he was a student at Ankara University, Guler said.

 

The request was refused, and the secretary said she saw him waiting in front of a bank about an hour before Dink was killed, Anatolia reported.

 

now, the question is, what was he doing at the bank? waiting to confirm a transfer of money? from whom? This may be the most painful part in tracking the real murderers of Dink. We'll see how the story develops and whether or most likely NOT they will track down the real murders

[gamavor]

EU AND USA CONDEMN THE MURDER OF HRANT DINK

 

Yerevan, January 19. ArmInfo. Olli Rehn, European Commissioner,

condemned the today's murder of Hrant Dink in Istanbul.

 

Mr. Rehn said that H. Dink had always spoken for freedom of speech in

Turkey and defending his views was making a contribution into

establishment of the open dialogue. Ross Wilson, U.S. Ambassador to

Turkey, and Nicolas Burns, U.S. Undersecretary of State, on his visit

in Turkey also condemned the crime.

 

 

PS: Besides the obvious, enjoy some more crocodile tears...

 

[DominO]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/4485546.html

now, the question is, what was he doing at the bank? waiting to confirm a transfer of money? from whom? This may be the most painful part in tracking the real murderers of Dink. We'll see how the story develops and whether or most likely NOT they will track down the real murders

 

If money was transfered, it would still strongly suggest it was organised.

 

At this point is there no option requesting an independent investigation?

[Yervant1]

Zoryan Institute

Commentary on the Murder of Hrant Dink

 

 

samedi 20 janvier 2007, Stéphane/armenews

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zoryan Institute

 

255 Duncan Mill Rd. , Suite 310

 

Toronto , Canada M3B 3H9

 

Tel : 416-250-9807 E-mail : zoryan@zoryaninstitute.org

 

Commentary on the Murder of Hrant Dink

 

January 19, 2007

 

The murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink today came as a shock to all of us at the Zoryan Institute. About four years ago, he visited the institute and shared with us his vision of bringing together the Armenian and Turkish peoples through dialogue and reconciliation. He reiterated this vision at the scholarly conference in Yerevan in April 2005 and again at the Third Armenia-Diaspora Conference there last September. He was a passionate individual, devoted to promoting truth, freedom of speech, and democracy.

 

On behalf of the Zoryan Board and staff, we wish to express our deepest condolences to his family. We express our sympathies to the people of Turkey , who believe in what he stood for, as they have lost a staunch champion for human rights. We also express our sympathies to the Armenians of Turkey, who have lost a strong voice of leadership in the effort to reconcile the Armenian and Turkish peoples.

 

Dink used his newspaper, Agos , as a vehicle to disseminate his views with conviction. He raised questions about Turkish history and the highly politicized Armenian Genocide issue, thus contributing to an open public debate. When addressing Armenians, he pleaded that Armenians, especially those in the Diaspora, who are primarily descendants of the survivors of the 1915 Genocide, not view the people of Turkey with the spectacles of that era, but rather to seek ways and means of sharing the truth with Turks in order to ultimately achieve reconciliation.

 

Unfortunately, Dink became disillusioned because of the events that had taken place over the past four years. Despite the promise of the Turkish Government to bring about freedom of speech and democracy, some 75 people were indicted under the notorious Article 301 of the Turkish Penal code. He was part of the Istanbul Conference in 2005, whose participants the Turkish Justice Minister called “traitors” and accused of “stabbing the nation in the back.” Most of the people indicted under Article 301 were acquitted. He felt that he was being singled out, as a Turkish citizen of Armenian heritage, for rougher treatment for the same alleged offense. No one has been imprisoned in Turkey for breaching Article 301, but the appeals court confirmed a six-month suspended sentence against Dink. He was beaten by an angry mob when leaving the courthouse.

 

He was equally disillusioned by France ’s effort to penalize denial of the Armenian Genocide. He felt strongly that the law in both countries was being used to stifle freedom of speech and expression. It is ironic that, he, while being persecuted in his own country for referring to the massacre of Ottoman Armenians in 1915 as genocide, at the same time challenged the French Government to indict him under their proposed new law, in defense of the same right of free speech.

 

It is our opinion that, while trying to promote freedom of expression and bring about mutual understanding between Turks and Armenians, Dink was a victim of the political struggle between the forces of democratization in Turkey and the forces of the “Deep State” that want to maintain the status quo. This casts a terrible chill on the entire human rights movement in Turkey and dims the hope of reconciliation.

 

Let Hrant Dink’s vision and spirit stay alive and inspire all those who continue the struggle for universal human rights.

 

 

[DominO]

New developpements, there is sufficient evidence to think that it was indeed planned.

 

http://www.ntvmsnbc.com/news/397591.asp

 

The gun was never used before.

[karakash]

ARMENIAN ASSEMBLY OF AMERICA EXPRESSES OUTRAGE OVER ASSASSINATION OF

HRANT DINK

 

Calls on Turkey to End Denial of Armenian Genocide

 

Washington, DC - The Armenian Assembly of America was shocked and

appalled to learn of the tragic murder of one of the most prominent

Armenian voices in Turkey, Hrant Dink, who was gunned down outside his

newspaper office in Istanbul, Turkey, in what was a blatant political

assassination. Dink was frequently and unfairly targeted by Turkish

nationalists who labeled him a "traitor" for his public statements on

the Armenian Genocide.

 

The Assembly condemns the Turkish authorities for their failure to

provide a safer political environment for Armenians in Turkey, despite

repeated calls from the United States, the European Union and human

rights groups urging Ankara to improve conditions for minorities in the

country. Turkey is currently home to some 60,000 Armenians.

 

The Assembly also remains deeply troubled by Ankara's refusal to heed

international calls to abolish Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code,

which stifles freedom of speech and criminalizes public discussion of

the Armenian Genocide. Hrant Dink himself stood trial several times for

his public comments on the genocide and was convicted in October 2006

for "insulting Turkishness" under the much-criticized law. He received

a six-month suspended sentence and was set to appear in court again in

March 2007 for telling a foreign journalist that the events of 1915

constituted genocide.

 

When prosecutors in Istanbul announced the new "denigration" charges,

Amnesty International expressed dismay, saying "the organization

considers that this prosecution is part of an emerging pattern of

harassment against the journalist exercising his right to freedom of

expression - a right which Turkey, as a State Party to the European

Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms

and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights has a legal

obligation to uphold."

 

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), "in the last 15

years, 18 other Turkish journalists have been killed for their work,

making [Turkey] the eighth deadliest country in the world for

journalists." CPJ research further shows that "journalists, academic,

and others have been subjected to pervasive legal harassment for

statements that allegedly insult the Turkish identity."

 

"It is past time for Turkey to reform its laws and take serious steps to

protect the rights of all its citizens," said Assembly Board of Trustees

Chairman Hirair Hovnanian. "No other human being in Turkey should have

to pay the price with his life for his government's lack of resolve to

uphold the rule of law and respect for human rights."

 

The Armenian Assembly also calls on the United States, as a world

leader, to end the vicious cycle of genocide denial in Turkey by

adopting a congressional resolution reaffirming this fact of world

history.

 

Bryan Ardouny, Executive Director of the Armenian Assembly, said that

"sadly 92 years after the start of the Armenian Genocide, Hrant Dink is

now the latest victim of Turkey's outrageous campaign of denial and

intolerance."

 

"In light of this terrible tragedy, it is all the more inappropriate for

the Administration to oppose congressional reaffirmation of the Armenian

Genocide," added Hovnanian.

 

"In memory of Hrant Dink, we reaffirm our commitment to fight for

universal reaffirmation of the Armenian Genocide," Hovnanian continued.

 

This is the same Armenian Assembly that supports the confirmation of Hoagland, a genocide denier, as the next US Ambassador to Armenia...

 

[ED]

Kemal Kerinçsiz, Dink's prosecutor, condemns assassination

Ultranationalist lawyer Kemal Kerinçisiz said he felt the utmost sorrow at the death of Hrant Dink, who was gunned down Friday outside his newspaper's office in Istanbul. "I condemn the attack and extend my condolences to his family and to Armenian society. We might have had totally different opinions, but we can never accept violence," said Kerinçsiz.

Kerinçsiz and the Turkish Union of Lawyers were behind a number of high-profile cases against numerous Turkish writers and journalists, including Dink and novelists Elif Şafak and Orhan Pamuk. All three were charged under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code, which says it is a crime to "insult Turkishness." All three wrote about and spoke out on Turkey's notorious national taboos, breaking officially accepted views on nationalism and ethnicity, in particular Turkey's Armenian legacy and its Kurdish minority.

Kerinçsiz said he thought there might be a plot behind the attack.

 

"I do not think this was an individual attack by a fanatical person who was unhappy with Hrant Dink's opinions. It cannot be that simple. There might be some people who could benefit from this terrible act. It is very clear that Turkish people and Turkey will be badly affected by this attack."

 

Kerinçsiz proudly took his place during court proceedings at Dink's trial. Protesters outside Pamuk's trial scuffled with police and threw eggs as he left the court building. The European Union has made freedom of expression and the abolishment of laws like Article 301 indispensable to Turkey's EU membership process.

 

20.01.2007

YUSUF ÜNAL İSTANBUL

 

http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar...amp;link=100611

Edited January 20, 2007 by Edward

[Hellektor]

BBC article on the assasination (of course) put the word genocide in quotes. Furthermore, they dont hesitate to explain why....

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

Why put "genocide" in inverted commas?

 

Whether or not the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Armenians during World War I amounted to genocide is a matter for heated debate. Some countries have declared that a genocide took place, but others have resisted calls to do so.

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

Disgusting....

The love affair of the Turks and Anglo-Fagsons and their bizarre fascination for the Turkish phallus is nothing new. I once posted a couple of messages in a thread on their website and none was published. I was as PC as possible and didn't call their country the United Queerdom of the Greatest Turkish C*** Sucking Faggots of Brisatan.

 

[DominO]

He confessed the crime.

 

http://www.cnnturk.com/TURKIYE/haber_detay...;haberID=289421

 

He claims it was a personal act not organised. So, he will buy a new gun, only for the purpouses of shouting him, he will move to Istanbul kill him and move back? There's something fishy there.

Edited January 20, 2007 by QueBeceR