Scoop.co.nz (press release), New Zealand
Jan 29 2007
Memorial Service for Slain Journalist Hrant Dink
Monday, 29 January 2007, 10:43 am
Press Release: US State Department
Remarks at Memorial Service for Slain Journalist Hrant Dink
Daniel Fried, Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs
St. Mary’s Armenian Apostolic Church
Washington, DC
January 23, 2007
This is a sad and terrible occasion that we have gathered here in
honor of a man whose strength and vision we miss. Hrant Dink was a
man of courage and decency, and I must express my own awe and
admiration for his memory and for his life’s work. And we all express
our shock and horror at his brutal murder.
He was a proud son of the Armenian people and a citizen of Turkey,
and in his work and in his life insisted on reconciliation and
dialogue. And he stood for a civic virtue higher than hatred, higher
than ethnic stereotypes, higher than fears and repression and
ignorance. His was a vision of a better world. His was a vision of
the best in Turkey’s tradition.
The measure of how our world falls short must be judged by his murder
at the hands of an ignorant, hate-filled nationalist. The measure of
the hope for the world can be judged by his achievements in life,
which may be measured by the crowds on the streets in Istanbul today,
where tens of thousands of people & ndash; Armenians, Turks, Greeks –
filled the streets and stated their solidarity with his vision of a
better world, of a world of tolerance and understanding.
It is a testament to the power of evil people that he was murdered,
and yet a testament to the power of will that his vision was made
real today, and that tens of thousands took up his call is a noble
vision, and we should all be listening to on our own.
Thank you.