Murdered journalist Hrant Dink feared for safety: brother

E Canada Now, Canada
Jan 22 2007

In an interview, Orhan Dink, the younger brother of the
Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink who was shot dead in Istanbul
on Friday, told journalists that his brother was worried for his
life after learning that Veli Kucuk, a retired major general of the
Turkish army, was watching his trial.

Hrant Dink was a prominent Armenian voice in Turkey, and his use
of the word "genocide" to describe the forced mass evacuation and
related deaths of hundreds of thousands to over a million Armenians
during the government of the Young Turks from 1915 to 1917 in the
Ottoman Empire was controvertial in Turkey, where the state denies
the event constitutes a genocide.

In 2005, Dink was tried and convicted of "insulting Turkishness"
over an article he had written.

Orhan Dink told reporters that his brother told him he became worried
when Veli Kucuk, a prominent member of Turkey’s controversial Jandarma
Ýstihbarat ve Terorle Mucadele (Gendarme Intelligence and Counter
Terrorism organization), the JITEM, came to the trial and that the
affair was "turning into a dangerous one".

Hrand Dink said, ‘I am being pointed at as the target’, Orhan Dink
told reporters.

Orhan Dink said that Kucuk never threatened his brother directly.

"After Kucuk came, we suspected that the bullet might have followed,
and it did. … We were speaking within the family… What can we do?
Should we leave [the country] or should we stay? Sometimes we would
decide to leave. But then we would say that this nation is ours.",
Orhan Dink said. He added, "I wish they killed us all. We are no longer
doves, we are now falcons. We love the people of Turkey. We will
not let a bunch of people to take over. And we are not considering
to leave any more. We gave our sacrifice. In order to stay, we can
give more. We consider leaving as a treason against our brother."

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