Watertown TAB & Press, MA
Feb 2 2007
Watertown mourns slain Armenian editor
By Stephanie Karakozian, Correspondent
Thursday, February 01, 2007 – Updated: 04:17 PM EST
Hrant Dink was born in, and loved, a country that denied him, along
with millions of Armenians across the world, much of their ethnic
heritage.
It is a country that uprooted and savagely pruned too many family
trees – Turkey.
Dink was persecuted and killed in this country he loved too much to
leave. It was simply because he spoke out about the freedom of
expression regarding the Armenian Genocide that took place in 1915.
His supporters have spoken that his assassination on Jan. 19 is proof
that the genocide did not end nearly a century ago, but that it
continues today.
Dink, 52, was the editor of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly,
Agos. He was shot outside his office on a busy Istanbul street. The
suspect, a teenage Turkish nationalist, was later apprehended and
arrested for the assassination.
On Friday, Jan. 26, a `Remembrance and Candlelight Vigil’ honoring
Dink was held at St. James Armenian Church. The event drew a
standing-room-only crowd, despite the frigid temperature and the lure
of other Friday night activities. Among those who gathered were
Armenian-Americans and human rights activists from throughout the
Boston area, including local government officials and clergy members.
Related content: Editorial "We are all Hrant"
Mourners filed in quietly as somber organ music played. Members of
the Armenian General Athletic Union Scouts bore both Armenian and
American flags. Students from St. Stephen’s Armenian Elementary
School and the Armenian Sisters Academy joined local clergy in
singing an Armenian tribute – `Mer Hayrenik’ and `God Bless America.’
Formal remarks, in memory of Dink, were made by Khatchig Mouradian,
editor of the Armenian Weekly, state representatives Rachel
Kaprielian and Peter Kotoujian, and the Very Reverend Father Krikor
Maksoudian, Diocese of the Armenian Church (East).
Following the indoor service, participants streamed into the bitterly
cold night air to light memorial candles and place them around a
wreathed portrait of Dink at the church’s cross stone on Mt. Auburn
Street.
Former Watertown resident Missak Barsoumian, now living in Belmont,
described the vigil as `somber and solemn.’
`This occasion showed that the whole Armenian community, and others,
are horrified at this atrocity. Hrant Dink used the democratic
process to speak his mind, and he paid with his life,’ he said after
the vigil.
Eric Ozcan, a Watertown businessman and close friend of Dink’s,
attended the vigil, and was one of many others who have expressed
their concern over Dink’s safety and security in recent years because
of his `outspokenness and courageous honesty’ in the face of a strict
Turkish policy against questioning the government’s line on the
deaths. Turkey has long maintained that while thousands of Armenians
died, it was a byproduct of the First World War, not a government
policy of genocide.
`I saw him last, six months ago [August 2006] in Istanbul,’ Ozcan
said. `I asked him to be very careful because he had become a greater
target.’
Ozcan said this was since his arrest in 2005 under Article 301 of the
Turkish Penal Code for `insulting Turkishness.’
Ozcan, also from Turkey, said he had developed a close bond with Dink
during their years at an ethnic Armenian boarding school, and
remained a friend with him throughout the years.
`Hrant always spoke his mind, even as a schoolboy,’ recalled Ozcan of
the time he spent in school with Dink. `He did not tolerate
unfairness of any kind, even against children in the schoolyard.’
The two continued to stay touch with letters and frequent visits to
each other over the years.
`Hrant was very idealistic, but did not worry about the
consequences,’ said Ozcan. `He was a great human being who embodied
the ideals of freedom of speech and equality.’
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress