Hrant Dink

Hrant Dink (Armenian: Հրանդ Տինք, IPA: [həɹɑnt diːnk]) (September 15, 1954 – January 19, 2007) was a Turkish-Armenian editor, journalist and columnist.

As editor-in-chief of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian newspaper Agos (Ակօս), Dink was a prominent member of the Armenian minority in Turkey. Dink was best known for advocating Turkish-Armenian reconciliation and human and minority rights in Turkey; he was often critical of both Turkey's denial of the Armenian Genocide, and of the Armenian diaspora's campaign for its international recognition.^[1][2] Dink was prosecuted three times for denigrating Turkishness, while receiving numerous death threats from Turkish nationalists.^[1][3][4][5]

Hrant Dink was assassinated in Istanbul in January 2007, by Ogün Samast, a 17-year old Turkish nationalist. This was shortly after the premier of the genocide documentary "Screamers" in which he is interviewed about Turkish denial of the Armenian Genocide of 1915 and the case against him under article 301. While Samast has since been taken into custody, a couple photographs of the assassin flanked by smiling Turkish police and gendarmerie, posing with the killer side to side in front of the Turkish flag with joy and pride, have since surfaced. The photos created a scandal in Turkey, prompting a spate of investigations and the removal from office of those involved.^[6][7]

At his funeral, one hundred thousand mourners marched in protest of the assassination, chanting "We are all Armenians" and "We are all Hrant Dink". Criticism of Article 301 became increasingly vocal after his death, leading to parliamentary proposals for repeal.

Early life

Hrant Dink was born in Malatya on September 15, 1954, the eldest of three sons to Sarkis Dink (known as Haşim Kalfa), a tailor from Gürün, Sivas, and Gülvart Dink, from Kangal, Sivas.^[8] His father's gambling debts led to the family's move to İstanbul in 1960, where they sought a new beginning.^[8] Sarkis Dink's gambling continued in İstanbul, however, and one year after their move, Dink's parents separated, leaving the seven-year old Dink and his brothers without a place to live. Dink's grandfather enrolled the boys at the Gedikpaşa Armenian Orphanage; Dink often noted his grandfather, who spoke seven languages and read constantly, as the role model and father figure who inspired his love of letters.^[8]

The Gedikpaşa Armenian Orphanage, an institution run by the Armenian Evangelical Community, was to be home to Hrant Dink for the next ten years.^[9] The Orphanage children spent their summers at the Tuzla Armenian Children's Camp, on the Marmara beachfront in a suburb of İstanbul, building and improving the summer camp during their stay.^[10] The Tuzla Armenian Children's Camp played a significant role in Hrant Dink's life, both personally, as he met his future wife as a child and later married her at the Camp, and professionally, as the government-led closing of the Camp in 1984 was one of the factors that raised Dink's awareness of the issues of the Armenian community and eventually led to his becoming an activist.^[9][10]

Dink received his primary education at the Hay Avedaranagan İncirdibi Protestant Armenian Primary School and Bezciyan School and his secondary education at the Üsküdar Surp Haç Armenian High School, working as a tutor at the same time.^[11] During his senior year, he was expelled from the Üsküdar Surp Haç, and completed his high school degree at the Şişli Public High School.^[8] Hrant Dink continued his education at Istanbul University, where he studied zoology and became a sympathizer of TİKKO, the armed faction of the Maoist TKP-ML.^[9][12] Around this time, in 1972, he legally changed his name (to Fırat Dink), along with two Armenian friends, Armanek and İstepan, to disassociate their factional activities from the Armenian community.^[12] His friend Armanek Bakırcıyan, who changed his name to Orhan Bakır, later rose in TİKKO to membership of the central committee, took part in armed struggle in Eastern Turkey and was killed during fighting in 1978.^[8] Having fallen in love, Hrant Dink parted ways with his friends and remained at the sympathizer level, completing his bachelor's degree in Zoology and enrolling in the Philosophy Department for a second bachelor's degree, which he did not complete.^[9][12]

Rakel Yağbasan, childhood friend, future wife

Hrant Dink met his future wife, Rakel Yağbasan, when she came to the Tuzla Armenian Children's Camp at age 9 in 1968.^[13] Born in 1959 in Silopi, Cizre, Rakel was one of 13 children of Siyament Yağbasan, head of the Varto clan and Delal Yağbasan who died when Rakel was a child.^[13]

In 1915, the Varto clan had received orders to relocate along with the rest of the Armenian population in the region, but they were attacked during the journey.^[13] Five families from the clan escaped to nearby Mount Cudi and settled there, remaining without any contact to the outside world for 25 years.^[11] Eventually they re-established contact and largely assimilated into the nearby Kurdish population, speaking Kurdish exclusively, although they retained knowledge of their Armenian origin and Christian beliefs.^[11] Armenian Protestant lay preacher Hrant Güzelyan (also known as Küçükgüzelyan), who was running a program for relocating Anatolian Armenians to İstanbul, visited the clan and brought back around 20 children to the Tuzla Camp, including Rakel and two of her brothers.^[14][15]

Staying at the Tuzla Camp during summers and at the Gedikpaşa Orphanage during winters, Rakel learned Turkish and Armenian, and finished primary school.^[13] Because Rakel was registered as a Turk, not as an Armenian, she was not allowed to enroll at Armenian community schools and her father did not give permission for her to attend a Turkish school past then-compulsory 5th grade.^[11] Not able to obtain further formal schooling, Rakel was privately tutored by instructors at the Gedikpaşa Orphanage.^[11]

Rakel's father, Siyament Yağbasan, at first opposed Hrant Dink's marriage proposal since the Varto clan traditionally practiced endogamy, but eventually relented when elders of the Armenian community, including Patriarch Kalustyan, applied pressure and Rakel declared that she would marry no one else.^[11] After potentially agreeing to the marriage, Siyament Yağbasan asked for başlık, a form of dower paid to the bride's family by the bridegroom's family, for the sum of TRL 40,000, enough to purchase 6 flats in İstanbul at the time, reducing his demand to TRL 5,000 through the intercession of Patriarch Kalustyan.^[11][13] Hrant Dink and Rakel Yağbasan got married in a civil ceremony at the Tuzla Camp on April 19, 1976 when they were 22 and 17, respectively.^[10][16] One year later, at Rakel Dink's insistence, the couple conducted a church wedding ceremony on April 23, 1977.^[16] Hrant and Rakel Dink had three children: Delal, Arat, and Sera.^[17]

Religious beliefs

Hrant Dink was baptized and married within the Armenian Apostolic Church, but was educated and sheltered at Armenian Protestant institutions and received his introduction to religion within the Protestant sphere.^[18] Dink was a member of the Armenian Evangelical Church of Gedikpaşa, Istanbul, as well as a member by birth in the Armenian Apostolic Church.^[18][19] He regarded both churches as part of his culture and said that he was not someone who dealt heavily with religious rituals.^[18] Keeping the duality to the end, his funeral service was held in the Apostolic Church, by Patriarch Mutafyan, with Protestant ministers delivering eulogies at the burial.^[20]

After college

Having graduated from the university, Hrant Dink completed his military service in Denizli; not being promoted to sergeant despite his full marks on the examination caused him to weep.^[9] Whether his not being promoted was due to his association with TİKKO or his Armenian heritage, the discrimination he felt was one of the turning points on his way to activism.^[8][21] Returning to İstanbul, Dink established Beyaz Adam, a bookstore in the Bakırköy district with his brothers Hosrop and Yervant in 1979.^[21][22][23] Encouraging students to browse and borrow needed books, the store gained recognition by word of mouth and gradually expanded into a multi-location bookstore and publishing house that specialized in textbooks, children's books, atlases and dictionaries.^[22][23] After the 1980 coup d'état, when it became difficult for Turkish citizens to obtain passports for travel abroad, Dink's brother Hosrop started traveling to Beirut and then to Europe by using falsified identification papers, and when he was caught in the act, Hrant Dink was also taken into custody as an associate.^[9] Soon afterwards, Dink was questioned twice again by the police, once when a former resident of the Tuzla Camp was investigated for possible connections to ASALA, an anti-Turkish guerrilla organization, and again when Hrant Güzelyan, who ran the Tuzla Camp, was arrested and charged with anti-Turkish propaganda, and had ASALA demand his release when they occupied the Turkish Consulate General in Paris and took hostages.^[9]

Tuzla Armenian Children's Camp

Hrant Dink, together with his wife Rakel, took over the management of the Tuzla Armenian Children's Camp at the time of Güzelyan's arrest, while continuing in the bookstore business with his brothers.^[9][15] In 1979, the General Directorate of Foundations started a court action to annul Gedikpaşa Armenian Protestant Church's ownership of the camp, based on a 1974 ruling by the Court of Appeals that made it impossible for minority foundations to own real estate beyond what they possessed in 1936.^[10] After a five year legal battle, the court ruled that the land should be returned to its previous owner and in 1984 the camp was closed down.^[10] The closure of the camp, where over 22 years around 1,500 children stayed affected Dink deeply and over the years he wrote about the camp often:^[10]

"I went to Tuzla when I was 8. I poured my labour in there for 20 years. I met my wife Rakel there. We grew up together. We were married in the camp. Our children were born there... After the September 12 coup, our camp manager was arrested on the claim that he was raising Armenian militants. A wrongful claim. None of us was brought up to be a militant. My friends and I, each of us old charges of the camp, rushed to fill the job to save the camp and the orphanage from shutting down. But then, one day they handed us a paper from a court... 'We just found out that your minority institutions don't have a right to buy real estate. We never should have given you that permission way back then. This place will now revert to its old owner.' We fought for five years and we lost... Little chance we had with the state as the contester. Hear my plea, brothers, sisters!.."^[24]

The Tuzla Armenian Children's Camp was the subject of an exhibit by the Turkish Human Rights Organization in 1996, the materials from which was published in book form in 2000, with a foreword by Orhan Pamuk and an afterword by Hrant Dink.^[24] In 2001 the camp grounds were sold to a local businessman who intended to build a house on the site until Dink contacted him and let him know that the land had belonged to an orphanage.^[15] The businessman offered to donate the land back, but the law at the time did not permit it.^[15] At the time of Dink's death in 2007, the camp grounds continued to stand empty, awaiting the new Foundation law that was passed at the end of 2006 but was vetoed and returned to parliament by President Sezer.^[15]

Editor of Agos

Hrant Dink was one of the founders of Agos weekly, the only newspaper in Turkey published in Armenian and Turkish, and served as the editor-in-chief of Agos from its founding in 1996 until his death in 2007.^[25] The first edition of Agos appeared on April 5, 1996, on the day of Surp Zadik (Easter) and was saluted by Patriarch Karekin II as a gift of Surp Zadik.^[26]

Agos was born out of a meeting called by Patriarch Karekin II when main stream media started linking Armenians of Turkey with the illegal Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).^[26] A picture of PKK's leader Abdullah Öcalan and an Assyrian priest appeared in a Turkish daily, with the caption "Here's proof of the Armenian-PKK cooperation".^[27] Patriarch Karekin II asked the attendees at the meeting what needed to be done and the opinion that emerged out of the meeting was that the Armenians in Turkey needed to communicate with the society at large.^[26] The group held a widely covered press conference, followed by monthly press events and eventually formed Agos.^[26]

Dink had not been a professional journalist until founding Agos.^[26] Up to that point, he had contributed occasional articles and book reviews to local Armenian language newspapers and corrections and letters to the editor to the national dailies.^[21] He soon became well known for his editorials in Agos and also wrote columns in the national dailies Zaman and BirGün.^[28]

Up to the founding of Agos, the Armenian community had two main newspapers, Marmara and Jamanak, both published only in Armenian.^[29] By publishing in Turkish as well as Armenian, Hrant Dink opened up the channels of communication to the society at large for the Armenian community.^[26] After Agos started its publication, the participation of Armenians in the political-cultural life in Turkey increased greatly, and public awareness in Turkey of the issues of the Armenians started to increase.^[26] Always willing to speak on the issues faced by Armenians, Hrant Dink emerged as a leader in his community and became a well-known public figure in Turkey.^[30]

At its inception, Agos started with a circulation of 2,000, and at the time of Hrant Dink's death had reached a circulation of around 6,000.^[26] Influential beyond its circulation, often applauded greatly by some and criticized heavily by others, Agos became a paper whose editorial viewpoint was sought after.^[31]

Editorial policy

Dink's unique perspective has been described as a "four way mirror", simultaneously empathetic to people of the Armenian diaspora, citizens of the Republic of Armenia, Turkish Armenians, and citizens of Turkey.^[26] Under Hrant Dink's editorship, Agos concentrated on five major topics: Speaking against any unfair treatment of the Armenian community in Turkey, covering human rights violations and problems of democratization in Turkey, carrying news of developments in the Republic of Armenia, with special emphasis on the Turkey-Armenia relations, publishing articles and serials on the Armenian cultural heritage and its contributions to the Ottoman Empire and Turkey, criticizing malfunctions and non-transparency in the Armenian community institutions.^[26]

As a leftist activist, Hrant Dink often spoke and wrote about the problems of democratization in Turkey, defending other authors such as Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk and novelist Perihan Mağden who came under criticism and prosecution for their opinions.^[32] In a speech Hrant Dink delivered on May 19, 2006, at a seminar jointly organized in Antalya by the Turkish Journalists´ Association and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, he said:

"I think the fundamental problems in Turkey exist for the majority as well . Therefore, ..., I will speak for the majority, including myself in it and dwell on where, we, as Turkey, are headed."^[33]

Acting as a voluntary spokesperson for the Armenian community in Turkey, Hrant Dink, through Agos, addressed the particular prejudices, injustices and problems the community faced in its interaction with the Turkish society and state.^[26] Agos, through Hrant Dink's pen, criticized discrimination against Armenians found in Turkish mainstream media, publicized the problems faced by Armenian foundations, and spoke against cases of destruction of the Armenian cultural heritage.^[12][24][34]

Armenian issues

Dink hoped his questioning would pave the way for peace between the two peoples:

"If I write about the [Armenian] genocide it angers the Turkish generals. I want to write and ask how we can change this historical conflict into peace. They don’t know how to solve the Armenian problem."^[3]

He defended his constant challenge of established notions:

"I challenge the accepted version of history because I do not write about things in black and white. People here are used to black and white; that’s why they are astonished that there are other shades, too."^[3]

Dink was one of Turkey's most prominent Armenian voices and, despite threats on his life, he refused to remain silent. He always said his aim was to improve the difficult relationship between Turks and Armenians.^[35] Active in various democratic platforms and civil society organizations, Hrant Dink emphasized the need for democratization in Turkey and focused on the issues of free speech, minority rights, civic rights and issues pertaining to the Armenian community in Turkey. He was a very important peace activist. In his public speeches, which were often intensely emotional, he never refrained from using the word genocide when talking about the Armenian Genocide, a term fiercely rejected by Turkey.^[32]

At the same time, he made clear that this term had a political meaning, rather than a historical one, and he was strongly critical of the strategy of the Armenian diaspora of pressuring Western governments into official recognition of the Genocide label.^[26][36]

Dink featured prominently in the 2006 genocide documentary film Screamers in which he explains:

"There are Turks who don't admit that their ancestors committed genocide. If you look at it though, they seem to be nice people… So why don't they admit it? Because they think that genocide is a bad thing which they would never want to commit, and because they can't believe their ancestors would do such a thing either."^[37]

Hrant Dink believed that diaspora Armenians should be able to live free of the weight of historical memory (the "residues of the past"), considering first and foremost the needs of the living majority (he said "eyes of the other side").^[26]

Indicating that a show of empathy would have nothing to do with accepting or refusing the genocide, Dink called for dialogue:

"Turkish-Armenian relations should be taken out of a 1915 meters-deep well."^[26]

By pointing out issues of rhetorical discourse that hampered Armenian-Turkish dialogue, he believed these obstacles could be overcome to the benefit of Turkish Armenians.^[26]

He was opposed to the French law that makes denial of Armenian Genocide a crime. He was planning to go to France to commit this 'crime', when the law came into effect.^[38]

According to Hrant Dink, Agos helped the development of the Armenian community such that it helped triple the participation in the last Patriarchal elections, trained many journalists, became the community's face to Turkish society and cultivated many friends. He voiced his intention for an "Institute of Armenian Studies" in Istanbul.^[26] He tried to make it the democratic, opposition voice of Turkey, a voice used to inform the public of the injustices committed against the Armenian community. One of the major aims of the newspaper was to contribute to a dialog between the Turkish and Armenian communities, as well as between Turkey and Armenia.

Policy view

Hrant Dink promoted a policy of wider integration of Turkish-Armenians into the wider Turkish society. Critical of state injustices, he often underlined the fact that a stronger Turkey would be achieved through the elimination of discrimination. Even after his conviction for speaking of the Armenian Genocide, Dink continued to value his community, city, and country, noting often that his analysis and criticism was in the interest of strengthening the country. He concentrated on the mismanagement of community institutions, tried to promote obtaining rights through legal means, and was always open to compromise, once noting, "After all, Turkey is very reluctant to concede rights to its majority as well."^[26]

Prosecution for denigrating Turkishness

Dink was prosecuted three times for denigrating Turkishness under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code.^[1][3][4] He was acquitted the first time, convicted and received a suspended 6-month jail sentence the second time, which he had appealed at the European Court of Human Rights. At the time of his death, the prosecutor's office was preparing to press charges in a third case.

The first charge under the previous version of Article 301, then called Article 159, stemmed from a speech he delivered at a panel hosted by human rights NGO Mazlum-Der in Şanlıurfa on 14 February 2002.^[39] Speaking at the "Global Security, Terror and Human Rights, Multiculturalism, Minorities and Human Rights" panel, Dink and another speaker, lawyer Şehmus Ülek, faced charges for denigrating Turkishness and the Republic.^[40] In the speech, Dink had stated:

"Since my childhood, I have been singing the national anthem along with you. Recently, there is a section where I cannot sing any longer and remain silent. You sing it, I join you later. It is: Smile at my heroic race... Where is the heroism of this race? We are trying to form the concept of citizenship on national unity and a heroic race. For example, if it were Smile at my hard-working people..., I would sing it louder than all of you, but it is not. Of the oath I am Turkish, honest and hard-working, I like the 'honest and hard-working' part and I shout it loudly. The I am Turkish part, I try to understand as I am from Turkey."^[41]

On February 9, 2006, Hrant Dink, and Şehmus Ülek, who stood trial for another speech at the same panel, were acquitted of all charges.^[42]

The second charge under 301 was pressed for Dink's article called "Getting to know Armenia" (February 13, 2004), in which he suggested to diaspora Armenians that it was time to rid themselves of their enmity against Turks, a condition he considered himself free of, keeping himself emotionally healthy while at the same time knowing something of discrimination. His statement, "replace the poisoned blood associated with the Turk, with fresh blood associated with Armenia"^[43] resulted in a six-month suspended sentence.^[12]

Dink defended himself vigorously against the charges:

"This trial is based on a total misunderstanding," Dink told Reporters Without Borders. "I never meant to insult Turkish citizens. The term in question was taken out of context and is only symbolic. The real subject of the article is the Armenian diaspora who, once they have come to terms with the Turkish part of their identity, can seek new answers to their questions from independent Armenia.^[44]

In a February 2006 interview with the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Dink spoke about his 2005 conviction for denigrating Turkishness in a criminal court:

"This is a political decision because I wrote about the Armenian Genocide and they detest that, so they found a way to accuse me of insulting Turks."^[3]

In the same CPJ interview, he explained that while he had always been a target of Turkish nationalists, the past year had seen an increase in their efforts:

"The prosecutions are not a surprise for me. They want to teach me a lesson because I am Armenian. They try to keep me quiet."^[3]

His appeal of the ruling that found him guilty was rejected by a Turkish court in May 2006.^[45] Having exhausted internal appeal mechanisms, Dink appealed to the European Court of Human Rights for an overturn of the ruling on January 15th. The appeal suggests that Article 301 compromises freedom of expression and that Dink has been discriminated against because of his Armenian ethnicity. Dink's family has the right to decide whether or not to proceed with the appeal after his death.^[46]

In September 2006, another case was opened against Dink on charges of 'denigrating Turkishness' under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code, which Amnesty International considered to be "part of an emerging pattern of harassment against the journalist exercising his right to freedom of expression."^[47] The charge was brought against him by the Istanbul Prosecutor's Office after he referred to the 1915 massacre of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide during a July 14 2006 interview with Reuters:^[47][48]

"Of course I'm saying it's a genocide, because its consequences show it to be true and label it so. We see that people who had lived on this soil for 4,000 years were exterminated by these events."^[47]

The charges were also leveled at Serkis Seropyan and Dink's son Arat Dink, as the holder of Agos's publishing license and executive editor, respectively.^[49] On June 14, 2007, the case against Hrant Dink was dropped due to his death, though proceedings for Serkis Seropyan and Arat Dink were scheduled for July 18, 2007.^[49]

Death threats and last days

Dink had long endured threats by Turkish nationalists for his statements on Armenian identity and the Armenian Genocide.^[5][50] He regularly received emails threatening his life, responding in one instance by comparing himself to a dove, "equally obsessed by what goes on on my left and right, front and back. My head is just as mobile and fast".^[51] He complained about the indifference of the Turkish government to this atmosphere of terror: "Do you ministers know the price of making someone as scared as a dove?"

In his final Agos column on January 10, 2007, Dink noted that propaganda targeting him led many Turkish citizens to consider him an enemy of Turkey:

"It is obvious that those wishing to alienate me and make me weak and defenseless reached their goal. Right now they have brought about a significant circle of people who are not low in number and who regard me as someone "insulting Turkish identity" due to dirty and false information."^[52]

He also complained of the indifference of Turkish authorities to his security:

"My diary and the memory of my computer are full of messages from citizens of this circle full of rage and threats. (Let me note that I regarded one among them posted from Bursa as an imminent threat and submitted it to Public Prosecutor’s office in Şişli but got no result.)"^[52]

Assassination

Despite his complaints, Dink never formally requested protection from the authorities because he did not want to lead a sheltered life. His lawyer, Erdal Doğan, confirmed this feeling of Dink.^[53][54] A week before his assassination, Dink wrote that he felt "nervous and afraid" owing to the intensity of the hate mail he had been receiving: "I see myself as frightened, the way a dove might be, but I know that the people in this country would never harm a dove."^[55]

Dink was assassinated in Istanbul around 12:00 GMT on January 19, 2007 as he returned to the offices of Agos.^[54] The killer was reported to have introduced himself as an Ankara University student who wanted to meet with Mr. Dink. When his request was rejected, he waited in front of a nearby bank for a while.^[56][57] According to eyewitnesses, Dink was shot by a man of 25–30 years of age, who fired three shots at Dink's head from the back at point blank range before fleeing the scene on foot. According to the police, the assassin was a man of 18–19 years of age. Two men had been taken into custody in the first hours of the police investigation, but were later released.^[58] Another witness, the owner of a restaurant near the Agos office, said the assassin looked about 20, wore jeans and a cap and shouted "I shot the infidel" as he left the scene^[59]. Dink's friend Orhan Alkaya suggested that the three-shot assassination technique was a signature mark of the Kurdish Hezbollah.^[60]

Capture of the suspected shooter

One day after the assassination, the police announced that the shooter had been identified in video footage collected through both the Istanbul MOBESE electronic surveillance network (4,000+ cameras throughout the city) and local security cameras. They later released photos to the public while urging every citizen to aid with the investigation. On the same evening, Istanbul Governor Muammer Güler addressed the press to state that special investigation committees were pursuing nearly two dozen leads and the police were analyzing ten thousand phone calls made from the vicinity of the crime scene.

News agencies reported on Saturday, 18:22 GMT that the shooter had been identified as "Ogün Samast", a teenager born in 1990 and registered as residing in Trabzon, the same city where barely one year ago the Catholic priest Andrea Santoro was shot dead by a 16-year-old native of the city, in front of the church of Santa Maria of Trabzon, which is a nationalist gathering center.^[57][61] In recent years, Trabzon has become an important recruiting place for ultra-nationalist movement.^[62] Samast's father identified him from the publicly released photos and alerted the authorities. Six people, including Samast's friend Yasin Hayal, who had been involved in a bombing of a McDonald's restaurant in Trabzon in 2004, were taken into custody and brought to Istanbul.^[63] Later that evening at 19:55 GMT, news of Samast's capture in Samsun was announced. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan confirmed that the alleged assassin Ogün Samast had been captured, with the assassination weapon on him.

Funeral

Dink's funeral service was held on January 23, 2007 in the Surp Asdvadzadzin Patriarchal Church in the Kumkapı neighborhood of Istanbul. Dink's funeral ceremony developed into a demonstration at which a hundred thousand citizens marched in protest of the killing.^[64]

During a ceremony in front of the Agos office in Osmanbey, Rakel Dink, Hrant Dink's widow, read a letter she had written, addressed to her murdered husband.^[65] Afterwards the crowd walked for eight kilometers to Yenikapı via Taksim and Aksaray, while from Taksim Square onwards the coffin was taken directly to Kumkapı for a church service. During the march, many in the crowd carried placards reading "We are all Armenian" and "We are all Hrant Dink" in Turkish, Kurdish and Armenian, as well as placards reading "301 is the murderer". As the crowd passed in front of the party offices of MHP and BBP, catcalls were heard. All leave for police in Istanbul had been canceled, and the funeral and march proceeded without incident.

The service was attended by members of the Turkish government, representatives from the Armenian diaspora as well as religious leaders. Although Turkey has no official diplomatic relations with Armenia, by invitation of Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdullah Gül, the Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Arman Kirakosian was present at the funeral.^[66][67] Prime Minister Erdoğan was not present at the funeral, because he had to attend the scheduled inauguration of the Mount Bolu Tunnel.^[68]

After the church services, the hearse made a final tour for the thousands of marchers still gathered at Yenikapı, before proceeding to Balıklı Armenian Cemetery in Istanbul's Zeytinburnu neighborhood, where Dink's body was laid to rest. At the cemetery Rev. Krikor Agabaloglu (Pastor of the Armenian Evangelical Church of Gedikpaşa) and Rev. Rene Levonian (Armenian Evangelical World Council's representative) delivered short speeches in Turkish and in Armenian.

The funeral astonished and changed thoughts of some diaspora Armenians about Turkey. For example, Isabelle Kortian, an important diaspora (French) Armenian who came to Turkey for funeral of Hrant Dink, wrote an article for a Turkish newspaper Zaman on 25th January 2007 saying "The Turks' embracing Dink made an effect of an earthquake on us".

One year after the assassination the Municipality of Sur District of Diyarbakır, a city in Turkey, gave the name of Hrant Drink to a street on which Muslims and Assyrians live, as noted in website of the Agos newspaper.

A panorama from Halaskargazi Boulevard in the Şişli district of Istanbul. One hundred thousand mourners marched in Dink's funeral, protesting his assassination. The office of the Agos newspaper, where Dink was gunned down, is near the right edge of the image; it is the first building to the right of the one with the large black banner.

Investigation

The Istanbul Criminology Department stated that from the empty shells, they were able to determine that the assassination weapon used 7.65 millimeter ammunition and had never been used in another crime.^[69]

Ahmet Çokçınar, a prosecutor in the city of Samsun told the Anatolia news agency that Samast has confessed to killing Hrant Dink.^[56] According to this preliminary news, Samast said the killing was a personal act and did not have any organizational agenda.^[70] Samast's uncle Faik Samast has told private NTV television that he didn't think his nephew was capable of acting alone - "He didn't even know his way around Istanbul," "This kid was used."^[71] Samast said that he killed Dink for "insulting Turks", and that he doesn't regret it.^[72] According to media reports, Samast is a high school dropout and a possible drug addict.^[71] Later news reports stated that Samast had had no idea of the significance of his act until watching TV coverage, and that he had ended his written confession with an expression of remorse.^[73][74]

Three people were taken into custody in relation with the murder on the day of the murder.^[75] However, movements tied to the ultra-nationalist movement are currently suspected of carrying out the murder, in particular after the arrest of Yasin Hayal, a militant who passed 11 months in prison for having taken part in the bombing of a McDonald's in Trabzon in 2004, and of Karadeniz Technical University student Erhan Tuncel, close to the Alperen organization, the neo-fascist youth organization associated with the ultra-nationalist and Islamist party Great Union Party (BBP), created by former members of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP).^[62][76] Yasin Hayal confessed to telling Samast to kill Dink and supplying the murder weapon, while Erhan Tuncel has been charged as a main instigator of the killing, and allegedly directed both Samast and Hayal.^[76] The BBP has denied any involvement in the assassination.^{[73][74][77][78]} Hrant Dink was qualified as a "traitor" by the Turkish far right, and had received up to 2,600 death threats from ultra-nationalist circles.^[61][79][63] According to rumors reported by Turkish newspapers late January 2007, Erhan Tuncel was actually a police informer for Trabzon Police. The rumors also suggested that he warned Trabzon police office before the murder, but that the warnings were ignored.^{[80][81][82][83]}

In a surprising development, eyewitnesses of the killing and people who had watched video footage of the killing captured by CCTV declared that a team composed of four to five people were involved, led by a man of about age 40–45, among which Yasin Hayal, who was claimed to be identifiable as the one actually pulling the trigger.^[84][85] The words of one of the witnesses implied that the police had been trying to hide the existence of one revealing video cassette.^[85] Asked whether he thought the group of people behind the assassination of Dink were a small gang or a bigger organization, Turkish Minister of Justice Cemil Çiçek responded by saying, "according to the information and the connections received up to now, it seems that this is an act of organization."^[86]

Investigations concerning the nationalist underground Ergenekon network have led to suspicions concerning Ergenekon's involvement in Dink's assassination.^[87] Folder 441 of the Ergenekon indictment's annex contains evidence that Dink's entire family was targeted. Staff colonel Ferhat Özsoy allegedly pressured chief master sergeant Murat Şahan into carrying out the assassination, offering him 300,000 Lira in reward. Şahan, who was undergoing psychiatric treatment as a result of being 70,000 Lira in debt, resisted and filed a complaint from a military hospital, where he was forced to undergo an examination.^[88]

Concerns over a possible cover-up

On October 3, 2007, the TV station NTV reported that the police file on a Erhan Tuncel, a prime suspect in the murder case, had been destroyed on grounds that the file was a "state secret" before the court had a chance to see the document.^[89]

The lawyers for the Dink family repeated their concerns that evidence and information is being hidden from prosecutors, and that much evidence was destroyed and lost that might reveal relationships between the suspects and members of the security forces, including a tape from a security camera outside a bank near the Agos offices where Dink was killed.^[90]

The organization Reporters Without Borders expressed its outrage over the situation thus: "Evidence proving that the authorities – especially those in Trabzon, where most of the defendants lived – knew of the plans to kill Dink has been deliberately ignored. The justice system can no longer deny this. Yet it refuses to do its duty and prosecute those members of the security forces who have been incriminated."^[91]

Trial

The Dink murder trial opened in Istanbul on July 2. 18 people were charged in connection with the journalist's assassination.^[92] According to Human Rights Watch, Dink's murder trial is "a critical test of the Turkish judiciary's independence."^[92]

Reactions

After the news of his assassination spread, condemnations came instantly from virtually all major political parties, government officials and NGOs in Turkey, as well as from many international observers.^[93]

 Turkey

Condemnations

Placards held in Dink's funeral reading "We are all Hrant Dink" and "We are all Armenian" in Turkish, Kurdish and Armenian. These placards were later protested by MHP, a major Turkish political party on far-right.^[94]

Placards planted in flower beds after the funeral

• Tens of thousands of people marched in Istanbul from the Agos newspaper's office to the Taksim Square in a spontaneous protest of the assassination.^[95] According to the BBC, protesters chanted "We are all Armenian, we are all Hrant Dink."^[35][59][96] People marched in other cities (including Ankara, Antalya, Bursa, İzmir, Tunceli and Trabzon) as well to protest the assassination.^[97][98] They also blamed the Turkish state for the assassination, chanting, "The killer state will be held accountable".^[99]

• All press outlets expressed outrage over the killing.^[100] Some headlines: "The Murderer Is a Traitor" (Hürriyet), "Same Bloody Scenario" (referring to assassination of prominent journalists in the past) (Akşam), "It Was Turkey That Was Shot Dead" (Milliyet), "Nothing could harm Turkey more than this" (Vatan) and "They Killed Our Brother" (BirGün). Some newspapers blamed the media that supported nationalist points of view around Hrant Dink's trial for denigrating Turkishness, up to the point of declaring him a traitor. One of those headlines was "Be Proud Of Your Work" (Radikal)
• Columns in Turkish newspapers included Armenian in transliteration: Ahparik, Ahparik! [Armenian for "brother, brother!"] by Hadi Uluengin in Hürriyet, and Tsidesutyun Paregamis! [Farewell My Friend!] by Can Dundar in Milliyet.
• President Ahmet Necdet Sezer: "I am deeply saddened by the assassination of Hrant Dink in front of the Agos newspaper. I strongly condemn this ugly and shameful act.^[93]
• Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan: "The dark hands that killed him will be found and punished."^[93][101]
• Armenian Patriarch of Turkey, Mesrob Mutafyan, declared 15 days of mourning for the Armenian community in Turkey.^[59]
• Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey Bülent Arınç,^[93]
• Chief of General Staff Yaşar Büyükanıt condemned the assassination.^[102]
• Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I: "We are deeply saddened by the heinous assassination of Hrant Dink, one of our country's prominent journalists".^[103]
• The Foreign Ministry: "We strongly condemn this act. Perpetrators will be caught in the shortest time (...) We offer condolences to the people of Turkey, its press, and particularly to the Armenian community and Dink's family."^[104]

• Over one hundred thousand people marched in Dink's Funeral to protest his assassination, holding placards that are saying "We are all Armenian" and "We are Hrant Dink" in both Turkish, Kurdish and Armenian.(See funeral above.) Later, these placards were protested by the far-right MHP. The leader of MHP described the placards saying "We are all Armenian" as "a freak show organized by those who do not participate in martyr funerals". On the other hand, a party council member of the main-opposition CHP, a member of Socialist International, said "we became ashamed of being Turkish. I am Turkish and I protest the assassination. Maybe we should have carried the placards saying 'We are all Human' instead of 'We are all Armenians'. The placards that say "assassin 301" are also wrong. As long as we do not want to denigrate Turkishness, we cannot call 301 an assassin."^[94]
• Nobel Prize-winning Turkish novelist, Orhan Pamuk visited Dink's family in Istanbul on January 21. "In a sense, we are all responsible for his death," he said. "However, at the very forefront of this responsibility are those who still defend Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code. Those who campaigned against him, those who portrayed this sibling of ours as an enemy of Turkey, those who painted him as a target, they are the most responsible in this. And then, in the end, we are all responsible."^[105]

Subsequent Actions

• Hüseyin Yavuzdemir, governor of Trabzon and Reşat Altay, chief of police of Trabzon were removed from duty and a special investigation team was sent from Ankara to Trabzon to investigate the situation in the city.^[106]
• A ferryboat on the Gelibolu–Lapseki line was hijacked by Nihat Acar (36), who protested the slogan "We are all Armenian". The hijacker made the ferryboat return to Gelibolu where passengers were allowed to disembark. The hijacker, who worked at a convenience shop in Gelibolu, surrendered after holding the ferry captain hostage for 2 hours.^[107]
• On the 7th day after Hrant Dink's murder, a dance troupe organized a protest in front of Agos, where they asked passersby to lie in front of Agos in the same position as the murdered journalist, with a newspaper over their bodies.^[108][109] About 50 people took part, despite heavy rain. The organizers said that they were asking people to lie on the sidewalk for 10 minutes and to die symbolically for a rebirth.^[109]
• Agos, whose normal circulation was about 6,000, was printed 30,000, distributed nationally and was getting ready for a re-print in its first publication since the murder of its editor-in-chief. A group of intellectuals and journalists took part in selling Agos on the streets of Istanbul.^[110]
• Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abdullah Gül declared in Davos on 28th of January that a change in Article 301 was imminent as it was hindering the reform process in Turkey.^[111]
• On February 1, 2007, the private Turkish television channel TGRT, which was bought by Rupert Murdoch, broadcast video footage of the man accused of shooting Hrant Dink posing proudly behind a Turkish flag, flanked by police officers of both military and security police, allegedly filmed in the police bureau of Samsun where he was taken after his arrest. In the background was a poster bearing the words of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk: "The nation's land is sacred. It cannot be left to fate." The video caused shock and consternation as commentators warned it was another sign of the growing power of Turkish ultra-nationalism, as the nation gears up for parliamentary and presidential elections later this year. Ismet Berkan, editor of the liberal newspaper Radikal, said that the release of the video was like killing Mr Dink a second time. It proved, he claimed, "that the murderer and his associates are not alone, that their supporters ... have penetrated all segments of the state." A police spokesperson said an investigation into the video footage and its leaking was under way.^{[112][113][114][115]} Rumours of the existence of such footage had been circulating for days, but were officially denied.^[114] In an apparent act of retaliation to the broadcasting of the footage, the Turkish General Staff canceled the accreditation of Rupert Murdoch's TGRT, required for attending press events at the staff headquarters.^[116] The general director of TGRT, Murat Akgiray, and the director responsible for the broadcasting, Bahattin Apak, have resigned.^[117]
• On February 4, 2007 100 nationalist Turks of the National Struggle Association demonstrated on İstiklâl Avenue in Istanbul.^[118] The demonstration was seen as a reaction to the people who attended the funeral ceremony of Hrant Dink, many of whom carried banners that read "We all are Armenians", "We are all Hrant Dink." The protesters marched with Turkish flags, portraits of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and carried placards reading, "We all are Mustafa Kemal. We all are Turks." Among the demonstrators were children wrapped in Turkish flags, chanting nationalistic slogans.^[118]

 Armenia and the Armenian diaspora

Demonstrations for Hrant Dink (such as this one that took place in Yerevan) occurred throughout Armenia after the news of his murder.

• Former Armenian President Robert Kocharyan: "The killing of this well-known Armenian journalist in Turkey raises numerous questions and deserves the strongest condemnation. We hope that the Turkish authorities will do everything possible to find and punish the culprit strictly in accordance with the law."^[119]
• Former Foreign Minister Vardan Oskanyan: "We are deeply shocked by the news of the assassination of Turkish Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, a man who lived his life in the belief that there can be understanding, dialogue and peace amongst peoples. We categorically condemn this act, regardless of the circumstances, and call on the Turkish authorities indeed to do everything to identify those responsible."^[119][120]
• The Armenian Church of America held prayer services in parishes throughout the country.^[121] Armenian Evangelical churches worldwide also held a special service of remembrance.^[19]
• There were demonstrations in cities all throughout Armenia in the aftermath of the assassination (among them Yerevan). During a demonstration in Vanadzor, residents pledged to continue Dink's work.^[122] There were demonstrations in the Armenian diaspora as well.
• Armenian Revolutionary Federation's Political Party in Armenia: "This killing once again proves the atmosphere of intolerance in Turkey even against the protection of state interests."^[123]
• Armenian National Committee of America: "Hrant Dink's murder is tragic proof that the Turkish government - through its campaign of denial, threats and intimidation against the recognition of the Armenian Genocide - continues to fuel the same hatred and intolerance that initially led to this crime against humanity more than 90 years ago," said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian.^[124]
• Armenian Assembly of America: "The [Armenian] Assembly [...] remains deeply troubled by Ankara’s refusal to heed international calls to abolish Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code, which stifles freedom of speech and criminalizes public discussion of the Armenian Genocide. Hrant Dink himself stood trial several times for his public comments on the genocide and was convicted in October 2006 for “insulting Turkishness” under the much-criticized law. He received a six-month suspended sentence and was set to appear in court again in March 2007 for telling a foreign journalist that the events of 1915 constituted genocide."^[125]

International

States

•  European Union: EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn: "I am shocked and saddened by this brutal act of violence," he said in a statement. "Hrant Dink was a respected intellectual who defended his views with conviction and contributed to an open public debate. He was a campaigner for freedom of expression in Turkey," he said.^[93]

Vice President of the Barroso Commission Günther Verheugen said in a statement to reporters during his visit in Bursa, Turkey: "I severely condemn this act. I congratulate the Turkish government for their behaviour in this issue. Because I believe that all these misdeeds intended against Turkey will ultimately fail. It is my sincere belief that Turkey will do whatever is necessary to shed light on the issue."^[126]

Candle Lit Vigil at Union Square, New York

•  United States: The United States embassy in Ankara also offered condolences to Dink's family, saying that "we are shocked and deeply troubled to hear that Hrant Dink was killed in an armed attack today in Istanbul."^[127]
•  France: French president, Jacques Chirac sent a letter to Dink's widow which said: "I can't express strongly enough how I condemn this abominable act, which deprives Turkey of one of its most courageous and free voices."^[128]
•  Germany: Germany, as the EU President for 2007, condemned the murder in its official statement. "The Presidency is appalled by this abominable killing and would like to express its deepest sympathy to the victim's family and friends." reads the statement. "The Presidency is convinced that the Turkish authorities will solve this case as quickly as possible and has no doubt that Turkey will steadfastly continue along the path towards fully realizing freedom of expression," the statement says.^[129]
•  Italy: Italian Premier Romano Prodi condemned the killing in Istanbul of Hrant Dink when he met his Turkish counterpart on Monday, January 22nd. "It is a very serious episode on which I hope full light will be shed," Prodi said in an interview with Turkish newspaper Sabah.^[130]

Human Rights Bodies

• Amnesty International USA: "This horrifying assassination silences one of Turkey's bravest human rights defenders. [...] legitimate debate about ideas must be protected. The Turkish government must redouble its efforts to protect human rights defenders and open its political climate to a range of views. Recent legal reforms have brought many areas of Turkish law in line with international human rights standards, but existing limitations on free speech such as Article 301 must be repealed."^[131]
• Amnesty International (UK): "Amnesty International calls on the Turkish authorities to condemn all forms of intolerance, to uphold the rights of all citizens of the Turkish Republic and to investigate the murder of Hrant Dink thoroughly and impartially, to make the findings of the investigation public - and to bring suspected perpetrators to justice in accordance with international fair trial standards."^[2]
• Human Rights Watch: "We are deeply saddened by Hrant Dink's murder. Dink's killing robs Turkey of an important voice of conscience on the need for Turkey to come to terms with its past," said Holly Cartner, Europe and Central Asia director for Human Rights Watch.^[1]
• ARTICLE 19: “The Turkish authorities must also take a very hard look at their own role: their failure to repeal Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code, the continuing use of this and other provisions to prosecute writers, journalists and others that dare speak out on taboo topics, and the authorities’ public criticism of these voices: all of these contribute to creating an environment that legitimizes attacks on freedom of expression, including attacks of a most violent and deadly nature,” said Dr. Agnès Callamard, ARTICLE 19’s Executive Director.^[132]

Journalism Organizations

• Reporters Without Borders: "This murder will distress and disturb all those who defend the freedom of thought and expression in Turkey and elsewhere," the press freedom organization said. "The Turkish government must weigh the extreme gravity of this crime and ensure that a thorough investigation identifies those responsible as quickly as possible."^[133]
• International Federation of Journalists: “This man has been the target of abuse and threats ever since he dared to express an opinion that challenges an established orthodoxy,” said Aidan White, IFJ General Secretary. “It is scandalous that he appears to have become the victim of a culture of intolerance that remains deeply rooted in parts of society.”^[134]
• International Press Institute: "This is a terrible event for Turkish press freedom. It sends the inevitable signal to all Turkish media that, if you discuss the Armenian massacre in the same terms as Dink, you face not only constant harassment from the authorities, but the possibility of assassination. [...] I think the time has now come for the government to realize that such laws have no place in a modern society. I would also hope that, following Dink’s murder, there is an open discussion about these issues leading to an agreement by all sides to consign such laws to Turkish history," said IPI Director Johann P. Fritz.^[4]
• Committee to Protect Journalists: "Through his journalism Hrant Dink sought to shed light on Turkey’s troubled past and create a better future for Turks and Armenians. This earned him many enemies, but he vowed to continue writing despite receiving many threats," said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. "An assassin has now silenced one of Turkey’s most courageous voices. We are profoundly shocked and saddened by this crime, and send our deepest condolences to Hrant Dink’s family, colleagues, and friends."^[5]
• PEN American Center: "We are horrified," said Larry Siems, Director of Freedom to Write and International Programs at PEN American Center. "Hrant Dink was one of the heroes of the nonviolent movement for freedom of expression in Turkey—a movement in which writers, editors, and publishers have practiced civil disobedience by defying laws that censored or suppressed important truths in that country. Theirs is one of the most significant human rights movements of our time. Hrant Dink’s countrymen can help cement some of the gains he helped win for them by sending a strong, unified message that those responsible must be brought to justice for his murder."^[48]
• International PEN: "The murder [...] of Armenian-Turkish writer and editor Hrant Dink, the courageous and principled advocate for dialogue and understanding between the Armenian minority and the Turks, is an appalling act. Hrant Dink’s fellow writers worldwide express their profound shock at this terrible loss. Dink, whose campaign against the law making it a crime to insult the Turkish State, particularly as it relates to the killings of Armenians in the early years of the last century, has paid the highest price with his own life." Jiri Grusa, International President of International PEN, the world association of writers, called the murder “a symptom of old hatreds that threaten the relationship of all Turkish people to the democratic values shared in Europe and the world.”^[135]

Awards

• 2005 Ayşenur Zarakolu Award for Freedom of Thought and Expression, awarded by the Turkish Human Rights Association in Turkey^[136]
• 2006 Henri Nannen Prize for Freedom of the Press by Gruner + Jahr, publisher of Stern in Germany
• 2006 Oxfam/Novib PEN Award for Freedom of Expression by Oxfam Novib in Netherlands^[135]
• 2006 Bjørnson Prize by The Norwegian Academy of Literature and Freedom of Expression in Norway
• 2007 Armenian Presidential State Prize, citing Dink's contribution to "restoration of historical justice, mutual understanding between peoples, freedom of speech, and protection of human rights."^[137]
• 2007 (posthumous) Hermann Kesten Medal for outstanding efforts in support of persecuted writers

See also

• Anti-Armenianism
• List of assassinated people from Turkey

References

Publications and TV appearances by Hrant Dink (by publication/release date)

in Armenian, English and Turkish (afterword by Hrant Dink):

in Armenian with English subtitles (Hrant Dink appearance):

in English:

in Turkish:

Biographical newspaper/magazine/book articles and interviews (by publication date)

in English:

in French:

in Turkish:

Newspaper and magazine articles (by publication date)

in English:

in French:

in Turkish:

Press releases (by release date)

in English:

in Turkish:

Footnotes

Portions of this article are drawn from the Turkish Wikipedia, including their article on Dink's assassination: tr:Hrant Dink cinayeti

External links

Wikinews has news related to:

• Turkish-Armenian journalist killed in Turkey
• Suspected assassin of Turkish-Armenian journalist arrested
• Murdered journalist Hrant Dink feared for safety: brother

• International Hrant Dink Foundation Turkey - established by Hrant Dink's family and friends.
• Friends of Hrant initiative- Regular update on the Hrant Dink murder case press briefings and statements.
• Extracts from Hrant Dink's last column, BBC News.
• The New York Times News about Hrant Dink
• Çakmak, E. Efe (February 12 2007). "A tribute to Hrant Dink" (in English), Eurozine. Retrieved on 2007-04-21.