ARMENIAN REPORTER
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Paramus, New Jersey 07652
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Email: [email protected]
BREAKING NEWS, Updated January 19, 2007, 1 p.m. EST
Added statements by "Milleyet" DC Bureau Chief, Ara Sarafian, AAA, and
Cong. Schiff
Armenian editor Dink killed in Istanbul
Murder condemned as a "literal killing of the truth"
YEREVAN–Hrant Dink, 53, the outspoken editor-in-chief of the
bilingual Turkish and Armenian weekly "Agos," was shot dead in front
of his central Istanbul office around 3 p.m. local time (8 a.m.
Eastern) today.
The murder in broad daylight was greeted with horror in Turkey.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the assassination an attack
against "Turkey’s stability," Bloomberg reports.
"This attack against Hrant Dink is against the Turkish nation’s
togetherness and peace," Mr. Erdogan said. "A bullet was fired at
freedom of thought and democratic life."
The Turkish broadcaster NTV said Mr. Dink had been shot three times in
the neck and police had arrested two people in connection with the
murder. Police believe a male aged 18 or 19 may have killed Mr. Dink,
CNN Turk television reported, citing unidentified police officials.
Armenia’s foreign minister, Vartan Oskanian told Armenia TV he was
"deeply shocked by the news of the assassination" of Mr. Dink, "a man
who has lived his life with the belief that understanding, dialog, and
peace are possible among people."
"Hrant Dink was a friend and colleague who will be dearly missed by
everyone who had known him," Yasemin Congar, the Washington Bureau
Chief of Istanbul’s "Milliyet" told the "Armenian Reporter." "Dink was
prosecuted, convicted, and continously threatened for exercising his
freedom of speech. And now he paid the ultimate price. It is a
terrible day for freedom of speech and freedom of press in Turkey."
"I hope this will be an eye-opener for those who use and/or provoke
the intolerant discourse of extreme nationalism in the Turkish public
sphere," Ms. Congar continued. "It’s time for all responsible parties
in Turkey to help build an environment of tolerance and freedom so
that we can discuss our country’s history without fear of prosecution
and punishment."
"Both in his life and by his untimely death, Dink showed how much the
Armenian issue matters in Turkey today," said the historian Ara
Sarafian, who knew Mr. Dink and interviewed him for the documentary
"Screamers."
Mr. Dink "was disliked by extremists because he did not back, nor did
he thrive on, sectarian divides. Instead, he struggled against such
divisions by standing firm, building bridges, and speaking out. He
always maintained that Turks, Kurds and Armenians should be the best
of friends and neighbours," Mr. Sarafian added.
An editor at the "Turkish Daily News" told the "Armenian Reporter" in
tears, "We all thought the time was past" when people were shot in
Turkey for taking unpopular positions.
In a statement condemning the murder, the Committee to Protect
Journalists noted, "In the last 15 years, 18 Turkish journalists have
been killed for their work, many of them murdered, making [Turkey] the
eighth deadliest country in the world for journalists."
Ross Vartian, executive director of USAPAC, said, "Turkish government
denial of the Armenian Genocide and prosecution of those who dare
speak the truth breeds an environment of extreme intolerance. The
government is ultimately responsible for this murder–this literal
killing of truth."
Protesters at the scene chanted "shoulder-to-shoulder against fascism"
and "the murderer government will pay," Reuters reports.
"This bullet was fired against Turkey," said CNN Turk television
editor Taha Akyol. "An image has been created about Turkey that its
Armenian citizens have no safety."
Television footage showed Mr. Dink’s body lying in the street covered
by a white sheet, with hundreds of bystanders gathering behind a
police cordon.
Last year Turkey’s appeals court upheld a six-month suspended jail
sentence against Mr. Dink for referring in an article to the Armenian
Genocide.
The court said the comments went against article 301 of Turkey’s
revised penal code which lets prosecutors pursue cases against writers
and scholars for "insulting Turkish identity." The ruling was sharply
criticised by the European Union, which Turkey wants to join.
Mr. Dink was one of dozens of writers who have been charged under laws
against insulting Turkishness, particularly over the Armenian
Genocide.
The European Union’s enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn issued a
statement saying he is "shocked and saddened by this brutal act of
violence."
"Hrant Dink was a respected intellectual who defended his views with
conviction and contributed to an open public debate. He was a
campaigner for freedom of expression in Turkey," Mr. Rehn’s statement
continued.
The U.S. Embassy in Ankara issued a statement saying it was "shocked
and deeply troubled" by the news.
In a letter to colleagues, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said, "I met
Mr. Dink in Turkey in 2003 and we talked at length about the Armenian
Genocide and about the effects that the Turkish blockade of Armenia
was having on Turkey’s landlocked neighbor. In our meeting, Mr. Dink
was candid about the difficulties that he faced as an Armenian
journalist in Turkey, but he was quietly determined to create a better
world for the peoples of both countries."
Mr. Dink "was a brave man, an outspoken advocate of human rights,
genocide recognition, and of the Armenian community in Turkey," Arpi
Vartanian, the Armenian Assembly of America’s country director for
Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh, told Armenia TV. "The work that Hrant
was doing and all of us were doing will not stop with the murder of
one man."
Mr. Dink wrote in "Agos" that he had been receiving "angry threats."
He said he found one letter "extremely worrying" and said police took
no action after he complained.
Mr. Dink’s notoriety had also led him to get calls every day from
Turkish citizens who wanted to "come out" as Armenians. "He was the
point person for people who were deciding no longer to keep their
Armenian identity a secret," an acquaintance who asked to remain
anonymous told the "Reporter."
Mr. Sarafian, the historian, said, "Dink’s death should be a rallying
point in denouncing all violence, building bridges across human
divides, and working to resolve the Armenian issue as a matter of
common humanity."
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
