Turkey’s Most Prominent Armenian Hrant Dink Shot Dead (Update3)
Bloomberg News
Jan. 19, 2007
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By Mark Bentley and Ayla Jean Yackley

Jan. 19 (Bloomberg) — Hrant Dink, an Armenian-Turkish newspaper editor who
had received death threats from nationalists for questioning Turkey’s denial
of an Armenian genocide, was shot in the head and killed today.
Dink was assassinated by a gunman outside of the Istanbul office of his Agos
newspaper, a spokeswoman for the publication said in a telephone interview.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the murder as an attack against
the “Turkish nation’s togetherness and peace and Turkey’s stability.”
Turkish stocks fell after the killing.
A Turkish court in July sentenced Dink to a sixth-month suspended prison term
from “insulting Turkishness” for a 2004 article he wrote about the
massacre of Armenians by Turks during World War I. The European Union has criticized
Turkish laws that limit freedom of expression and says Turkey’s denial of a
genocide obstructs its membership bid.
EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said he was “shocked and saddened” by
the killing and called Dink “a campaigner for freedom of expression in
Turkey.”
Dink had faced several court cases for articles that he wrote about the
massacre of Armenians. The EU has called on Turkey to halt the prosecution of
writers and journalists for expressing opinions, or face the suspension of its
membership bid. Several Turkish journalists and intellectuals have been killed
in the past for expressing controversial opinions. Many of those murders
remain unsolved.
Nationalist Anger
Nationalists, many of whom strongly oppose Turkey’s bid to join the EU, have
been outraged by assertions that the killings were a genocide and accuse
European countries that have recognized the killings as a genocide, like France
and Italy, of trying to tarnish Turkey’s honor.
Just before his death, Dink, 52, had complained of death threats he was
receiving. Dink, editor of the country’s main Armenian newspaper, was well known
in Turkey and had repeatedly appeared on television and had addressed members
of parliament at their invitation.
“My computer is laden with lines filled with angry threats,” Dink wrote in
a Jan. 10 article for Agos. He said he found one letter “extremely
worrying” and said police took no action after he complained.
Police arrested two people in connection with Dink’s death, NTV television
reported. Police believe a male aged 18 or 19 may have killed him, CNN Turk
television reported citing unidentified police officials.
Earlier Convictions
Dink was convicted last year after he wrote about the Turkish government’s
refusal to take responsibility for the massacre of Armenians. He denies that
the remarks were insulting, saying that he was trying to bring Turks and
Armenians closer together. Armenians say 1.5 million Armenians were slaughtered in
a planned genocide. Turkey says that number is inflated and Turks and
Armenians were killed during ethnic clashes.
Akin Birdal, the former head of Turkey’s Human Rights Association who was
shot six times in 1998 in his office by a suspected nationalist, called the
shooting “an organized attempt by those who want to destroy Turkey’s European
Union aspirations to cast Turkey into darkness.”
Police in riot gear surrounded Dink’s office in downtown Istanbul. Forensic
teams were combing the pavement outside for clues to the murder.
Stocks fell as much as 1 percent in Istanbul following the attack after
rising 1.4 percent earlier. They ended the day down 0.1 percent at 40,201.14.
To contact the reporters on this story: Mark Bentley in Ankara, Turkey on at
_mbentley3@bloomberg.net_ (mailto:mbentley3@bloomberg.net) Ayla Jean
Yackley in Istanbul at _ayackley@bloomberg.net_ (mailto:ayackley@bloomberg.net) .
Last Updated: January 19, 2007 12:23 EST