ONLINE PETITION TO HAVE ISTANBUL STREET NAMED AFTER HRANT DINK

2010/02/25 | 09:24

diaspora

2,000 people have signed an online petition to change a street name
in Istanbul after "Hrant Dink", in honour of the slain Armenian editor
of Agos, but the city has twice rejected the request.

The petition () seeks to change the name of
the street from Ergenekon Avenue in Istanbul’s Kurtulus neighbourhood
to Hrant Dink Avenue. The name change has symbolic meaning since
Ergenekon is the name that has been given to case surrounding an
alleged military coup d’etat.

"Ergenekon has always been a symbolic name that says – everyone here
is a Turk and others can only live on streets named by Turks," said
Ragip Incesagir, a spokesperson for the Art for Peace initiative,
adding that this policy is not only against Armenians in Turkey but
also against Alevis, a sect of Islam, and Kurds.

Ergenekon is also the name of a mountain in Central Asia in a Turkish
legend that symbolizes the Turks leaving Asia and moving to Anatolia.

Thus it embodies notions of nationalism and ethnic purity.

The campaigners also see a connection between the Ergenekon case and
Dink’s murder.

Feryal Oney, a soloist for the Kardes Turkuler music group and one
of the campaigners, told Hurriyet that, like many others, she also
believes the Ergenekon gang was involved in Dink’s murder.