Author: Christine Harutyunian

On May 25, 2020, George Floyd, a black man suspected of passing a counterfeit $20 bill, died in Minneapolis, Minnesota after Derek Chauvin, a white police officer, pressed his knee to Floyd’s neck for almost nine minutes while Floyd was handcuffed face down in the street. Two other officers further restrained Floyd while a fourth prevented onlookers from intervening. During the final three minutes of the video footage, Floyd was motionless and had no pulse, but officers made no attempt to revive him and Chauvin kept his knee on Floyd’s neck even as arriving emergency medical technicians attempted to treat him. 

Following Floyd’s death, protests erupted in every state across the United States demanding that all four officers be detained and charged. While the demonstrations were overall peaceful, violence and riot did break out in cities across America, prompting some states to deploy the National Guard. Police brutality and systemic racism have long been an issue in the US. Black communities are disproportionately targeted by police and treated more harshly for minor offenses. The protests slowly spread across the globe, with peaceful demonstrations being held from Germany to New Zealand and the Netherlands. Today, those protests reached Armenia. 

More than a week after Floyd’s death, all four police officers have been charged. Chauvin was previously charged with third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter and most recently, an additional charge of second-degree murder. The other three police officers were recently charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. 

We would like to share with the public that on 27-28 May 2020 the Hrant Dink Foundation received a written death threat via email. We have duly notified the Şişli Police Headquarters and the Istanbul Governorship in writing. The email included the phrase ‘We may turn up one night, when you least expect it’, a slogan used boastfully in certain circles, and the very same slogan we were well used to hearing before Hrant Dink was so publicly assassinated, and with the knowledge of official bodies, on 19 January 2007. The threat accuses the Hrant Dink Foundation of telling ‘tales of fraternity’, demands us to leave the country and threatens Rakel Dink and the foundation’s lawyer with death.

The recent rise in unconstrained hate speech and racist, discriminatory discourse only serves to trigger, encourage and instigate such horrendous attitudes. It is the duty and responsibility of all actors engaged in politics in Turkey to work towards ensuring equality, freedom and justice for all citizens. We therefore believe that it is our duty to share this statement with the public to remind the authorities of their responsibilities and to emphasize the serious nature of the climate that has been created.

The Hrant Dink Foundation was established in 2007 to contribute to a just, free and equal Turkey; since then we have been doing all we can to work towards achieving these goals. We at the Hrant Dink Foundation would like to publicly announce that we will continue to combat discrimination in pursuit of our dream of a country that embraces difference, where all can live together peacefully, and where freedom of _expression_ prevails.

Hrant Dink Foundation, 29 May 2020