Armenpress

HRANT DINK’S MURDER NOT TO GIVE A BOOST TO EFFORTS TO
OPEN TURKISH-ARMENIAN BORDER

YEREVAN, JANUARY 20, ARMENPRESS: Ruben Safrastian,
the director of the Institute for Oriental Studies, an
affiliation of the National Academy of Sciences,
doubted today that the murder of Hrant Dink, the chief
editor of Agos weekly in Istanbul, may give an extra
boost to international efforts aimed at opening of the
Turkish-Armenian border.
Safrastian argued that the murder would deepen
further the existing opinions. Safrastian’s views were
echoed by Alexander Iskanderian, head of the
Yerevan-based Caucasian Media Institute.
Safrastian said despite the extensive talk about
the possibility of reopening the border this is not in
sight yet. "Talk about opening the border is not
frank. Not a single Turkish political force, not a
document adopted by Ankara has ever spoken in favor of
the open borders," he argued, adding also that Turkish
major businesses are not interested in it either.
Safrastian said the authorities in Yerevan should
demand that Ankara secure the safety of Turkey’s
Armenian community. "After all, under the Lozanne
Treaty, Turkey is committed to protect the remnants of
what was once a huge Armenian community," he said.
In a related development a Nikol Aghbalian students
union, affiliated closely with the Armenian
Revolutionary Federation, called a news conference
today to condemn the assassination of Hrant Dink.
"Hrant Dink’s appalling murder is yet another
evidence that Turkey can not tolerate even its own
citizens who want to build a true democratic state,"
the union said in a statement that was undersigned by
all students organizations of Armenia.
"This murder was not only a crime against a
champion of freedom of speech but also a revival of
anti-Armenian hysteria in a country that planned and
carried out the first genocide of the last century,"
it said.