The Assassination of Hrant Dink

[Turkish Pride]

I would like to condemn the assassination of Hrant Dink.

It was pointless and achieved nothing, it just furthers the ultra nationalists causes. Which is something I know most Turks and definitely all Armenian's don't want.

[imported_Armine]

Hi to all of you,

I thank it is very sad this happend to such a good men which intentions were only to make things better between the Turks and the Armenians. My father spoke with him a couple of times in our Armenian family church in istanbul (Uc horos - beyoglu). He did not know him that much but it was a schock to all of us including turkish people as well.

[Jade]

Yes, I have been reading a bit about Mr. Dink and his life and knowing him more only makes me even more upset that he died...He was a hope to both the Turks and the Armenians alike I think...As he has said, he may not be Turkish but he came from that land...He called himself "Turkiyeli"...I was researching couple of days ago.

[Joseph]

ANDREW FINKEL [email protected] Columnists
Imagine…

Is Turkey about to get its second Nobel Prize winner? There was a very earnest recommendation made at a formal evening I attended in London this week hosted at the headquarters of Amnesty International UK but sponsored by many of the country’s other human rights organizations, including Index on Censorship, Open Democracy and English Pen. “A Turkish patriot” is how one speaker described the hoped for recipient. “A Martin Luther King,” said another. “A symbol that there is a way out of the current impasse,” said a third. The award would have to be made posthumously since Hrant Dink is dead.
The gathering I attended was a tribute to the murdered journalist at the end of what is, by Armenian custom, a period of mourning. That same custom holds that the soul of the deceased lingers for 40 days on earth and that it is incumbent on friends and family to wish it Godspeed as it finally departs. Of course Hrant Dink was a determined iconoclast, and I have a feeling that his spirit will hover far longer than the statutory 40 days.
Interesting about Wednesday night’s tribute was not just how many people managed to brave a blustery wet London night to attend (there were similar events in Istanbul and cities throughout the world) but the spirit in which it was conducted. I had been warned by a colleague that there was a feud going on over who “owned” Hrant Dink’s memory -- the assumption being that there would be an effort to appropriate the grief and outrage over his death to push for different political agenda including that of genocide recognition. However, there was no unseemly squabbling over his memory. Ronald Suny, an extraordinarily well-respected American political scientist of Armenian ancestry, made a point of stressing how Hrant’s greatest ambition was to see Turkey as a modern, fully democratic country and how this had often brought him into conflict with those in the diaspora motivated by the need if not for revenge then at least satisfaction.
The mood of the evening was that if Hrant Dink’s life symbolized anything, it was that there had to be a reconciliation between Turk and Armenian other than through silence and between Turkey and Armenia.
This is how I interpreted, at any rate, the tens of thousands who marched in his funeral cortege saying that “we are Armenians,” “we are all Hrants.” This is not everyone’s stated view. I read recently of an accusation (Feb. 26) by the head of the Turkish Historical Society, Yusuf Halaço?lu that large segments of the crowds were organized subversives. They would not succeed in their aims, he said, because the march had the reverse effect of what they intended. Public opinion has hardened against them and “it is impossible to make anyone accept the genocide.”
It is odd in the extreme that a gathering organized by civil libertarians in London avoided turning Hrant Dink’s death into a parody of the genocide issue where the head of an august body like the Turkish Historical Society failed. I am shocked that a man of Professor Halaço?lu’s education could be so insensitive. No doubt in the unlikelihood of Hrant Dink being given a Nobel Peace Prize, this too would be interpreted as an attempt by Scandinavian subversives to divide Turkey.
My own reading of these remarks, of those of some editors-in-chief of newspapers, of some hard-line nationalist politicians and even ministers, is that they are afraid. Just as others fear a wave of ultranationalism in Turkey, others fear that some people in society have slipped under the ropes used to corral them in. They fear they might lose the power of control.
I don’t want to exaggerate. What happened in 1915 is still a highly emotive issue in Turkey. But just for a moment, imagine a world in which Turkey, upon being told that the US Congress (or the Icelandic Althingi or the Japanese Diet), was thinking about recognizing a genocide did not 1) spend millions on expensive lobbyists; 2) boycott McDonald’s except on grounds other than health; 3) otherwise threaten to hold its breath until turning blue. Instead as a nation Turkey would shrug its shoulders, raise its eyebrows in exasperated fashion and say ,”Oh yes, once upon a time we used to think it was important to have an official history, to tell people what to think, but that was before we decided it was much less trouble to let them do so for themselves.”
04.03.2007

[Helen]

Although this is not getting much play in Western reports...
The killers of Turkish Armenian journalist Hrant Dink belonged to the "Center of Islamic Order," a radical Islamic group.
According to Milliyet newspaper, 17-year-old Ogün Samast, arrested yesterday over suspicion of Dink's killing, received the gun from Hayal. At that both were members of the "Center of Islamic Order" ultra-right organization. The edition reminds that after the arrest in Trabzon Hayal shouted out in the court, "I did it to punish Americans. I'll get free in three years and will blow up HSBC Bank and the Russian Consulate."
International Herald Tribune says Yasin Hayal was trained to make bombs at a camp of Chechen militants in Azerbaijan.
One of the suspects, Yasin Hayal, an alleged Islamic militant who learned to make bombs from Chechen militants at a camp in Azerbaijan and who served 11 months in jail for the bombing of a McDonalds restaurant in Trabzon in 2004, is suspected of masterminding the attacks on both Dink and Father Santaro.
Like Hrant Dink, Father Santaro was shot in the back twice by his assailant, a young Muslim boy who shouted "Allah Akbar" (God is great) as he murdered the kneeling priest.

http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:jbYaLbI_r7oJ:gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2007/01/killers-of-hrant-dink-trained-in.html+Aljazeera+report+on+Hrant+Dink+assassination&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=uk

[Joseph]

US Congressional Resolution on Hrant Dink

The Senate Resolution introduced by Senator Joseph Biden, the Chairman of
Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on February 1, 2007:

Condemning the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist and human rights
advocate Hrant Dink and urging the people of Turkey to honor his legacy of
tolerance.
Whereas Hrant Dink was a respected, eloquent advocate for press freedom,
human rights, and reconciliation;
Whereas, in 1996, Mr. Dink founded the weekly bilingual newspaper Agos and,
as the paper's editor in chief, used the paper to provide a voice for
Turkey's Armenian community;
Whereas Mr. Dink was a strong proponent of rapprochement between Turks and
Armenians and worked diligently to improve relations between those
communities;
Whereas Mr. Dink's commitment to democratic values, nonviolence, and
freedom in the media earned him widespread recognition and numerous
international awards;
Whereas Mr. Dink was prosecuted under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code
for speaking about the Armenian Genocide;
Whereas, notwithstanding hundreds of threats to Mr. Dink's life and safety,
he remained a steadfast proponent of pluralism and tolerance;
Whereas Mr. Dink was assassinated outside the offices of Agos in Istanbul,
Turkey, on January 19, 2007;
Whereas tens of thousands of people in Turkey of many ethnicities protested
Mr. Dink's killing and took to the streets throughout the country to honor
his memory;
Whereas the Government of Turkey has pledged to undertake a full
investigation into the murder of Mr. Dink;
Whereas the Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has stated that
when Mr. Dink was shot, “a bullet was fired at freedom of thought and
democratic life in Turkey”;
Whereas the Foreign Minister of Armenia, Vartan Oskanian, stated that Mr.
Dink “lived his life in the belief that there can be understanding,
dialogue and peace amongst peoples”; and
Whereas Mr. Dink's tragic death affirmed the importance of promoting the
values that he championed in life: Now, therefore, be it
1 Resolved, That the Senate –
(1) condemns the murder of Hrant Dink as a shameful act of cowardice
perpetrated with contempt for law, justice, and decency;
(2) supports the pledge of the Government of Turkey to conduct an
exhaustive investigation into the assassination of Mr. Dink and to
prosecute those responsible;
(3) urges the Government of Turkey to repeal Article 301 of the Turkish
Penal Code and work diligently to foster a more open intellectual
environment in the country that is conducive to the free exchange of ideas;
(4) recognizes the decision of the Government of Turkey to invite senior
Armenian religious and political figures to participate in memorial
services for Mr. Dink;
(5) calls on the Government of Turkey to act in the interest of regional
security and prosperity and reestablish full diplomatic, political, and
economic relations with the Government of Armenia; and
(6) urges the people of Turkey to honor Mr. Dink's legacy of tolerance.

[Helen]

A group of Turkish activists will initiate a political disobediences
campaign against Article 301 of the Penal Code. 10 members of the
`Strong
Turkey' Party intend to gather in one of public places of Istanbul and
repeat the statements made by editor-in-chief of the Agos daily Hrant
Dink,
which were characterised as `insulting' Turkishness' under Article 301.
Later they will surrender to the Office of Public Prosecutor. Next
week
another 10 activists will repeat their actions. Their aim is to
continue
with the campaign until Article 301 is expelled.

[Joseph]

St. Vartan Cathedral hosts joint 40th-day memorial service honoring
slain journalist

by Florence Avakian

NEW YORK - Even with death threats and official harassment, fleeing
Istanbul was never an option for journalist Hrant Dink. He was a
committed and dedicated journalist. This was the resounding theme
echoed by his fellow journalists and friends during a memorial at St.
Vartan Armenian Cathedral in New York City, following a 40th-day
requiem service for the repose of his soul.

In his last article for Agos, the weekly newspaper he founded and
served as editor-in-chief, Dink wrote: "To stay and live in Turkey was
necessary because we truly desired it, and had to do so out of respect
to the thousands of friends in Turkey who struggled for democracy and
who supported us. We were going to stay, and we were going to resist."

Shortly after the article appeared, Hrant Dink was shot dead on the
steps of the editorial offices of Agos, on January 19, 2007. To his
thousands of friends in Turkey, and those around the world who
welcomed Dink's courageous support of the truth, his murder was a
devastating blow.

But the spirit of support that erupted in Istanbul - among Armenians
and Turks alike - has become a sign that, even in death, Dink's
message of hopeful, peaceful reconciliation remains profoundly
compelling.

An overflowing crowd of more than 800 mourners filled St. Vartan
Armenian Cathedral in New York City on Sunday, March 4. In a rare
moment of ecumenical unity, a joint memorial and requiem service
marking the 40th day following Dink's assassination was celebrated by
the Armenian Church, Armenian Catholics, and Armenian protestant
organizations.

Heading this solemn event were Archbishop Khajag Barsamian, Primate
of the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern); Archbishop
Oshagan Choloyan, Prelate of the Eastern Prelacy of the Armenian
Apostolic Church of America; Bishop Manuel Batakian, Exarch of the
Armenian Catholic Exarchate of America; and the Armenian Missionary
Association of America. The Reverend Canon Francis V. Tiso of the
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) delivered the
requiem homily.

* Focus on forgiveness

In his eloquent sermon during the morning's Divine Liturgy, Archbishop
Barsamian, speaking in Armenian, stressed the slain journalist's
exemplary qualities: his extraordinary courage, devotion to the
Armenian cause, loyalty to his country, and his unwavering fight for
democracy and understanding.

"Hrant Dink believed in everyone's right to speak the truth, and in
this spirit, he wanted Turkey to own up to its past," he said.
"Through Agos, he aimed to change the thinking in Turkey and open a
new chapter in Turkish history."

The Primate, who represented His Holiness Karekin II, Supreme
Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians, at Dink's funeral in
Istanbul, recalled the mass outpouring of grief by tens of thousands
of people, including thousands of Turks, who walked past the Agos
offices carrying flowers and signs declaring "We are all Hrant Dink."

"Silently, they expressed their faith in Hrant and his work. Our
Armenian people have seen much of this kind of anguish, but sorrow
must not deaden our spirit, or blind us for our future work. We must
continue the work and dreams of Hrant Dink, so that guns will turn
into flowers, and violence to blossoming gardens," the Primate said in
conclusion.

During the requiem service, the guest preacher, the Reverend Canon
Francis V. Tiso, focused on the need to seek and offer forgiveness.

Fr. Tiso, associate director for the Secretariat for Ecumenical and
Interreligious Affairs for the United States Conference of Catholic
Bishops (USCCB), recited a litany of past atrocities man has committed
against man before asking: "What can be done if the offender does not
ask for forgiveness? When a crime is centuries long and global in
concept, it becomes the unanswered question."

Comparing Hrant Dink to the widely admired Catholic monk Thomas
Merton, Tiso said that the Armenian journalist was an isolated soul,
but was also deeply aware of his role in the larger community.

"He did not want to provoke violence. For Hrant Dink, journalism was
the pursuit of truth. Reconciliation comes from a solitary person's
ability to see the truth," Fr. Tiso said. "That we have gathered here
today, 40 days after his death, is proof that Hrant Dink's assassin
failed. The truth can never be vanquished."

* Dedication to the truth

Following the Divine Liturgy and requiem services, more than 750
people filled the Haik and Alice Kavookjian Auditorium for a memorial
reception honoring Dink. Before a large, imposing picture of Hrant
Dink flanked by candles and flowers, Bishop Batakian delivered the
opening prayer in the presence of Dink's fellow journalists.

Dr. Michael O'Hurley-Pitts of the Eastern Diocese introduced several
speakers from the New York Times, the Overseas Press Club, and PEN
American Center, who addressed the crowd, highlighting Dink's
journalistic career and his continuous dedication to discussing the
truth and asking the hard questions.

Dr. Peter Steinfels, the "Beliefs" columnist for the New York Times
and co-director of Fordham University's Center on Religion and
Culture, spoke of "a man who published in two languages that I cannot
read, in a land I visited only once, and facing dangers that I have
never had to confront... has been added to the short list of influential
and heroic journalists whom I embrace as models for my own
journalism."

Pointing out that numerous journalists have been killed trying "to
bring the truth of world and local events to people," he stressed the
importance of freedom of the press and "the courage and sacrifice it
takes to uphold it." He also noted that truth - a word so often
associated with Dink's career - can serve as the basis for
understanding others.

"Truth cannot be evaded or soft-pedaled or sugarcoated, no matter
that it threatens to anger authorities, embarrass our friends or our
faith, challenge our ideology, or upset accommodations based on the
treacherous sands of falsehood," Steinfels said. "If truth is to
become a basis for dialogue and reconciliation, it requires the
fullest telling possible, which is no easy task."

To become a basis for dialogue, truth must "communicate in ways that
penetrate defenses and shatter stereotypes, as well as proclaim with a
humility open to correction and revision, which may be the most
difficult thing of all," Dr. Steinfels said.

Jeremy Main, a member of the Freedom of the Press Committee of the
Overseas Press Club, passionately spoke about the great courage it
takes for someone in Dink's situation to practice active journalism.
Convicted under Turkey's Article 301 for "denigrating Turkishness,"
Dink was still facing prosecution at the time of his death, but
heroically continued his work.

"It takes exceptional courage for journalists to practice their
profession. Hrant Dink had the courage and paid the price," Main said.

The Overseas Press Club had strongly protested the prosecution of
Dink several times, following the legal developments, most recently
lodging official protests last December and fully condemned his
killing this January.

It was important to note, Main said, that Dink didn't write merely
to "stir the pot"; rather he hoped to inspire discussion. "He didn't
raise these issues to divide people or inflame passions. But, on the
contrary, to cool matters and bring discussion," he said.

* Inspiring writer

Anna Kushner, coordinator of the Freedom to Write Program of the PEN
American Center, offered her heartfelt recollections of meeting Dink,
a long-time PEN member, in Istanbul last March during a conference on
freedom of expression. She told the mourners she was holding a
Christmas card Dink had sent her just weeks earlier, when she received
a telephone call informing her of his death.

Remembering her friend and colleague, she noted that he was not
willing to self-censor his work, even when threatened. He was
steadfast because he knew truthful writing could inspire an open
dialogue, which might lead to reconciliation between the Armenian and
Turkish communities.

"Hrant Dink spoke candidly of the challenges he faced," she said.
"His defiance was not an act of courage, but something he had to do.
He gave voice to issues people are afraid of, and don't talk about. He
was one of the few writers that could inspire. In his death, Hrant
brought people together in ways he knew they were capable of -
Armenians, Turks, Americans, coming together as human beings."

* A moving tribute

Dressed in black highlighted by red carnations, the 8th-grade students
from New Jersey's Hovnanian School presented a beautiful program of
poetry and dramatic readings, quoting some of the slain journalist's
symbolic words.

Their performance was accompanied by a professionally-prepared film
by Hovnanian School Principal Anahid Garmiryan, detailing Dink's life
and work, from his childhood to his death. It included a moving
portrait of the massive outpouring of grief that flooded Istanbul -
and the globe - after Dink's murder.

The emotional performance ended with all the children donning masks
of Hrant Dink's face, symbolizing the fact that "We are all Hrant
Dink."

* A lingering issue

Before offering his closing prayer, Archbishop Oshagan Choloyan spoke
passionately of Dink who, he said, was born in 1954, but died in 1915.

"They wanted to silence us then, but they didn't succeed. They
wanted to silence us when they destroyed the khatchkars in
Nakhichevan, but they also didn't succeed. And they wanted to silence
the voice of Hrant Dink, but they again have not succeeded," he said.
"We are the ones who must carry on their voices and their work. We
believe in forgiveness, but it must come from the people who died in
1915."

The sponsors of the Hrant Dink Memorial and reception included the
Diocesan Gomidas Choir, the Constantinople Armenian Relief Society
(CARS), the Tbrevank Alumni, Inc., the Armenian-American Sports
Educational Center-Hye Doon, and the Esayan-Getronagan Alumni, Inc.

During the memorial service and reception, the Knights of Vartan
served as ushers and handed out small photographs of Hrant Dink to all
attendees, who wore them over their hearts throughout the day.

During the requiem service, sung by the St. Vartan Cathedral choir
under the direction of choirmaster Khoren Mekanejian and accompanied
by organist Florence Avakian, the soul-stirring Kuta Der ("Have Mercy,
Lord") by Armenian composer Alexander Haroutunian, was performed.

[Joseph]

http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/March2007/20/c4586.html

Attention News Editors:

Turkey - Murdered journalist's family want proof of government's intention to punish all those responsible

MONTREAL, March 20 /CNW Telbec/ - The family of newspaper editor Hrant
Dink are calling for action over police incompetence in the enquiry into his
19 January murder in Istanbul, despite the speedy arrest of the suspected
gunman.
Reporters Without Borders today backed lawyers for the family of
Hrant Dink, the murdered Turkish-Armenian editor of the weekly newspaper Agos,
in a call to the Istanbul chief prosecutor to punish all those who failed to
act on information that could have prevented Dink's murder in Istanbul on
19 January.
Lawyer Fethiye Cetin said in the 15 March request that at least
17 messages warning of a plot to kill the journalist had been sent to Istanbul
police by police in Trabzon, where many of the suspects live. The lawyers also
demanded that all legal procedures in the case be transferred to an Istanbul
court.
Reporters Without Borders said it expected "action against police who
displayed disgraceful negligence in the murder of Dink and some of whom showed
sympathy for the suspected killer. However, the authorities have hardly been
convincing in their condemnation of the murder."
Cetin and his colleague Bahri Bayram Belen told the media that the murder
could not have been an isolated act only involving people in the Pelitli
neighbourhood of Trabzon. The numerous attacks by ultra-nationalist groups
since a bomb blast at a McDonald's restaurant in Trabzon in 2004 have
continued since Dink's death, they said, suggesting that a "terrorist group
threatening the democratic rule of law" was responsible.
Cetin demanded to know what had become of official legal action begun
against police in Samsun, the town where the suspected killer, Ogun Samast,
was arrested and where police officers had taken "souvenir" photos of
themselves with Samast.
Reporters Without Borders said the government had shown "little evidence
of its intention to put an end to ultra-nationalist violence" and "repeated
threats to journalists and intellectuals discussing the 1915 massacres of
Armenians and the Kurdish question."

Reporters Without Borders defends imprisoned journalists and press
freedom throughout the world. It has nine national sections (Austria, Belgium,
Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland). It has
representatives in Bangkok, London, New York, Tokyo and Washington. And it has
more than 120 correspondents worldwide.


For further information: Emily Jacquard, Canadian office representative,
Reporters Without Borders, (514) 521-4111, Cell: (514) 258-4208, Fax: (514)
521-7771, [email protected]

[Joseph]

Excellent!

HRANT IS KILLED, LET ALL LIARS SHUT-UP

Everyone who says that this was an attack on Turkey, everyone who talks about the sinister games played on Turkey, everyone who talks about the timing of this attack coinciding with foreign parliaments’ making decisions on the “alleged” genocide, and thus trying to disguise the fact that Hrant Dink was being tried because he said “genocide” and was receiving threats because of this, and everyone who is protecting the real murderer, that is the ones who are allowing Union and Progress’ covert operator, lyncher, rabid spirit to still live on, has a share of responsibility.
The Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk, who yelled from the podiums of the congress that the ones who were organizing the Armenian conference were stabbing the Turkish people in the back, President Ahmet Necdet Sezer who vetoed the law proposal dealing with minority foundations on the grounds that it would strengthen minorities, the district attorneys who turn a blind eye on thousands of cases of torture, convictions without trial, unknown culprits taken into custody and lost, but processed and tried the alleged “notices of guilt” that are devoid of the most elementary notions of universal law, the newspaper Hurriyet that in the days Hrant Dink declared he was going to look for justice in the European Human Rights Courts, made front page news with the head of the Greek foundations who said he wouldn’t go to European Human Rights Courts as he trusted the Turkish Justice system, called him a true citizen, and therefore whomever tried to look for justice in the European H.R. Courts was shown as a target, branded as “so-called/pseudo” citizen, and, before Hrant’s blood was even dry, the Turkish Television stations that for hours debated a litany of provocation by relating it to the law proposal pending in the United States Congress, are all a part of this murder, they have a responsibility.
Everybody who says that this was an attack on Turkey is lying. Because this attack was made possible by Turkey herself therefore, Turkey is responsible. This attack was made possible by the government that has implemented article 301, as protection against only the denigration of Turkishness, not of all identities, thus providing a legal basis for aggression, and it was made possible by an entire population of Turkey who didn’t reject this article.
Everybody who, instead of feeling shame faced with the murder of Hrant Dink, instead of saying “we are all guilty”, worried about Turkey’s dignity, from the officials to the opinion leaders, they are all lying, they are trying to disguise their guilt. Let all the liars shut up.
And you shut up too please, democratic journalists like Altan Oymen. If you are not refusing to answer questions that link the murder of Hrant to the genocide recognition proposal in the US Congress, and do not see a problem replying to them, if you are not refusing to be disrespectful to the pain of the Armenian people by making such connections, if you are not rejecting to thus support the ones who are trying to fool people with conspiracy theories by foreign influences aimed at the Turkish people, just to exonerate our own murderers, shut up, all of you shut up.
LET ALL LIARS SHUT UP. HRANT’S WOUNDS ARE STILL BLEEDING.

Original source in Turkish

AYSE GUNALSU