Author: Emil Lazarian

DAYS OF ARMENIAN CULTURE HELD IN BRUSSELS

BRUSSELS, JANUARY 26, NOYAN TAPAN. The Days of Armenian Culture
started on January 24 at the "Espace Senghor" cultural center in the
European district of Brussels. Different spheres of Armenian culture,
painting art, music, dancing, cinematography, will be presented to
the European spectator during a week.

According to the information submitted to Noyan Tapan by the RA
Foreign Ministry’s Press and Information Department, Norik Antonian’s
individual exhibition was first opened among the series of events,
then French directors M.Bissaut’s and D.Martince’s "Roads of the Soul:
Yeghish Manoukian" film was shown which tells about the travelling
to Armenia implemented by famous duduk (Armenian national pipe)
player Yeghish Manoukian living in the U.S.

During the first days the citizens of Brussels will be able to listen
to performances of the "Armenian Music Masterpieces" ensemble and
"Araks" dancing ensemble, will see R.Gedikian’s "Travelling to
Armenia" film.

The cultural events taking place in "Espace Senghor" were the first
among the events dedicated to the Armenian culture which are scheduled
for this year in Belgium.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

TheDay, CT
Jan 24 2007

Slain Journalist’s Funeral Draws Masses In Istanbul
Mourners carry placards: ‘We are all hrant dink’

By Yesim Borg, Laura King, Los Times

by Murad Sezer

Thousands of people march Tuesday behind the coffin of slain journalist
Hrant Dink during a ceremony in Istanbul, Turkey. Tens of thousands
joined a funeral procession for Armenian-Turkish editor Dink, traveling
a five-mile route starting from the bilingual Turkish and Armenian
Agos newspaper where Dink was gunned down Friday.

Istanbul, Turkey – Tens of thousands of mourners wound through the
heart of this ancient city Tuesday in the funeral procession for an
ethnic-Armenian journalist whose murder triggered soul searching over
national identity, freedom of expression and the historical ghosts
that shadow Turkey.

Followed by the largely silent throng, a black hearse slowly bore
the flower-strewn coffin of editor Hrant Dink to an Armenian Orthodox
church, where he was eulogized as a voice of courage and conscience.

A teenage nationalist reportedly has confessed to gunning down the
52-year-old journalist Jan. 19 outside his office.

The extraordinary display of public mourning shut down much of downtown
Istanbul, whose narrow back alleys and wide boulevards are normally
the scene of a raucous commercial free-for-all. Onlookers, many
dabbing their eyes, leaned from balconies and watched from doorways
as the cortege passed by. Some applauded, in the traditional sign of
respect for honored dead.

Dink, a Turkish citizen of Armenian extraction, was best known as an
advocate for the rights of the country’s Armenian minority – including
efforts to win official recognition by Turkey that the deaths of
some 1.5 million Armenians in the final years of the Ottoman empire
constituted the first genocide of the 20th century.

Turkey officially blames the deaths on fighting, cold and hunger
rather than any campaign of extermination, a stance that is widely
viewed internationally as an obstacle to its aspirations to join the
European Union.

Scores of Turkish academics, journalists and novelists, including
Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk, have been prosecuted under a provision
known as Article 301, which contains a wide-ranging ban on "insulting
Turkishness." Any public reference to an Armenian genocide, even in
carefully couched language, can result in being hauled into court
and possibly jailed, as Dink was.

Hours before the daylong funeral rites began, mourners gathered outside
the offices of Agos, Dink’s newspaper. Many carried placards saying
"We are all Armenians" and "We are all Hrant Dink."

Even among those Turks who believe their country has been unfairly
tarred with genocide allegations, the violent backlash by right-wing
nationalists has prompted profound unease. Many were particularly
disturbed by the young age of the alleged killer, identified by
authorities as 17-year-old Ogun Samast, and the fact that he had
apparently come under the sway of nationalist militants.

In a highly unusual step, Turkey invited Armenia to send
representatives to the funeral, even though the border between the
two countries is sealed and they have no diplomatic ties. In a sign
of ambivalence, however, the Turkish government was represented by
a bevy of senior ministers – not its topmost leaders.

The slain journalist’s widow, Rakel, flanked by the couple’s three
children, made a poignant appeal to the crowd that gathered before
the funeral march began. Her husband’s death, she said, must not
become a catalyst for more hatred.

"The murderer was once a baby," she said. "Unless we can question
the darkness that turned this baby into a murderer, we cannot achieve
anything."

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

BUILDING A BLACK SEA/CASPIAN NATURAL GAS BRIDGE: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES
By Mamuka Tsereteli

Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst, DC
Jan 24 2007

articleid=4682

Developments in 2006 and notably the recent Russian-Belarusian crisis
proved that energy is consolidating its position as Europe’s long-term
security challenge. Different countries are facing different types
of challenges, however. With diversified supplies of natural gas and
access to alternative energy resources, leading European states feel
less vulnerable to potential Russian pressure.

Unlike France, Germany or Italy, East European states have no
alternative to Russian gas, while Gazprom’s constant problems with
transit countries and producers in Central Asia make them increasingly
vulnerable. Eastern Europe hence needs alternative supply of natural
gas. This demand could support long-term purchase contracts with
Caspian suppliers via the Black Sea, making the development of new
transportation infrastructure possible.

BACKGROUND: After gaining full control over Armenia’s pipeline network
and the Moldovan distribution network, as well as partial control
over the Belarusian transit pipelines, Russia’s State-controlled
gas monopoly, Gazprom, is getting closer to its ultimate goal to
control all pipelines connecting the former Soviet Union’s states
to other markets and potential suppliers. The same strategy is now
being applied to Europe.

Russia is the primary source for imported natural gas in most European
states, and its role is set to increase in next decade, despite a
potential shortage of the gas on the domestic market. In order to
secure supplies, in recent months the leading European states and their
government-supported energy companies – a frequently underestimated
force in European energy politics – concluded bilateral deals with
Russia’s Gazprom on long-term energy supplies. The deal between the
Russian and French gas monopolies, Gazprom and Gaz de France (GdF)
on the supply of Russian gas is the latest in a row of bilateral
deals between Gazprom and major European consumer states. The deal
establishes Gazprom’s strong position in a major market and guarantees
GdF sizeable supplies of gas for 24 years in return for giving the
Russian company a slice of the French distribution market. Earlier,
Gazprom concluded similar deals with German and Italian companies.

These bilateral agreements weakened potential for EU’s common strategy
towards Russian energy, and regarding energy security in general. On
the contrary, it strengthened Gazprom’s position tremendously. Gazprom
has very clear strategy: to obtain strong dominance over natural gas
supply and distribution networks in Europe. So far, implementation
of this strategy is brilliant. By obtaining control over the transit
infrastructure in transit countries, Russia limits access to markets
for other potential suppliers, and by obtaining the distribution
business, it limits the ability of importing countries to conclude
long-term gas purchase agreements with other producers. Without those
agreements, the development of new transportation infrastructure is
commercially impossible.

IMPLICATIONS: There is enough gas in the neighborhood of Europe;
but the problem is delivery infrastructure. The particular problem
is delivery to Central and Eastern European states, where access to
gas supplies from Northern Europe, Algeria or Central Asia is limited.

The existing pipeline network connects those states only to Russian
gas sources, and – only through Gazprom pipelines – to Central Asian
gas. The potential to get access to Azerbaijani gas through Turkey via
the so-called Nabucco pipeline, stretching from Turkey to Austria’s
Baumgarten terminal via Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary is still present,
although Russia is trying hard to close the only remaining window
for alternative gas by supplying additional volumes to Turkey via
the Blue Stream pipeline. This would effectively flood the market,
thus preventing the entry of Caspian gas into the link from Turkey
to Austria.

Despite that effort, the recent history of disruptions in supply,
and the rising price of Russian gas elsewhere in the region pushes
Central and Eastern European states to seek alternative supplies based
on commercially viable solutions. In this context, the development
of transportation infrastructure connecting Central Asia to Central
Europe is the key to resolving this problem. The aggregate demand of
the Central and Eastern European countries for import exceeds 100
billion cubic meters, and may well grow in the future. A long-term
purchase agreement with Caspian, in the first place Azerbaijani but
in the longer term also Central Asian producers, could initiate the
development of the basic infrastructure, which consequently could
evolve into a strategic supply line for Eastern Europe.

The South Caucasus Pipeline connecting the Azerbaijani Shah-Deniz
natural gas field to Turkey via Georgia, and then to South-East and
Central Europe, is the key priority. Shah-Deniz will produce up to
30 bcm, a significant amount, but one that could be compounded by
Kazakhstani or Turkmenistani resources to generate the volume needed
to make large-scale pipeline construction commercially viable.

In this sense, the South Caucasus pipeline could be connected to the
Georgian Black Sea cost, and then through an underwater pipeline to the
western shores of the Black Sea, from where additional inter-connectors
could transport gas to Central and Eastern Europe via existing pipeline
networks. There are two options to end the pipeline: One in Ukraine,
and another in Romania. Both options can co-exist and complement
each other.

The destinations may look too distant and economically not viable.

But the case of the North Stream pipeline may set a positive
precedent. North Stream is a planned 1200-kilometre-long off-shore
natural gas pipeline stretching through the Baltic Sea, from Vyborg,
Russia to Greifswald, Germany. It will have two on-shore connections
from Geifswald to the south and west of Germany with a total length
of 850 km, and one 917-kilometre-long on-shore connection to bring
gas from the Russian system to Vyborg. The commercial viability of
the North Stream is not in question for Western European companies,
given the significant quantities involved.

The undersea pipeline in the Black Sea would be shorter, and requires
less additional infrastructure to be connected to markets. Over the
years, Azerbaijan and Georgia proved to be a reliable supplier and
transit country, respectively, while NATO and EU member Romania could
use existing pipeline network to connect natural gas to consumer
countries. Technical and environmental challenges also seem much
less problematic.

A more remote option would be to develop liquefaction facilities on
the Georgian Black Sea shore, and to ship LNG to Romania and Bulgaria,
where it could be degasified and fed into the pipeline system. A fleet
of LNG tankers may build a strong and reliable energy connection
between the two shores of the Black Sea. Developing technology and
the reduction of infrastructure cost may support this solution.

CONCLUSIONS: It would be natural for the EU to lead the process of
developing the Caspian-European Natural Gas Bridge. This is a unique
chance to show leadership and prove that the EU is capable of securing
alternative energy supply for Europe by working with producer, transit
and consumer countries. The United States would also benefit from
committing resources and assisting countries of Eastern Europe to
sign long term supply contracts with Caspian producers, which will
be the basis for the development of the gas fields and transport
infrastructure. This will cement the relationship between the Black
Sea/Caspian region and the EU and would help their Euro-Atlantic
integration. In case the EU is passive and fails to organize itself to
support a Caspian-Black Sea energy bridge, the U.S. may help interested
Eastern European states to form a Consortium of Gas Importing States
to lead the infrastructure development.

AUTHOR’S BIO: Mamuka Tsereteli is the Executive Director of the
America-Georgia Business Council. He also teaches at George Washington
and American Universities in Washington D.C.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Mourners flood Istanbul for ethnic Armenian editor

Globe and Mail, Canada
Jan 24 2007

Istanbul — More than 100,000 mourners choked the streets of Istanbul
yesterday for the funeral of an ethnic Armenian journalist whose
slaying sparked debate about freedom of expression and whether Turks
of different backgrounds can live together.

"We are all Armenians!" mourners chanted in an extraordinary
outpouring of affection for editor Hrant Dink, who had made enemies
among nationalist Turks by labelling the mass killings of Armenians
as genocide.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Kathimerini, Greece
Jan 24 2007

Mourners flood Istanbul
Thousands remember slain Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink

Reuters
Thousands of people marched yesterday across the Unkapani bridge over
the Golden Horn during the funeral procession of Turkish-Armenian
editor Hrant Dink in Istanbul.

By Daren Butler

ISTANBUL – Up to 100,000 people filed silently through Istanbul
yesterday behind the coffin of Turkish-Armenian editor Hrant Dink,
whose murder has stirred debate about the influence of hardline
nationalism in Turkey. From early morning, tearful mourners, many
holding identical black-and-white signs reading "We are all Hrant
Dink" and "We are all Armenians," gathered outside the Agos newspaper
office where Dink was shot three times in broad daylight last Friday.

White doves were released into the air as somber music played. Much
of downtown Istanbul, a sprawling city of some 12 million set on the
Bosporus waterway, was closed to traffic.

A 17-year-old youth, Ogun Samast, has confessed to killing Dink for
"insulting" Turks. A nationalist militant friend of Samast has
admitted inciting Samast to kill Dink, who had worked for
reconciliation between Christian Armenians and Muslim Turks. "We are
seeing off our brother with a silent walk, without slogans and
without asking how a baby became a murderer," Dink’s widow Rakel,
surrounded by her three children, told mourners.

Organizers estimated 100,000 mourners followed the black hearse and
flower-covered coffin on its 8-kilometer (5-mile) journey across
Istanbul and the Golden Horn waterway to an Armenian Orthodox church.
Police said there were tens of thousands. "Seeing this mass of people
gives me courage. There are lots of people against racism and
nationalism," actress Lale Mansur said.

Ministers, foreign diplomats, Armenian government officials and
members of both Turkey’s 60,000-strong Armenian community and the
global Armenian diaspora joined the funeral service. "We still hope
that (Turks)… will accept that the Armenians are Turkish citizens
who have been living on this land for thousands of years and are not
foreigners or potential enemies," Armenian Patriarch Mesrob II told
the mourners. Dink was buried at the Balikli Armenian Cemetery.

Dink, like dozens of other intellectuals including Nobel Literature
Laureate Orhan Pamuk, had been prosecuted for his views on the
massacres of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in 1915. Turkish
nationalists, including senior politicians, see intellectuals’ calls
for Turkey to own up to its role in the massacres as a threat to
national security and honour. "This (murder) is not an exceptional
case but the result of a poisonous nationalist atmosphere. Turkey’s
credibility abroad has hit rock bottom," said Vural Oger, a leading
Turkish-German businessman and politician.

Turkish Daily News
Jan 24 2007

What others say
Wednesday, January 24, 2007

ANKARA – Turkish Daily News

Don’t make us laugh: Fehmi Koru, Yeni Şafak So that is it,
"There is no political side to the Hrant Dink murder and there are no
political groups behind it." This was the initial official statement
following the murderer’s interrogation. Well, this being the case,
they can shelve this murder case. Just like they did in the murders
of Priest Santoro and the State Council shooting. They didn’t find
any connections to "political groups" in those two cases. When the
young hit men are sentenced by courts, we will have nothing left to
talk about concerning these three murders. Of course, until the next
assassination. Nobody wants to see the "witches’ cauldron" of the
past but it is hard to accept being treated as a "fool." Really, a
17 year old from Trabzon managing to know what Dink looks like, find
the office of the Agos daily and not to get caught after a murder
committed in broad day light really seems to be a "political" and
"organized" crime. Dink was a journalist and his position in front
of the public was that of a person with a "political identity." This
is why any attack against him is automatically a political attack.

Trying to simplify a political assassination which greatly shook the
inner and outer balances of Turkey and which will be heavily felt
for many years to a murder committed incidentally at the time of a
"street brawl" is pathetic. However, we are too exhausted to laugh
in these days of crying.

Time to make ourselves heard:İsmet Berkan, RadikalOn Friday,
I couldn’t really work and I couldn’t hold back my tears because
Hrant was killed. It was at that time when my phone rang. The voice on
the line said, "A bodyguard was assigned to you, he will be arriving
soon." I could hardly make out what was being said. I said, "Okay,
let him come." I have been living with a police bodyguard since
Friday night. I don’t know how long this will last but, trust me,
having a bodyguard from the police is enough to make one uneasy.

I’ve been asking them for days if they had any particular piece of
information regarding this. They said, "No, we have assigned him as
a precaution."I asked people experienced in personal protection; they
said: "If an organization is going to kill you, they will. However, a
bodyguard on duty can protect you from thugs such as Ogun Samast."Yes,
but, what is it that I am doing?

What was my dear friend Hrant doing?What did Hrant do to get shot,
or what did I do to have an officer with me at all times to protect
my life? Trust me, it really feels strange. Why didn’t Hrant leave?

I’ve heard others telling him to leave many times. I always thought
"nothing will happen," but look, something did happen. Something
really bad happened and Hrant is no longer alive. Hrant’s killing,
before anything else, is a racist murder. However, the killers of
Hrant being racists is no reason for them not to kill someone who is
not an Armenian.

For, somehow, all opinion discussions in Turkey in the last analysis
boil down to a simple argument of loyalty vs. treachery.

Anybody declared a state enemy by some or announced to have "insulted
Turkishness" could easily become a target for the same racists. Then
I ask myself, "Is it rational to continue what you are doing with
the possibility of getting killed in the end?" It seems to be a
very personal question, but it is not. Considering that the cost of
defending freedom and the European Union perspective might be one’s
life, in other words, considering I’m defending a cause I believe to
be for the good of the society, it is no longer personal. I don’t know
whether I’m afraid, but I am uneasy. Leaving the country? Isn’t that
what that lumpen nationalist "Valley of the Wolves" crowd wants?What
is the cost of staying? Walking around with a police officer at
all times, always being frightened. Part of me says, "Leave," and
become an arts or sports commentator. While another side of me says:
"This is what they want. You will be frightened, the others will
be frightened and no one to speak out will be left in the end."If
I didn’t have confidence in the future of my country, if I didn’t
belief that we will establish a more democratic and livable country
that respects human rights, perhaps I would be thinking differently.I
am staying. This is my country. I love this country as much as they
do. I also know that I’m not alone. We, the ones who want a better
Turkey, are actually a majority. Only, we are silent.

Now is not the time to be frightened and run. We need to make
ourselves heard against those who want to isolate Turkey from the
rest of the world.

Mesut the Watchman! Ergun BABAHAN, SabahThe university is a place
where different, radical and opposing ideas can be freely expressed.

If that wasn’t the case, if all universities in the world were
administered like Istanbul University, scientific development couldn’t
have been possible. Istanbul University Rector Mesut Parlak in a
recent interview with Balcicek Pamir said that he saw himself not as
a university rector, but as a commander of a military squad.

The only thing he lacks is the swastika on his arm. He is proud of
continuous camera monitoring on campus. In addition, he says Orhan
Pamuk or Yaşar Kemal would never be allowed to instruct at
his university.

Who do you think you are mister? Well, never mind instructing at your
university, they would never even accept being under the same roof
as you. Who are you? It is hard to say you are man of science.

You are a public servant of the state. You were assigned to the
Istanbul University as a watchman. Your name will never be on the list
of scientists. It will only be mentioned on the payment checks of the
Retirement Fund. The university you administer reacts to everything
but is silent when a journalist is killed. For the likes of you are
not even democrats. You don’t think about anything but preserving
the power you have in your hands and your villa with a view of the
Bosporus. You are an embarrassment for science. You are only a rector,
not a man of science. This is why when people think of "Turkey,"
they think of Orhan Pamuk and Yaşar Kemal and not of you. You
are a public servant.You are a Sezer-approved professor with a "clean"
record. Nobody will remember you when you die. They on the other hand
will be commemorated in every line they have written like Balzac,
Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy. For they are for the brotherhood of nations
and democracy. You are on the side of pressure and forbiddance. You
are scared of this country’s history, beliefs and youth and that is why
you serve to raise young people full of fear, anger and hatred.Anybody
can become a rector; being human is the difficult bit.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Denver Post, CO
Jan 24 2007

Outrage over death of Turk
Article Last Updated: 01/23/2007 11:06:17 PM MST

The murder of a crusading newspaper editor in Turkey last week has
resulted in a flood of public outrage for this crossroads Eurasian
country struggling with democratic and political reforms.

Hrant Dink, a prominent voice for ethnic Armenians, was shot to death
by a hard- line nationalist because he dared to call the 1915 mass
killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks a "genocide." Turkish
authorities past and present have denied that characterization, and
it’s a crime in Turkey to call it that.

Dink’s funeral Tuesday brought 100,000 people to the streets of
Istanbul to pay their respects and to protest the persecution of free
speech.

Turkey, a democratic republic that is 99 percent Muslim, is trying to
join the European Union, and Dink’s murder underscores concerns that
current EU countries have about Turkey’s respect for rule of law and
human rights. There are fears the country will return to the killings
of intellectuals that were routine a decade ago.

The reaction of the Turkish officials so far has been heartening.
They quickly deployed top officials to oversee the murder
investigation, condemned the killing and permitted a large public
funeral with its attendant free speech.

Every country has its radicals and miscreants. How a country deals
with them is the measure of its civilization. The world will closely
watch how Turkey navigates these difficult times.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Teenager charged with Dink murder

BBC
Wednesday, 24 January 2007, 22:45 GMT

Turkish prosecutors have charged a teenager with murdering prominent
Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink.

Ogun Samast, 17, also faces charges of being a member of an armed gang –
along with four other detained suspects.

Dink, 53, was gunned down outside his newspaper’s office in Istanbul last
week. His murder has triggered anger and shock across Turkey.

Dink had written controversial articles about the Armenian "genocide" in
1915 in Turkey, a claim denied by Ankara.

Mr Samast was jailed pending trial on charges of premeditated murder,
membership in an armed gang and illegal possession of firearms, Istanbul’s
prosecutor Aykut Cengiz Engin said.

Four other suspects were charged with involvement in Dink’s murder and
membership in the gang.

Among them is Yasin Hayal, who has reportedly confessed to inciting the
killing and providing Mr Samast with the gun and money.

The charges were brought at the end of the legal four-day detention period.

The date of the trial is yet to be set.

‘Voice of Armenians’

Thousands of people attended Dink’s funeral in Istanbul on Wednesday.

Hrant Dink’s funeral became an extraordinary show of unity
As the editor of bilingual Turkish-Armenian newspaper Agos, Dink was a
well-known public figure in Turkey.

His articles about the alleged mass killings of Armenians by Turks at the
beginning of the 20th Century had sparked huge controversy in the country on a
number of occasions.

In October 2005, Dink was given a six-month suspended sentence under a
controversial law against insulting "Turkishness".

He had reportedly received threats from nationalists, who viewed him as a
traitor.

Hundreds of thousands of Armenians died or were driven out of Turkey in
1915, in what many Armenians say was genocide.

Turkey admits that many Armenians were killed but it denies any genocide,
saying the deaths happened during widespread fighting in World War I.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PanARMENIAN.Net

Suspects of Dink murder threaten Orhan Pamuk
24.01.2007 14:51 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ One of the suspects in the murder of
Hrant Dink, the editor of Agos Turkish-Armenian
newspaper, issued a threat against Nobel Prize-winning
novelist Orhan Pamuk on Wednesday. "Orhan Pamuk, be
smart, be smart!" Yasin Hayal shouted to reporters as
he was being brought to an Istanbul courtroom. Hayal,
a nationalist militant, confessed to inciting the
slaying of Dink and to providing a gun and money to
the alleged killer, 17-year-old Ogun Samast, who
pleaded guilty to the crime, police said.

Like Dink, Orhan Pamuk had faced trial for "insulting
Turkishness". However, case was thrown out on a
technicality. Like Dink, he also said he had received
death threats and had considered leaving the country
because of them, reports the Anatolia news agency.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Dink killed by same bloody hand that claimed lives of millions of his ancestors

PanARMENIAN.Net
24.01.2007 17:39 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Swedish officials, the Armenian community as well
as representatives of Turkish intelligentsia and the Turkish Central
Federation of Sweden condemned the assassination of editor of Agos
Armenian-Turkish newspaper Hrant Dink. As chairman of the Association
of Armenians of Europe Karo Hakobian told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter,
Sweden joins the international community in condemning Dink’s killing.

Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, members of political parties and
NGOs also condemned the outrageous crime. A protest action initiated
by the Turkish Central Federation of Sweden (TCFS) – the biggest
organization of national minorities – was held in Stockholm on Tuesday
with participation of the Armenian, Kurdish and Assyrian communities
as well as members of Swedish state and public organizations.

When addressing the attendees, head of the TCFS resumed his speech
with the slogan "We are all Hrant Dinks, we are all Armenians." The
action participants with a minute of silence commemorated Hrant Dink,
who was killed by the same bloody hand that claimed lives of millions
of his ancestors. Representatives of Turkish and Kurdish organizations
laid a black wreath to the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm.

The Coordination Center of Armenian Unions will organize a mass
rally with participation of national minorities, political and public
figures in Stockholm January 27.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress