To mark the 13th anniversary of the assassination of its founder and Editor-in-Chief Hrant Dink on January 19, Agos newspaper has come out with the headline “Your hope and dreams is our legacy.”
Businessperson and human rights defender Osman Kavala, the only arrested defendant of Gezi trial; Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) imprisoned former Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş; and arrested journalist Ahmet Altan have also written a piece in memory of the late journalist.
Having lost his life in an armed attack in front of Agos newspaper in Şişli, İstanbul on January 19, 2007, founder and Editor-in-Chief of Agos newspaper Hrant Dink will be commemorated in several cities and countries on the 13th anniversary of his assassination this Sunday.
Next to his picture taken by Sebati Karakurt, the newspaper has commemorated Hrant Dink in following words:
“It has been 13 years since Hrant Dink, the founder and Editor-in-Chief of our newspaper, passed away in a racist murder. These 13 years passed and are still passing with a search and request for justice, especially in the murder case.
“Over these 13 years, there has, unfortunately, happened no significant development that would reveal the ones who planned this dark murder, especially the ones within the state.
“It was only nine years after the murder that public officers were put on trial. Though some relations have been uncovered and the curtain of mystery has parted even a little in the case that continued for almost four years, there are still no effective investigations and the ones who paved the way for his murder and caused himto be targeted are not put on trial. The state is still resisting.
“However, the words and dreams of Hrant Dink are growing with each passing day. For the past 13 years, more and more people in Turkey and abroad have been attentively listening to the words of Hrant, they come to know his world and feel the same with him by visiting the Memory Site, which was opened last year. The hope and dreams of Hrant are guiding us.”
Addressing the readers of Agos newspaper from Silivri Prison in İstanbul, Osman Kavala has indicated that he cannot be in Şişli on January 19 to commemorate Hrant Dink this year, as was also the case in the previous two years. Kavala has added the following in brief:
“I will commemorate Dear Hrant by thinking of his picture captured with seagulls and by looking at the seagulls flying over me.
“Commemorating Hrant makes us face the harsh reality of how easy it is for a human to do such evil to another human being, to his or her fellow citizens, to their brothers and sisters.
“But, thinking about Hrant gives us more strength to bear what we go through and to cherish hope. I and the ones who have been unjustly put behind bars have lost our freedom for a while; Hrant has lost his life because of what he wrote and said.
“As long as we live, we will have the opportunity to demand justice and to be hopeful, on our own and with others… On our own and with others, we will keep demanding justice for Hrant, for the honorable people of this country and for everyone. I wish that 2020 would be a year raising our hopes.”
Arrested in Edirne Type F Prison, HDP former Co-Chair Selahattin Demirtaş has also addressed a letter to Agos in memory of Hrant Dink.
“We also hear things raising hopes behind bars”, Selahattin Demirtaş has said and added, “Wherever there is persecution, there is resistance. If there is resistance, there is hope.”
Demirtaş has also shared an anecdote from the year 2001. He has recounted how Dink came to a conference in Diyarbakır briefly as follows:
“My dear friend, I don’t know whether you remember it or not… You came to Diyarbakır for a conference in 2001. The State of Emergency was still in effect, it had not yet been lifted. It was very difficult to get a permission for a panel or conference. But, a permission could still be obtained for that conference. We could hardly persuade you.
“Back then, one had to give the identity register copies, residence certificates and criminal records of all speakers to the security directorate before the conference. I was attending to the bureaucratic procedures. We called you and asked for these documents. You were puzzled at first. ‘That cannot be right’, you said at first. We could hardly persuade you. Because we really wanted that you be our guest in Diyarbakır and attend the conference.
“When the documents of all speakers arrived, we went to the security directorate for the application. The police commander looked at the documents and said, ‘So, you are also inviting an Armenian, right?’
“I had always forgotten to tell you after that day. At that time, I realized that some people did not see your humanity, they troubled themselves that you were Armenian.”
Arrested in Silivri Prison in İstanbul, writer and journalist Ahmet Altan has also penned an article in memory of the late journalist.
Entitled “A Murder, A Funeral”, the article of Ahmet Altan has focused on the role assumed by Turkey in killing of Hrant Dink:
“Some people in secret rooms decided that he was ‘guilty’.The first biggest crime of Hrant was that he told Turkey that an Armenian was a human and an Armenian was as desirable as a Turk”. (HA/SD)