OSKANIAN: BRUTALITY, IMPUNITY, VIOLENCE OF HRANT DINK’S MURDER SERVES SEVERAL POLITICAL ENDS

PanARMENIAN.Net
17.01.2008 15:45 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On the occasion of the one-year anniversary of the
assassination of Hrant Dink, Editor of the weekly Agos newspaper of
Istanbul, Armenian Foreign Minister Vartan Oskanian wrote an opinion
piece, at the request of the Agos newspaper. The piece appeared in
the Thursday, January 17 edition of Agos in Armenian and in Turkish,
and in English in the Turkish daily newspaper Today’s Zaman.

"I can confess that I have lived two deep and unforgettable shocks
during my years in this office – once in 1999 when the stability of
Armenia was threatened by gunmen and the second time last year when
I received the call that Hrant Dink had been assassinated. Both were
attacks not on men, but on ideas and values.

"Hrant’s murder was an assault at democratic state-building of the
Turkish state. His murderers took aim at his vision of a Turkey that
allowed free speech, that tolerated open discourse, and that embraced
its minority citizens, like himself.

"We miss Hrant. He would come to Armenia a couple of times a year. In
September 2006, when he spoke at the third Armenia Diaspora Conference,
his message was that as members of the European family, Turkey and
Armenia would have normal relations, because even the unwilling in
Turkey would be induced to find a way to dialogue. That was music to
our ears, echoing as it did our own wishes.

"He also addressed the "International Conference on the 90th
Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide" we held in Yerevan in April,
2005. Everyone respected his ardent, reasoned plea for dialogue, for
distinguishing between today’s Turkish Republic and the perpetrators
of atrocities nearly 100 years ago. He recounted passionately how he
had explained to Turkish authorities that Armenians are looking for
their roots – the same roots which the Ottoman Empire slashed when
it attempted to completely eradicate a people and tear it away from
its home, its culture and its traditions.

"Each time he came to Yerevan, we would find a few minutes to talk. It
was important that I hear from him about the mood in Turkey. Hrant was
the right person to ask, because he was not just an Armenian living in
Turkey. He was proud of both his identities – Turkish and Armenian –
and was insulted and angered that while trying to reconcile them he
was accused of ‘insulting Turkishness’.

"When he was first charged under Article 301 for ‘insulting
Turkishness’, I asked whether it would help if I wrote a letter or
spoke publicly. He responded confidently. "My thanks and gratitude,
but right now, I’m all I need. So help me God, I’m going to take my
struggle and my rights all the way to the end."

"Later, he wondered how "On the one hand, they call for dialogue
with Armenia and Armenians, on the other hand they want to condemn
or neutralize their own citizen who is working for dialogue."

"Hrant Dink was candid and courageous, but not naive.

Still, he could not have predicted this kind of ‘neutralization’. His
honest and brave voice was silenced. Worse, some saw in this
assassination a clear message that the danger they face lies deeper
than a mere judicial conviction.

"This message is just one of the dividends that this killing offered
those who contributed to the fanatical nationalist environment which
colors Turkish politics in and out of Turkey. The brutality, the
impunity, the violence of Hrant’s murder serves several political
ends. First, it makes Turkey less interesting for Europe, which is
exactly what some in the Turkish establishment want. Second, it scares
away Armenians and other minorities in Turkey, from pursuing their
civil and human rights. Third, it scares those bold Turks who are
beginning to explore these complicated, sensitive subjects in earnest.

"In Armenia, we have insisted for more than a decade, that although
we are the victims of historical injustice, and although we are
on the other side of a border that Turkey has kept closed, we are
prepared at any time for dialogue with our neighbor on any subject,
so long as there are normal relations between us, so long as this
last closed border in Europe is opened, so long as someone on the
other side wants to talk. We are ready.

"A year ago, we were moved by the outpouring of fundamental, human
grief at all levels of Turkish society, especially by those who have
been scared by the demonstration of such violence on the part of an
adolescent, and seen it for what it is – the continuation of hatred
and enmity into the next generation.

"Hrant Dink’s family, his colleagues at and around Agos, his friends
in Armenia and in Turkey, will find some comfort knowing that today
and tomorrow, Hrant will be remembered – by Armenians, who share his
vision of understanding and harmony among peoples, and by Turks, who
share his dream of living in peace with neighbors and with history,"
the Minister wrote.