InTheNews.co.uk, UK
Jan 24 2007

Istanbul standstill for Dink funeral

Tuesday, 23 Jan 2007 21:26

At least 100,000 thronged the streets of Istanbul to mourn Hrant Dink

The funeral of a Turkish Armenian journalist attracted over 100,000
mourners in Istanbul today.

Hrant Dink, the 53-year-old editor of Agos magazine, was shot dead on
Friday.

Today’s funeral saw mourners, many of whom carried black signs
reading "we are all Hrant Dink" and "we are all Armenians", throng
the streets of Istanbul as the cortege processed through the city’s
streets.

"We are seeing off our brother with a silent walk, without slogans
and without asking how a baby became a murderer," Mr Dink’s widow
Rakel was quoted by the Reuters news agency as saying in a eulogy to
her dead husband.

Mr Dink was a vociferous critic of the Turkish government’s continued
refusal to accept culpability in the Armenian massacre of 1915, which
many foreign governments have recognised as genocide.

At least one million Armenians are thought to have died in the
killings, which, as today’s events demonstrate, remain a highly
controversial issue in Turkish society.

Nationalists infuriated by Mr Dink’s anger stance against the Turkish
government are believed to have carried out the murder. A 17-year-old
boy has confessed to the killing, according to media reports.