Armenia sends deputy FM to funeral of ethnic Armenian journalist in Turkey

International Herald Tribune, France –
Jan 22 2007

The Associated PressPublished: January 22, 2007

YEREVAN, Armenia: Armenia will send a deputy foreign minister to the
funeral of an ethnic Armenian journalist who was murdered last week
in Turkey, officials said Monday.

Arman Kirakosian will attend Tuesday’s funeral as part of an official
delegation that includes a permanent Armenian representative to a
regional Black Sea cooperation body based in Turkey, the Foreign
Ministry said.

The Armenian Orthodox Church also said it will send a representative
to the funeral, U.S-based Bishop Khazkah Parsamian.

Hrant Dink, the 52-year-old editor of the Turkish-Armenian newspaper
Agos, was gunned down outside his newspaper’s office in Istanbul on
Friday. The killing, blamed on nationalists, drew attention to the
precarious state of freedom of expression in a country vying for
European Union membership.

Turkey has no diplomatic ties with Armenia but still invited Armenian
officials and religious leaders as well as moderate members of the
diaspora to the funeral on Tuesday.

Turkey’s relationship with its Armenian minority has long been haunted
by a bloody past. Much of its once-influential Armenian population
was killed or driven out beginning around 1915 in what an increasing
number of nations are calling the first genocide of the 20th century.