U. TEXAS COMMUNITY MOURNS JOURNALIST SLAIN IN TURKEY
By Lindsey Mullikin, Daily Texan; SOURCE: Univ. of Texas

Daily Texan via U-Wire
University Wire
January 24, 2007 Wednesday

Mourners were given red carnations and copies of Armenian journalist
Hrant Dink’s last article as they entered the memorial service held
for him in the Sinclair Suite at the Texas Union at the University
of Texas Tuesday night. Dink was shot to death in Turkey on Jan. 19.

Various university organizations sponsored the memorial service,
including the Armenian Cultural Association.

Students were invited to share the importance Dink’s work had in
their lives.

"It was one of the last things I expected to happen in my country,"
said graduate student Emrah Zarifoglu. "He was always talking about
unity."

Dink was the editor of an Armenian-Turkish publication, Agos.

Actively involved in the furtherance of democratization in Turkey,
he utilized his paper to help unify the Armenian and Turkish peoples
by bridging communication gaps between the two cultures.

Over time, however, tensions began to rise between Dink and the
Turkish community. In May 2006, he was charged by the Turkish court
with "insulting Turkishness."

After being convicted, matters got worse for Dink. In a later interview
with The Associated Press, Dink revealed that he had been receiving
numerous threatening messages. In what was to be his last article
in Agos, the journalist expressed severe concerns for his personal
safety. The day that article was published, he was assassinated
outside of his newspaper’s office building.

The response to his death has been overwhelming. Tuesday in Turkey,
more than 100,000 citizens paid tribute to the journalist by marching
five miles. At the University of Texas, students celebrated the life
that Dink led.

"He was a voice of freedom and unity," said Taleen Asadourian, Plan
II senior and president of the Armenian Cultural Association. She
and others were glad that representatives from the Turkish University
Students Association and Armenian Cultural Association attended the
vigil. "It’s symbolic to bring these groups together who historically
haven’t been," she said. Nearly all in attendance agreed.

Dink was only 53 when he died, but his dream of unification will
perhaps continue for generations to come.