ARMENIAN REPORTER
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BREAKING NEWS, January 19, 2007, 11:35 a.m. EST
Armenian editor Dink killed in Istanbul:
Murder condemned as a "literal killing of the truth"
YEREVAN–Hrant Dink, the outspoken editor-in-chief of the bilingual
Turkish and Armenian weekly "Agos," was shot dead in front of his
central Istanbul office around 3 p.m. local time (8 a.m. Eastern)
today.
The murder in broad daylight was greeted with horror in Turkey.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called the assassination an attack
against "Turkey’s stability," Bloomberg reports.
"This attack against Hrant Dink is against the Turkish nation’s
togetherness and peace," Mr. Erdogan said. "A bullet was fired at
freedom of thought and democratic life."
The Turkish broadcaster NTV said he had been shot three times in the
neck and police had arrested two people in connection with the murder.
Police believe a male aged 18 or 19 may have killed Mr. Dink, CNN Turk
television reported citing unidentified police officials.
Armenia’s foreign minister, Vartan Oskanian told Armenia TV he was
"deeply shocked by the news of the assassination" of Mr. Dink, "a man
who has lived his life with the belief that understanding, dialog, and
peace is possible among people."
An editor at the "Turkish Daily News" told the "Armenian Reporter" in
tears, "We all thought the time was past" when people were shot in
Turkey for taking unpopular positions.
In a statement condemning the murder, the Committee to Protect
Journalists noted, "In the last 15 years, 18 Turkish journalists have
been killed for their work, many of them murdered, making [Turkey] the
eighth deadliest country in the world for journalists."
Ross Vartian, executive director of USAPAC, said, "Turkish government
denial of the Armenian Genocide and prosecution of those who dare
speak the truth breeds an environment of extreme intolerance. The
government is ultimately responsible for this murder–this literal
killing of truth."
Protesters at the scene chanted "shoulder-to-shoulder against fascism"
and "the murderer government will pay," Reuters reports.
"This bullet was fired against Turkey," said CNN Turk television
editor Taha Akyol. "An image has been created about Turkey that its
Armenian citizens have no safety."
Television footage showed Dink’s body lying in the street covered by a
white sheet, with hundreds of bystanders gathering behind a police
cordon.
Last year Turkey’s appeals court upheld a six-month suspended jail
sentence against Dink, an Armenian born in Turkey, for referring in an
article to the Armenian Genocide.
The court said the comments went against article 301 of Turkey’s
revised penal code which lets prosecutors pursue cases against writers
and scholars for "insulting Turkish identity." The ruling was sharply
criticised by the European Union, which Turkey wants to join.
Mr. Dink was one of dozens of writers who have been charged under laws
against insulting Turkishness, particularly over the Armenian
Genocide.
The European Union’s enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn issued a
statement saying he is "shocked and saddened by this brutal act of
violence."
"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," Mr. Rehn’s statement
continued.
The U.S. Embassy in Ankara issued a statement saying it was "shocked
and deeply troubled" by the news.
Mr. Dink wrote in "Agos" that he had been receiving "angry threats."
He said he found one letter "extremely worrying" and said police took
no action after he complained.
Mr. Dink’s notoriety had also led him to get calls every day from
Turkish citizens who wanted to "come out" as Armenians. "He was the
point person for people who were deciding no longer to keep their
Armenian identity a secret," an acquaintance who asked to remain
anonymous told the "Reporter."