THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE COMMEMORATED MURDERED JOURNALIST HRANT DINK
BIAnet
Jan 20 2010
Turkey
3,000 people gathered in front of the Turkish-Armenian Agos newspaper
to commemorate journalist Hrant Dink who was killed at the very same
place three years ago. Orators as well as the crowd emphasized once
more the state’s responsibility for the murder.
Erol Onderoglu – Erhan Ustundag Istanbul – BÄ°A News Center20 January
2010, Wednesday 3,000 people gathered in front of Agos newspaper in
Å~^iÅ~_li in the centre of Istanbul to commemorate Turkish-Armenian
journalist Hrant Dink, founder of the weekly Agos newspaper which is
published partly in Armenian and partly in Turkish.
Many people came despite the biting cold and snowfall, shouting slogans
that attributed the responsibility for the murder to the state. The
street was closed to traffic from 2.30 pm onwards. Armenian tunes
and Turkish folk songs were intoned.
Among the crowd were many well-known journalists, authors, artists and
politicians such as writer Adalet Agaoglu, Peace and Democracy Party
leader Demir Celik, MPs Ufuk Uras, Akın Birdal and Sabahat Tuncel,
director Ozcan Alper, Ozgur Dogan, musicians Aynur Dogan, Nejat
YavaÅ~_ogulları, Ferhat Tunc, Emel Kurna, Hakan Tahmaz, journalist
Ertugrul Kurkcu¸ academics Ferhunde Ozbay, AyÅ~_e Gul Altınay,
Nazan Aksoy, Ali Bayramoglu, painter Arzu BaÅ~_aran, Gulten Kaya,
actress Ayca Damgacı, Head of the Turkish Human Rights Foundation
Å~^ebnem Korur Fincancı, Eren Keskin, Leman Yurtsever, journalists
Nadire Mater, Ä°pek CalıÅ~_lar, Oral CalıÅ~_lar, Ece Temelkuran, Banu
Guven, Perihan Magden, Cengiz Candar, Hadi Uluengin, Joost Lagendijk,
Nevin Sungur, Abdi Ä°pekci’s daughter Nukhet Ä°pekci and Sezen Oz,
wife of murdered prosecutor Dgan Oz.
Rakel Dink: We will walk the path of justice and love The place where
Hrant Dink died was once more covered in red carnations. Rakel Dink,
widow of the assassinated journalist, addressed the crowd: "Welcome
to all of you. Together with you we will walk the path of justice
and love".
Arat Dink, son of Hrant Dink, opened his speech by saying: "I cannot
cry as someone whose father was killed in this country three years
ago. Arat Dink told the crowed how his father had been targeted and
how the responsible persons were hidden:
"Three days before my father was killed I was called to this country’s
governorship and they tried to put me in my place for an article I
wrote. There were two intelligence officers next to the governor. We
asked the court who they are. The court asked the governorship and
they told us a tale over one and a half pages. We said they should
be asked again, but the court said ‘The reply was already given’. Did
the court not mock us?"
Dink said he was angry and sorrowful: "I want to smash everything
to bits. First I will crash the windows of Agos and then my father’s
bust. I don’t like busts but real people. But we have to keep dignity.
You have showed that three years ago and during last three years.
There has to be a crowd as big as this one in deed. The state cannot
manage this, the state is afraid of it", Arat Dink said.
"100 years ago we hunted, now we became the prey".
Aydın: We cannot wait 30 years for Dink’s murderers At the beginning
of the commemoration, Bulent Aydın spoke to the crowd: "We know the
ones who tried to destroy brotherhood quite well.
They are watching us from a dark corner. We are here, regardless how
long it will take to bring light into the darkness. Hrant’s murderer
is the Ergenekon state", Aydın claimed.
Referring to the recent release of Mehmet Ali Agca Aydın said:
"Some people say ‘Hrant’s murderers are being tried after all, is that
not enough?’ Just like the murderer of Abdi Ä°pekci who was released
only yesterday… 30 years have passed after that darkness. We are
determined not to wait for 30 years for the murderer of Dink".
A portrait of journalist Dink had been arranged in the window of Agos
newspaper together with a banner saying, "We know the murderer, we
want justice". This was also the slogan shouted by the crowd on the
street. Other slogans were "There is no salvation for only one, it
is all of us or none" or "The murder state will be taken to account".
"They planned it, they had him killed, they concealed it and hid out"
was written on banners.
Office director Sırrı Sureyya Onder spoke to the crowd and emphasized
the state’s responsibility for the murder.
20 defendants are tried in the context of the Dink murder, five of
them in detention. The public officials accused by the Dink family
lawyers of negligence preceeding the murder have still not appeared
at court.