Turkish Daily News, Turkey
Jan 25 2007
Slain journalist commemorated in Washington
Dink’s vision for a better world came true when tens of thousands
displayed solidarity at his funeral, US official says
UMİT ENGINSOY
WASHINGTON – Turkish Daily News
Washington’s Armenian community mourned the assassinated journalist
Hrant Dink at a memorial service on Tuesday night, as a senior U.S.
official said that Dink’s vision for a better world of dialogue and
reconciliation had come true when tens of thousands of marchers at
his funeral displayed solidarity with his views.
Bishop Vicken Aykazian, legate of the Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic
Church of America (Eastern), presided over the memorial service at
St. Mary’s Armenian Apostolic Church. The Armenian Assembly of America
(AAA), one of the largest U.S. Armenian groups, organized the event.
Describing Dink as a man of courage, Dan Fried, assistant secretary of
state for European and Eurasian affairs, said that the slain journalist
insisted on reconciliation and dialogue in his work and life.
"His was a vision of a better world," Fried said. "Tens of thousands of
people, Armenians, Turks, Greeks, filled the streets and stated their
solidarity with his vision… His vision was made a reality today."
More than 100,000 mourners marched in Istanbul earlier on Tuesday
in a funeral for Dink, who was gunned down outside the office of his
newspaper, Agos, in Istanbul last week.
Fried said that Dink’s life came to an end "at the hands of an ignorant
and hateful nationalist."
Bishop Aykazian said Dink’s murderers also attacked Armenia, Turkey
and the advancement of Turkey into the European Union.
"Hrant Dink called upon the world, and Turkey in particular, to
acknowledge and admit the truth of the Armenian genocide in Ottoman
Turkey – not to shame or humiliate the Turkish people, but to engage
our two neighboring peoples in a fruitful dialogue for the betterment
of relations," Aykazian said.
"For a nation to deny its history, no matter at times how dark,
is to deny itself," the bishop added.
AAA’s executive director Brian Ardouny blamed "a climate of
intolerance, prejudice and repression" in Turkey, "which precipitated
this crime."
"Sadly, 92 years after the beginning of the Armenian genocide, Hrant
Dink is the latest victim of Turkey’s inexcusable campaign of denial,"
he said.
Dink had stood trial several times for his public comments on the
genocide, and was convicted last year for "insulting Turkishness"
under a much criticized article in the penal code. He received a
six-month suspended sentence.
In a related development, a fresh resolution formally recognizing
World War I-era killings of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as
genocide will be introduced at the U.S. House of Representatives,
Armenian sources said.
Pro-Armenian lawmakers sponsoring the resolution originally had
planned to introduce it last week, but then delayed the procedural
move in an effort to maximize the number of legislators backing the
measure in writing, analysts said. The House is expected to discuss
and probably vote the resolution within the next few months.