HRANT DINK POSTHUMOUSLY NAMED WORLD PRESS FREEDOM HERO

PanARMENIAN.Net
11.12.2007 17:19 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The Executive Board of the International Press
Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, media executives and
leading journalists, has named Hrant Dink, former editor-in-chief
of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, as one of its World
Press Freedom Heroes.

"Hrant Dink’s nomination as our 52nd World Press Freedom Hero is a
tribute to his bravery, but also an acknowledgement of his significant
contribution to freedom of expression and press freedom in Turkey,"
IPI Director Johann P. Fritz said, IPI press unit reports.

The IPI award was formally handed over to his widow, Rakel Dink, on 10
December in Vienna. "The murder of Hrant Dink deprived Turkey of one
of its most courageous and independent voices and it was a terrible
event for Turkish press freedom in general," Fritz said. "Hrant Dink
is one of at least 91 journalists murdered so far in 2007. In most
cases, these murders occurred with impunity. We call on governments
around the world to ensure that those responsible for these heinous
crimes are brought to justice."

Dink, a well-known Turkish-Armenian editor and columnist, was murdered
in Istanbul on 19 January 2007. He had received numerous death threats
from Turkish nationalists who viewed his journalism as treacherous.

Dink was shot twice in the head and once in the neck by a Turkish
nationalist outside the offices of the newspaper he founded in 1996. He
had faced legal problems for denigrating "Turkishness" under Article
301 of the Turkish Penal Code in his articles about the massacre of
Armenians during the First World War.

In July 2006, he lost an appeal over a suspended six-month prison
sentence handed down for violating Article 301. His prosecution stemmed
from an article in 2004 about the 1915-17 massacres of Armenians
under the Ottoman Empire. Aside from this criminal case, Dink was
also facing prosecution for a second article condemning his conviction.

Born on 15 September 1954, Dink was best-known for reporting on human
and minority rights in Turkey and for advocating Turkish-Armenian
reconciliation. In a February 2006 interview, he said he hoped his
reporting would pave the way for peace between the two peoples. "I
want to write and ask how we can change this historical conflict into
peace," he said.

At his funeral on 23 January, 100,000 people marched in protest at
his assassination, chanting, "We are all Armenians" and "We are all
Hrant Dink." Since his death, calls for the repeal of Article 301
have become increasingly vocal.

The Dink murder trial opened in Istanbul on 2 July. 18 people were
charged in connection with his assassination.