Turkish Daily News , Turkey
Jan 24 2007
Minasparov Hrant Poloris Hay Yenk*
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
ISTANBUL – Turkish Daily News
*Goodbye Hrant, we are all Armenians
Tens of thousands of mourners gathered for a last farewell to murdered
journalist Hrant Dink in Osmanbey, one of the central districts of
Istanbul where he was shot in the head in front of his newspaper’s
office building, Agos.
Dink’s fame for his courage and integrity stretched way beyond the
Armenian community, whose rights he dedicated his life defending. His
murder has made him a symbol for most citizens of Turkey.
The organizers of the funeral deliberately banned political slogans
from the rally, as Dink, who had been subjected to various death
threats already, had expressly wished. Only leaflets bearing the slogan
"We are all Hrant Dink" and "Repeal Article 301" were circulated.
Dink, like many Turkish intellectuals, had been charged with "insulting
Turkishness" under the terms of Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code
(TCK).
Although large, the funeral remained a strangely intimate affair.
Members of the Armenian community of Osmanbey, Bomonte and Sisli poured
in from the side streets along with famous intellectuals, actors and
media personalities. Police cordoned off the area, searching the bags
of all participants.
Television crew cables ran all along the building facades into
the apartments that offered the most advantageous view of the Agos
entrance, which was decorated with wreaths
Police presence at the initial stage of the rally was hefty but
discreet. A helicopter patrolled the skies above Osmanbey and several
green berets were stationed on the roof tops.
The speeches took place punctually and the melancholy sound of the
Duduk, the Armenian musical instrument, preceded the oration given
by Dink’s widow Rakel.
After a two-minute silence, a poet read a militant poem by Aydin Engin.
Rakel Dink gave an impassioned speech. Some chanting was heard from
the periphery against the "fascist state," but subsided immediately.
"Today we are here to raise a voice by our silence," she said.
As Dink’s widow gave her speech from the doorway of Dink’s newspaper,
Agos, the only noise that could be heard among the audience was the
sobbing of grown women and men.
"He left his wife, his daughters, his grandchildren and those who loved
him, but he did not leave his country," she said about her husband.
Rakel Dink also said, "Whoever the murderer is, whether aged 17 or
27 does not matter. I know they were babies once. But nothing can be
done without questioning what makes a baby into a murderer."
Dink’s bier was placed on the funeral car after Mrs. Dink’s speech,
and the cortege set off on the eight kilometer march that would lead
to first to the Armenian Church of the Virgin Mary, then to Dink’s
burial ground at the Balikli Armenian Cemetery.
Many of those not attending the demonstration because of work stood
outside their shops respectfully. A few were merely curious on this
sunny day. The staff stood in an orderly line outside of a Yapimerkezi
branch. "We have lived together in peace for so many years, this
murder must be a provocation," said Nihan, a shop assistant.
Many waved from the windows of the offices overhead; few as excitedly
as those thronging the windows of a second-story branch of the CHP,
Turkey’s main opposition party.
They were greeted with taunts from the crowd, "Fascists" and "Where
is your leader?"
Deniz Baykal, the leader of the CHP, was conspicuously absent from
the funeral.
"We are really sad, and these are not crocodile tears," Cafer Alchin,
told the TDN inside his office. "Connecting the murder to Article 301
is too simple," he said. The CHP has been accused of using nationalist
rhetoric and defends Article 301.
"We are here to mourn Hrant," said a demonstrator who was standing
outside with his girlfriend, "But we left him alone."
In the Armenian Hospital in Harbiye, Galip Atintepe, a senior surgeon,
was wearing a picture of Dink stapled to his chest. "I was born a
decade after the events of 1915 and I cannot feel guilty for something
I had no hand in," said Dr Altintepe, himself a Turk. He was referring
to the year the Armenians were forced away from Anatolia.
"Judges should think hard before indicting people on Article 301
charges. The police in Trabzon should be brought to task for failing
to track down the networks behind the murderers."
He said that his Armenian friends and patients felt that the French
and U.S. approaches to the Armenian "genocide" were ridiculous,
and that these were not the issues at stake.
The cortege proceeded to the Armenian church in Kumpkapi gathering
in numbers. Ohannes Menceshe, a 77-year-old Armenian who was standing
outside of the church, told TDN that conditions were dire for Armenians
in the 1930s and 1940s. He then addressed a group of Turkish children.
"We are not walking for Armenia," he told them. "We are walking
for you."