Cyprus Observer, Cyprus
Jan 27 2007
Thousands mourn for Dink
26.01.2007
In Hrant Dink’s version of Turkey, minorities and Turks lived side by
side, spoke freely of their thoughts, and listened to each other’s
opinions, trying to reach a better future.
By Sebnem Arsu Istanbul
Hrant Dink was a Turkish citizen of Armenian descent, but represented
a noble struggle for the rights and ideals of a population far beyond
his ethnicity, until the last day of his life when a 17-year-old
gunned him down in a crowded street in Istanbul on Friday.
Fury, sadness and helplessness tore through the hearts and minds of
those who knew Dink in person and had seen his love and admiration
for his country as well as his determination to build a better future
for the children of Turkey in his very eyes.
Tens of thousands of mourners poured into the streets to reach the
scene of the crime, in protest of the murder, which shamed the
country, hurt their sense of justice and rekindled fears of the
reawakening of an era of political assassinations that once shadowed,
and still haunt, Turkey’s democratic life.
Dink was the 61st journalist to be assassinated in Turkey since the
beginning of the 20th century, and his killing was not a surprise to
those who felt it coming after reading his last article in Agos
newspaper, printed on the day of his murder:
`The memory of my computer is filled with angry, threatening lines,’
he said. `How real are these threats? To be honest, it is impossible
for me to know for sure.’
`What is truly threatening and unbearable for me is the psychological
torture I place myself in. The question that really gets to me, is:
`What are these people thinking about me?’ Unfortunately I am now
better-known than before and I feel people looking at me, thinking:
`Oh, look, isn’t he that Armenian guy?”
`I am just like a pigeon, equally obsessed by what goes-on on my left
and right, front and back. My head is just as mobile and fast.’
Unfortunately, Hrant Dink’s head didn’t turn to see Ogun Samast
approaching from behind, but security cameras recorded him running
from the scene. His images were displayed all around Turkey the next
day, including in his hometown of Trabzon, where his father went to
the police to report that he recognised his son.
After his capture in a bus station in Samsun en route to Trabzon,
Samast said that he was not sorry and that he had killed an enemy of
the state. As a minor, he was interrogated by a prosecutor assisted
by a psychologist, not the police.
Pamuk threatened by
captured suspect
Yasin Hayal, an ultra-nationalist, who was jailed for 11 months for
bombing a McDonalds’ restaurant in Trabzon, was officially arrested
two days later and charged with inciting Dink’s murder.
As he was being escorted into the prosecutor’s office in Istanbul,
Hayal hurled threats at Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk, who was also
prosecuted on the same charges as Dink last year. `Orhan Pamuk had
better be careful!’ he yelled at cameras, after which the author was
provided protection by the Istanbul police.
Three other suspects from Trabzon were also arrested and charged for
their links to the crime. Who are these people? What is going on in
Trabzon?
It was only a year ago that a 16-year-old boy killed Andrea Santaro,
a Catholic priest in Trabzon. In the same town, between 2004 and 2007
a group of ultranationalists almost lynched a group of left-wing
protesters, two professors were gunned down – one with his 3-year-old
son, and several minor bomb attacks were launched on targets at odds
with nationalists groups.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that the more than 70%
unemployment rate in the city provides fertile grounds for violence
among the frustrated young population. Combined with the widespread
and traditional use of weapons and the popularity of
ultranationalism, there is little room for surprise.
Dink’s trial in 2006 on charges of insulting the Turkish identity was
brought by a group of ultranationalist lawyers who took exception to
his comments on the alleged Armenian genocide and portrayed him as an
enemy of the state, making him an open target to their more militant
brothers.
301 a lynch marker
Zulfu Livaneli, called Dink’s assassination a `301 murder’ in Vatan
newspaper, and condemned the government for letting the law stand,
which, he says, not only hurts Turkey’s efforts to join the EU but
also creates a lynching list of intellectuals.
`Hrant Dink was killed because he was charged with Article 301,
brought to the public eye and shown as a target for being `the
Armenian insulting the Turkish identity’,’ Livaneli wrote.
If only these so-called nationalists could read and listen to what
Dink actually said in his articles or in public speeches they would
be impressed by the true patriotism he represented.
In his ideal version of Turkey, minorities and Turks lived side by
side to bring about a powerful country. People spoke freely of their
thoughts, listened to each other’s opinions in mutual respect and
tried to reach a consensus for a better future for their children.
Borders remained opened between neighbours, regional peace supported
financial and cultural trade. High quality education swept away
ignorance in rural Turkey when books were filtered of cheap
nationalistic propaganda that served no purpose other than to incite
hatred between diverse ethnicities.
In realisation of a dream Dink couldn’t achieve while alive, senior
Turkish and Armenian officials joined together at his funeral on
Tuesday in a rare display of unity and cooperation. Spiritual leaders
of the Armenian community around the world as well as the Armenian
Deputy Foreign Minister Arman Kirakossian, and Karen Mirzoyan,
Armenia’s permanent representative at the Organisation of the Black
Sea Economic Cooperation, were seated behind the few senior Turkish
government officials present.
Top state officials absent
In a lost opportunity to address all of the major issues Turkey faces
today, and that the assassination pointed out, President Ahmet Necdet
Sezer, on principle, chose not to attend the funeral while Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan attended the opening of a highway
tunnel instead and Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdullah Gul cited
scheduling conflicts. A chance to make a symbolic gesture in support
of real progress on the subjects of EU membership, minority rights
and freedom of expression, as well as malfunctions in the rule of
law, was lost.
It was the first appearance of senior Armenian officials in a public
event in Turkey since relations soured in 1993, when borders were
closed and diplomatic relations were frozen over a dispute over the
Nagorno-Karabakh region, which Armenia claims but Turkey recognises
as Azerbaijan territory.
The true heart of the dispute between the countries, however, is over
the terminology to be used in defining mass killings of Armenians
around 1915, which many countries consider to have been genocide.
Dink’s suggestion had been to adopt a brand new terminology in order
to overcome prejudices and start a dialogue.
Turkey’s stance has been that an inter-governmental history
commission should be formed of envoys from both sides to analyse the
issues, while Armenia expressed willingness to participate in such a
discussion but insisted that the border must be reopened to trade
before it would join.
Tragedy may lead to
dialogue
Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Kirakossian’s statement in Istanbul
on Wednesday, however, set a tone that could pave the way for a brand
new era in bilateral relations. Impressed by the size and the
diversity of the crowd that attended the three days of public
protests and the funeral, he said that Armenia was unconditionally
ready to revive diplomatic relations with Turkey, the semi official
Anatolian Agency reported on Wednesday.
His statement was partially echoed in Turkish Foreign Minister Gul’s
carefully worded statement in Ankara the same day. `Today, we improve
our relations with all our neighbours on the basis of mutual trust
and respect,’ he said. `Of course, we wish to improve relations also
with Armenia.’
`If any progress can be achieved to revive diplomatic relations
between the two countries, it would be one of the biggest dreams of
Hrant Dink coming true,’ Aydin Engin, a writer of the Agos newspaper,
said with cautious optimism. `These statements can be considered as
the first steps in breaking the mutual years’ of long silence.’
Ultranationalist groups eager to mark minorities who lived on
Anatolian soil for hundreds of years as enemies of the state should
realise that there are millions more behind the thousands of people
who attended Dink’s funeral on Wednesday.
It is the responsibility of the Turkish state to bring to all its
people a proper education and training in the basic principles of
democracy, which will ultimately reign in Turkey, despite the forces
of ignorance and short-sightedness.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress