Dink remembered on 6th anniversary of murder as calls for justice grow
Hundreds of thousands of people marched from Ä°stanbul’s Taksim Square
to the site of Hrant Dink’s murder in 2007,the Agos weekly
headquarters in Å?iÅ?li, as they do every year on Jan. 19 since Dink’s
murder. (Photo: AA, Burak Akbulut)
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19 January 2013 / TODAYSZAMAN.COM, Ä°STANBUL,
Tens of thousands of people on Saturday remembered Turkish-Armenian
journalist Hrant Dink on the sixth anniversary of his murder and
called for justice as they done for the past six years.
Thousands of people marched from Ä°stanbul’s Taksim Square to the site
of Hrant Dink’s murder in 2007,the Agos weekly headquarters in Å?iÅ?li,
as they do every year on Jan. 19 since Dink’s murder to support his
family and demand justice.
Speaking from the window of Agos, Dink’s widow, Rakel, said it has
been six years without Hrant. `But we are again here at the spot where
he was shot. I will share my pain with you. Nobody is doing good to
us, everyone is committing crime and they continuing to do so,’ Rakel
Dink said in sorrow.
Writer Hidayet Å?eftali Tüksal also spoke during the commemoration
ceremony, saying Dink’s friends have been waiting for justice to be
served for six years.
The American left-wing philosopher and activist Noam Chomsky was also
among those who spoke from the window of Agos. He said Dink can be
best understood if his path is followed.
Saturday’s commemoration ceremonies were marred by clashes between a
group of demonstrators and police in Ä°stanbul as the commemoration
ceremony ended. Police reportedly used pepper gas during the clashes.
The late editor-in-chief of the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, Dink,
was shot dead by ultranationalist teenager Ogün Samast in Ä°stanbul on
Jan. 19, 2007. Dink was convicted in 2005 for `insulting Turkishness’
despite an expert report that he had not committed the said crime. He
received threats from extremist rightist groups and ultranationalist
circles until he was murdered.
While Samast was sentenced to 22 years, 10 months in prison by a
juvenile court, Yasin Hayal was given life in prison for inciting the
murder. In a separate trial, two gendarmerie officers were convicted
merely on charges of `dereliction of duty’ in the run-up to the Dink
murder. During the five-year trial process, both lawyers for the Dink
family and prosecution presented evidence indicating that Samast was
not acting alone. The prosecution believes the killers are affiliated
with the Ergenekon network, whose suspected members currently stand
trial on charges of plotting to overthrow the government, but so far
it has not been possible to question them about Dink’s murder.
On Jan. 10, The Supreme Court of Appeals’ Chief Public Prosecutor’s
Office asked the high court to overturn a highly controversial ruling
from last year that ruled out the involvement of an organized criminal
network in the killing of Dink. The top prosecutor said that Dink was
obviously killed specifically because he is from a different ethnic
group, and his murder was part of the planned and systematic activity
of a criminal network aiming to damage the state’s unity.
Friends of Hrant are saying `We are Here Ahparig! (`ahparig’ means `my
brother’ in Armenian) this year and last week kicking off a week-long
memorial of events ranging from film screenings to exhibitions, from a
symposium to a story-reading and musical performances which started at
Cezayir Meeting Hall on Jan. 12-13 with a symposium entitled `Hrant
Dink Operation: 6 Years.’
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruled in September 2010
that Turkey had failed to investigate and prosecute those who were
responsible for Dink’s murder and this constitutes a violation of
Dink’s right to life.