From: [email protected]
Subject: `Hrant Dink: Heart of Two Nations’
`Hrant Dink: Heart of Two Nations’
Navasartian Hall
London/UK
Nareineh Sevanesian
On Sunday January 25th AYF Khanasor London hosted an evening at
Navasartian Hall with Nouritza Matossian director of the award-winning
film `Hrant Dink: Heart of Two Nations’ to commemorate the second year
of Hrant’s death.
Hrant Dink was a Turkish-Armenian editor-in-chief of the weekly
newspaper Agos.
Born September 15th 1952 in Malatya, Turkey and assassinated January
19th 2007 outside his office by a 17-year old Turkish nationalist.
Throughout history, Armenians have had a turbulent past. We have had
numerous heroes who have fought to maintain Armenians as Armenians, and
amongst these heroes was Hrant Dink. Therefore it is our duty to
remember and commemorate this brave man who fought with his pen for
Human Rights and freedom of speech.
Nouritza Matossian’s in-depth and very informative interview with Hrant
Dink gave an overview of the current life and hostility Armenians
endure. However we were also shown that there is hope, regardless of
how small, as many Turkish writers defy the government, fully aware
that by doing this they endanger their own lives. Dink was constantly
challenged about his writing with which he replied "I challenge the
accepted version of history because I do not write about things in
black and white. People here are used to black and white; that’s why
they are astonished that there are other shades, too."
Navasartian hall’s atmosphere after the film was alight with talk and
in-depth conversations of the documentary. A sense of empathy from
non-Armenian’s who attended could be felt. The evening itself was a
success in more ways than one. We were thrilled with the turn out for
the occasion: over a hundred people, young and old.
As a young Armenian I believe we all have a lot to learn about courage
and patriotism to become Hrant Dinks. Our constant and individual
battle in our everyday lives to maintain our identity and make the
world aware of our past means hope for the current and future
generations to come.
Hrant Dink proved Mahatma Ghandi’s theory: `The truth is the truth,
even if the majority is one’.