1800 PEOPLE WISH TO NAME ISTANBUL STREET AFTER HRANT DINK

news.am
Feb 25 2010
Armenia

1800 people signed a petition to change the name of Safak Street
to Hrant Dink. The street is located in the Sisli Municipality of
Istanbul. However, the Municipality twice rejected the request,
Turkish Hurriyet Daily News reports.

According to the source, the number of initiative supporters reached
1800 as of Wednesday. Many intellectuals backed the online petition
on website.

The daily also quotes the representatives of "Art for Peace" campaign
who replaced the sign for Ergenekon Avenue with the one saying Hrant
Dink on January 19 – the day of commemoration of Dink’s assassination.

"Ergenekon has always been a symbolic name that says, ‘Everyone
here is a Turk and others can only live on streets named by Turks,’"
Ragip Incesagir, spokesperson for the Art for Peace stated.

The source reckons that campaigners "see connection between the
Ergenekon case and Dink’s murder."