8TH ANNIVERSARY OF DINK’S ASSASSINATIONTO BE COMMEMORATED AT THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

11:06, 29 Dec 2014

On January 21, 2015, the 8th anniversary of assassination of Turkish
Armenian journalist, editor-in-chief of the Istanbul-based Agas daily
Hrant Dink will be commemorated at the Europen Parliament.

On January 19, 2007, journalist Hrant Dink was assassinated in
Istanbul.

His assassination was the culmination of a decade-long campaign
of harassment by the country’s authorities, by the military and
by extremist groups. But it triggered an unprecedented upswell of
solidarity and pro-democracy activism in Turkey after more than 100
000 attended his funeral.

Today, Dink has become an icon of the movement for civil liberties in
Turkey and in Europe. His memory serves as a beacon for intellectuals,
activists and a wider public to challenge prejudice and intolerant
nationalism. Hrant Dink was an Armenian, in a country where Armenians
have long lived in fear. He was a journalist, in a country where,
more than ever free-thinking journalists are subject to pressures
and persecution. And as an advocate of peace, he was reviled by
nationalists.

After his death, Dink’s family and friends established a foundation
that has since continued and broadened his work in Turkey for civil
liberties, for the rights of minorities and for peaceful relations
with neighbours, particularly Armenia.

2015 will mark the 10th anniversary of the start of Turkey’s acession
negotiations and the Centenary of the start of the Armenian Genocide.

The commemoration on January 21 will provide an opportunity to invoke
Hrant Dink’s intellectual and political legacy, and to take stock
of the situation of the movement for civil rights and tolerance that
his assassination helped to start.