Agence France Presse — English
January 19, 2007 Friday
Thousands protest in Turkey over journalist’s murder
by Nicolas Cheviron
ISTANBUL, Jan 19 2007
Thousands of Turks took to the streets to protest against the
assassination Friday of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, who
had angered many with his views on the World War I killings of
Armenians.
The biggest demonstration was in Istanbul where some 5,000 gathered
outside the offices of Dink’s newspaper, in the busy Sisli district,
on the European side of the city, according to a police officer at
the scene.
Protestors met at the nearby Taksim Square, the city’s main business
and entertainment centre, before marching some three kilometers (two
miles) to the offices of the weekly Agos newspaper where hundreds of
others have kept a vigil since Dink’s murder.
"We are all Armenians. We are all Hrant Dink," chanted the
protestors, many carrying red carnations and pictures of Dink with
the inscription "My dear brother" in Turkish, Armenian and English.
"Find the murderers," read a placard held by a protestor.
One demonstrator waved Turkish and Armenian flags, some carried
candles in their hands and others blew on whistles. Several of them
were crying.
At the offices of Agos, employees unfurled a large picture of Dink
from a window and held up copies of their newspaper as the protestors
applauded.
Dink, the 53-year-old editor of the weekly newspaper, died when an
unidentified assailant shot him three times in the head and neck just
outside his office.
A well-known and respected journalist, he had drawn the wrath of
nationalists and the judiciary with his views on the 1915-18
massacres of Armenians in the dying days of the Ottoman Empire, which
was eventually replaced by the modern Turkish Republic.
But he always insisted that he was a citizen of Turkey and would
never work against his country.
"Hearing that Hrant had died hurt me deeply. He was an honest
intellectual. He went straight to the point. I felt I had to come to
the demonstration," Ana Maria, a Turkish-Greek political sciences
student, told AFP.
Turkan Karazi, an interior designer, condemned the killing as the
latest in a long line of political murders of intellectuals and
journalists over the last three decades.
"During our youth, we all suffered from similar murders and violence,
such as the killing of Ugur Mumcu," an investigative reported killed
in a 1993 car bomb attack in Ankara, she said. "We do not want it
anymore."
Nese Sonmez, a reporter for an economic newspaper, summed up the
general feeling of the crowd with the words: "I am Turkish but
tonight I feel Armenian."
The demonstration began to wind down to a peaceful end after an
employee of Agos asked them to disperse and called on them to come
back Tuesday for a second day of protests.
In Ankara, about 700 people — trade unionists and human rights
activists — held a 30-minute sit-in in central Kizilay square, the
Anatolia news agency reported.
"We are all Armenians, French, Kurds and Turks. Long live the
fraternity of the people," Yusuf Alatas, head of the Human Rights
Association told the gathering.