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Anadolu Agency (AA), Turkey
January 19, 2015 Monday
Turkey: Thousands mark slain journalist's anniversary
Prominent journalist Hrant Dink was one of the founders of bilingual
Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, who was assassinated in 2007
ISTANBUL
Thousands of people gathered Monday in Istanbul to commemorate the
eighth death anniversary of prominent journalist Hrant Dink.
Dink was one of the founders of bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly
Agos. He was assassinated in broad daylight in front of his office in
Istanbul on Jan. 19, 2007.
The crowd of people, including Dink's widow Rakel Dink, co-chairman of
the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party, Selahattin Demirtas, main
opposition Republican People's Party's Deputy Chairman Sezgin
Tanrikulu, lawmaker Safak Pavey, marched from Istanbul's Taksim Square
to Agos newspaper in Sisli district, where Dink was shot dead.
Dink, 52, was a human rights and democracy and he was considered as
one of the most prominent Armenian voices in the country.
The crowd chanted "we are all Armenians, we are all Hrant" and "for
justice, for Hrant." They also carried banners in Turkish, Kurdish,
Armenian and English.
A petition was also initiated to rename the street where Dink was
murdered to "Hrant Dink Street."
Police took extra security measures and closed some roads en route to
Taksim Square and Sisli district where the Agos newspaper is located.
Turkey's prominent writer and poet, Murathan Mungan, said the Hrant
Dink murder case would not be abandoned. "When justice remains undone,
it multiplies its murderers and its victims," Mungan said.
Recalling Dink's dream to open the border between Armenia and Turkey,
he said "if that border were to be opened today, it would mean opening
the door to so many other things. The opening of that border will
scatter the heavy fog lurking over the Ararat Mountain for the last
century."
Armenian government and the diaspora still describe the events of 1915
in the Ottoman Empire as "genocide," while Turkey officially refutes
this description.
Although Dink's murderer, Ogun Samast, who was 17-years-old at the
time, was tried and convicted in 2011, Turkey's Constitutional Court
ruled in July 2014 that the murder case had been an "ineffective
investigation."
Samast had said he killed Dink for "insulting Turkishness."
A new case was launched regarding possible negligence by certain
officers in Dink's killing. Some former senior police officers have
been questioned and others arrested in an ongoing court case.
An Istanbul court ordered Monday the arrest of a Turkish police chief,
Ercan Demir, who was charged with causing the death of Hrant Dink by
"deliberate negligence."
A Jan. 23 hearing may see Dink's murderer, Samast, and others involved
in the murder being called to the court.
One of Dink's family lawyers, Hakan Bakircioglu, had told The Anadolu
Agency that they were at the bottom of the "structure" that carried
out the murder.
"Some officials were aware of the murder... They deliberately did not
take protective measures," Bakircioglu said.
Two other gatherings were expected to commemorate Dink's anniversary
in Istanbul's Taksim and Kadikoy at 7 p.m. Monday night.
From: Baghdasarian
January 19, 2015 Monday
Turkey: Thousands mark slain journalist's anniversary
Prominent journalist Hrant Dink was one of the founders of bilingual
Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, who was assassinated in 2007
ISTANBUL
Thousands of people gathered Monday in Istanbul to commemorate the
eighth death anniversary of prominent journalist Hrant Dink.
Dink was one of the founders of bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly
Agos. He was assassinated in broad daylight in front of his office in
Istanbul on Jan. 19, 2007.
The crowd of people, including Dink's widow Rakel Dink, co-chairman of
the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party, Selahattin Demirtas, main
opposition Republican People's Party's Deputy Chairman Sezgin
Tanrikulu, lawmaker Safak Pavey, marched from Istanbul's Taksim Square
to Agos newspaper in Sisli district, where Dink was shot dead.
Dink, 52, was a human rights and democracy and he was considered as
one of the most prominent Armenian voices in the country.
The crowd chanted "we are all Armenians, we are all Hrant" and "for
justice, for Hrant." They also carried banners in Turkish, Kurdish,
Armenian and English.
A petition was also initiated to rename the street where Dink was
murdered to "Hrant Dink Street."
Police took extra security measures and closed some roads en route to
Taksim Square and Sisli district where the Agos newspaper is located.
Turkey's prominent writer and poet, Murathan Mungan, said the Hrant
Dink murder case would not be abandoned. "When justice remains undone,
it multiplies its murderers and its victims," Mungan said.
Recalling Dink's dream to open the border between Armenia and Turkey,
he said "if that border were to be opened today, it would mean opening
the door to so many other things. The opening of that border will
scatter the heavy fog lurking over the Ararat Mountain for the last
century."
Armenian government and the diaspora still describe the events of 1915
in the Ottoman Empire as "genocide," while Turkey officially refutes
this description.
Although Dink's murderer, Ogun Samast, who was 17-years-old at the
time, was tried and convicted in 2011, Turkey's Constitutional Court
ruled in July 2014 that the murder case had been an "ineffective
investigation."
Samast had said he killed Dink for "insulting Turkishness."
A new case was launched regarding possible negligence by certain
officers in Dink's killing. Some former senior police officers have
been questioned and others arrested in an ongoing court case.
An Istanbul court ordered Monday the arrest of a Turkish police chief,
Ercan Demir, who was charged with causing the death of Hrant Dink by
"deliberate negligence."
A Jan. 23 hearing may see Dink's murderer, Samast, and others involved
in the murder being called to the court.
One of Dink's family lawyers, Hakan Bakircioglu, had told The Anadolu
Agency that they were at the bottom of the "structure" that carried
out the murder.
"Some officials were aware of the murder... They deliberately did not
take protective measures," Bakircioglu said.
Two other gatherings were expected to commemorate Dink's anniversary
in Istanbul's Taksim and Kadikoy at 7 p.m. Monday night.
From: Baghdasarian