Turkish-Armenian editor shot dead in Istanbul (1 Viewer)

[Snoop]

By Paul de Bendern and Ercan Ersoy

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - A high-profile Turkish-Armenian editor, convicted of insulting Turkey's identity, was shot dead outside his newspaper office in Istanbul on Friday.

Hrant Dink, a writer and journalist and a frequent target of nationalist anger, was shot by an unknown assailant as he left his newspaper Agos around 1300 GMT in central Istanbul, the paper said.

"Hrant was a perfect target for those who want to obstruct Turkey's democratization and its path toward the European Union," Agos writer Aydin Engin told Reuters.

Broadcaster NTV said Dink been shot three times in the neck and police were now looking for a 18 or 19-year-old man.

CNN Turk television said two men had been detained in connection with the shooting.

The attack is bound to raise political tensions in would-be EU member Turkey, where politicians of all parties have been courting the nationalist vote ahead of presidential elections in May and parliamentary polls due by November.

Protesters at the scene chanted "the murderer government will pay" and "shoulder-to-shoulder against fascism".


(Reuters) -- Facts about Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, shot dead in Istanbul on Friday:

# Dink, born in Malatya, southeast Turkey in 1954, was a member of Turkey's small ethnic Armenian community, and a Turkish citizen.

# He was editor-in-chief of the bilingual Turkish and Armenian weekly Agos (www.agos.com.tr).

# Dink had been convicted of insulting Turkishness -- under the controversial article 301 of Turkey's penal code -- and handed a six-month suspended sentence in 2005. The case was prompted by an article he wrote in which he referred to an Armenian nationalist idea of ethnic purity.

The European Union has repeatedly called on Ankara to change the law and the government has promised to revise it.

# Of his conviction, Dink told Reuters: "I may be paying the price for this, but Turkish democracy will gain from it, I hope."

# Armenians have long campaigned for recognition of the alleged genocide of Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World War One, but Dink opposed the French parliament's passing of a law banning denial of the Armenian genocide. He said he would even be ready to go to prison in France in defense of free speech.

Copyright 2007 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.



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Well done you Idiots (whoever did the crime), he is a big loss in the name of Peace for both parties, he did all his best to end this non-sense the hate between the two countries, but also he respected the Armenian Genocide and talked about it fearlessly in Turkey But he never disrespected the Turks, in return he gets killed by a Teenager (whoever he took the orders from).. is this what they call Democracy? is this how you prove your history? is this the way you face the Crimes that done by you Ottoman Leaders? is this how you respond the writers and the freedom of speech?

He loved Turkey as much as Armenia, and I also followed his steps, I don't blame today's generation because of the old history between the two countries, and whoever does the opposite way is just another stupid blind racist Nationalist, who supports his criminal leaders just to protect his History? even thou if it full of crimes??.. this is exactly the reason I hate the Nationalism, it has no difference than Racism, these things are just stupid Divisions who only leads you all to hate each others and nothing else.. Fuck the lands and all these dirty power called POLITICS that people run after it..

 

Buy on AliExpress.com

[Snoop]

Sorry for my language, I am just pissed and can't accept this stupidity


Rest in peace Hrant Dink, Humanity will need Men of honor like you

 

[Snoop]

ISTANBUL, Turkey (CNN) -- The teenage suspect arrested for allegedly gunning down a controversial Turkish journalist has confessed he killed him and has no regrets, the official state-run news agency Anatolia reported Sunday.

The chief prosecutor in the case told Anatolia that suspect Ogun Samast, reportedly 17 years old, told police he was angry at Hrant Dink.

Dink -- a prominent Turkish journalist of Armenian heritage -- was shot dead in front of his Istanbul newspaper office Friday in broad daylight.


arrested Samast on Saturday after a 32-hour search, authorities said.

Turkish media, citing police, reported that Samast is 17, a high school dropout and a possible drug addict.

He was arrested on a bus in Samsun, on his way to Trabzon. The bus was waiting to leave the bus station, Istanbul Governor Muammer Guler told reporters.

During the arrest Guler said police found a gun and the white knit hat that Samast was wearing on a surveillance video that had been aired on Turkish television.

It was that video that led to the youngster's arrest. Police said his father saw widely publicized pictures from it and tipped them off.

The father is from Trabzon in northern Turkey on the Black Sea, but Samast was living in Istanbul with his uncle, according to media reports.

Authorities said the youngster was brought to Istanbul by plane Sunday.

At least 12 people have been detained in connection with the case in Trabzon, and six of them are to be brought to Istanbul for questioning on Sunday, CNN Turk said.

Dink was editor of the Armenian-Turkish-language weekly Agos newspaper. He had received many death threats for speaking out against the killings of minority Armenians by the Ottoman Empire early in the last century and being in trouble with the law because of his remarks about that topic.

"The bullets aimed at Hrant Dink were shot into all of us," Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a nationally televised statement on Saturday, according to The Associated Press.

Erdogan sent his interior minister and justice minister to Istanbul to lead the investigation.

Erdogan said the attack was a "shock" and an "insult" to the Turkish nation and a "dark day" -- not only for Dink's family but also for all of Turkey.

"The dark hands that killed him will be found and punished," Erdogan said in the televised remarks.

Angry, saddened Turks took to the streets of Istanbul and other cities to mourn Dink's death.

Armenian Patriarch Mesrob Mutafyan declared 15 days of mourning for the small Armenian community in Turkey, the Reuters news service reported.

The killing shocked all of Turkey, where Dink, who was in his early 50s, had earned a reputation for promoting dialogue between Turks and Armenians, backing open borders between Turkey and the nation of Armenia, and expressing a love of his Turkish homeland.

Protesters in Istanbul walked slowly and somberly Friday night, holding candles, wielding banners and waving flags. They carried signs and chanted phrases such as "We are all Hrant Dink and we are all Armenians."


Editor addressed Armenian-Turk issues squarely

Described as a "well-known commentator on Armenian affairs," Dink had been called into court a number of times on allegations of "insulting" the Turkish state in his writing.

"Some of the trial hearings have been marred by violent scenes inside and outside the courtrooms, instigated by nationalist activists calling for Dink to be punished," says a profile on the Web site of PEN American Center -- the writers' group that defends free expression.

Agos was established in 1996, and Dink didn't shy away from dealing with the controversies in that region over the killings of Armenians from 1915 through 1917 -- a hot-button issue in Turkey.

Armenians and other countries regard those killings as genocide, a claim rejected by the Turkish government, which says Armenians and Turks were killed in civil warfare.

Andrew Finkel, a journalist in Turkey and a friend of Dink's, emphasized that Dink's killing was "a tragedy" for a country attempting to come to terms with its past.

Finkel said resentment toward Dink existed among ultranationalist Turks, and the people who staged "ugly scenes" at his trials are the same ones who staged rallies directed at Orhan Pamuk, the Nobel Prize-winning Turkish writer who faced charges of insulting Turkishness as well.

He described Dink as a bright and brash man who was a well-known figure in Istanbul and an advocate for Turkey's small Armenian community -- a once-populous group now numbering around 60,000 or 70,000.

"If anything, he was a great Turkish patriot," Finkel told CNN.

"Mr. Dink, for all the libels against him, for all the opposition that was against him in certain sections of the right-wing Turkish press, was really in favor of Turkish and Armenian neighbors being able to look each other in their face and recognize their past histories. He was a courageous man who died in a terrible way."

Joel Campagna, Mideast program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists, said, "Like dozens of other Turkish journalists, Hrant Dink has faced political persecution because of his work. Now it appears he's paid the ultimate price for it."

Campagna said that Turkey "must ensure that this crime does not go unpunished like other cases in the past and that those responsible for his murder are brought to justice."

He said that over the last 15 years, 18 Turkish journalists have been killed -- making the country the eighth deadliest in the world for journalists in that period. He said many of the deaths took place in the early 1990s, at the peak of the Kurdish separatist insurgency.

Reporters Without Borders, another journalists' advocacy group, also said a proper investigation is needed, underscoring its position that "this will be a key test for a country that hopes to join the European Union. No one would understand if Turkey failed to do everything possible to shed light on this tragedy."

Turkey has long sought membership in the EU.

Provocative articles prompt charges

PEN American Center said Dink's publication sought to "provide a voice to the Armenian community and create a dialogue between Turks and Armenians."

The group said that before his killing, "Dink had complained of death threats he was receiving from nationalists."

"We are horrified," said Larry Siems, director of Freedom to Write and International Programs at PEN American Center. "Hrant Dink was one of the heroes of the nonviolent movement for freedom of expression in Turkey."

PEN listed some of the cases that made Dink a controversial figure:

# In 2001, the Turkish government suspended publication of Agos when Dink advocated acknowledgement of genocide. He was acquitted and publication resumed.

# In 2004, the government interpreted part of a Dink article as anti-Turk; he received a six-month suspended sentence. In his appeal, Dink said, "As long as I live (in Turkey), I will go on telling the truth, just as I always have.'"

# In February 2006 he was acquitted of insulting the Turkish state for his criticism in 2002 of a verse in the Turkish national anthem.

# In July 2006 he received another six-month suspended sentence after writing an article that called for Armenians to "now turn their attention to the new life offered by an independent Armenia."

# One week later, the Istanbul public prosecutor opened a new case against Dink for referring to the 1915 massacre of Armenians as genocide during a July 14 interview with Reuters. Dink was awaiting his trial on those charges when he was killed.

Aram Hamparian, executive director of the Armenian National Committee of America, told CNN that the case is the "product of the environment that the Turkish government has created" -- its persistent denial that the killings of the Armenians last century did not amount to genocide.

Said Hamparian: "Turkey needs to come to grips with its past."

Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

 

[Il Re]

poor guy, cant say i knew about him as i dont know much about the politics in turkey, but sad for him to go out like that, may he r.i.p

 

[Snoop]

sadly the world and the it's media are not giving much Attention to this, by putting it on news, since he is not a powerfull politician I guess , even if they showed it, they would use for political reasons, by using it against Turkey's image (some kind of revenge or showing their hate), but this man is bigger than all these politics and the politicians, he did his best against both Turkish and Armenian Ultra-Nationalist just to give an end to this nonsense, the hate between the two people, while some stupid parties gave this order, and killed him because of his thoughts about the history, instead of focusing on the big picture and all his work to make the peace between the two people..

 

[Cronios]

Thats a sad outcome, R.I.P.
a man should know better than ask for free speech in Turkey,
he should prefer the French jail... the only way nationalists will ever "understand" anything, is outside pressure forced in by their own leaders,
but the genocide is almost covered up already, a history fact than most would prefer it to be a false myth,
a free voice cannot stand against them, i wonder why he had no personal guard to safeguard him, esp after the calls, a 19 year old scapegoat wouldnt have done that, so simply, but he trusted Democracy
and i respect that!!!
Erdogan said it correctly it really was an "insult" to the whole Turkish nation,
Turkey will suffer more political losses, than everyone because of this death,
regardless if Dink will become a martor or not...

 

[Jem83]

RIP

 

[Falafel]

RIP Hrant Dink

 

[Snoop]

Thats a sad outcome, R.I.P.
a man should know better than ask for free speech in Turkey,
he should prefer the French jail... the only way nationalists will ever "understand" anything, is outside pressure forced in by their own leaders,
but the genocide is almost covered up already, a history fact than most would prefer it to be a false myth,
a free voice cannot stand against them, i wonder why he had no personal guard to safeguard him, esp after the calls, a 19 year old scapegoat wouldnt have done that, so simply, but he trusted Democracy
and i respect that!!!
Erdogan said it correctly it really was an "insult" to the whole Turkish nation,
Turkey will suffer more political losses, than everyone because of this death,
regardless if Dink will become a martor or not...

Erdogan did his best to put him in Jail, Hrant Dink claimed that there was a Genocide and everyone Pointed at him as a Traitor. now after his death, Erdogan and the politicians call him "he was one of us", where were they to protect him when he was alive? These talks are all non sense, they let this happen after all the threats he recieved, and specially form an Ex-General, and the Governer of Istanbul. If they didn't want him death, they would protect him from a 17 year old kid..

 

[Elvin]

Damn...

 

[ReBeL]

Damn...

Do you know the killer??

 

[Elvin]

No. But he got balls, that's for sure.

 

[Snoop]

ermm.. when you are supported by the government, sure you will have, his short life in prison will definitely be much better when he was out.

 

[Cronios]

Erdogan did his best to put him in Jail, Hrant Dink claimed that there was a Genocide and everyone Pointed at him as a Traitor. now after his death, Erdogan and the politicians call him "he was one of us", where were they to protect him when he was alive? These talks are all non sense, they let this happen after all the threats he recieved, and specially form an Ex-General, and the Governer of Istanbul. If they didn't want him death, they would protect him from a 17 year old kid..

I m convinced that Erdogan wouldnt want Dink to continue his work,
the government does not allow any kind of voices that can not manipulate by their strict... control.
And Dink has probably grew more influenced than they would tolerate
BUT they would not react like that, they could find a another way,
an "accident" maybe,
i dont think the generals were involved with this, but you know better Snoop,
did they took off the gloves just like that?
Then, they do worth of every kind of fate, falls upon them,
its 2007 FGS and still extremist elements run free and are officially encouraged to run the country?umpkin:

 

[Elvin]

Greeks and Armenians, unite!

 

[Snoop]

i dont think the generals were involved with this, but you know better Snoop,

Ofcourse it is true, it is what Hrant's Advocat told to the press after his death..

also Arena's (A Turkish program) comentator Ugur Dundar (he is the number 1 most respectable and trustable journalist in Turkey) said that the kid (who is from Trabzon of Turkey) who planned to kill hrant dink was showing the picture to everyone in Trabzon and was saying that he will kill that Armenian that "traitor", and he claims the whole Trabzon knew about this plan, but no one reported him..

 

[Snoop]

ISTANBUL, Turkey -- Tens of thousands of people lined the streets of Istanbul Tuesday to mourn a Turkish journalist of Armenian descent who was shot dead last Friday in an attack that shocked Turkey.

From early morning, mourners, some holding signs reading "We are all Hrant Dink" and "We are all Armenians," marched from the Agos newspaper office where the journalist was killed to an Armenian Orthodox church.

Dink's body was buried at an Armenian cemetery in the country's most populous city.

Despite a request from his family not to turn the funeral into a protest, mourners shouted slogans against fascism and freedom-curbing Turkish laws, according to The Associated Press.

White doves were released into the air as somber music played. Much of the center of Istanbul was closed to traffic, forcing thousands to walk to work.

"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 told mourners, Reuters reported.

Dink's daughter Sera wept as she walked in front of his coffin, which was draped in sunflowers. Other mourners clapped as the hearse passed and threw flowers from buildings on the 8-kilometer (5-mile) funeral route.

Police are questioning seven suspects in the killing, including teenager Ogun Samast, who has allegedly confessed to shooting Dink, and Yasin Hayal, a nationalist militant convicted in a 2004 bomb attack at a McDonald's restaurant.

Samast, 17, said he had no regrets for killing Hrant Dink and that he was angry at the controversial ethnic Armenian journalist, according to Turkey's state-run news agency Anatolia.

Police arrested Samast on Saturday after a 32-hour search, authorities said.

Turkish media, citing police, reported that Samast is a high school dropout and a possible drug addict.
Controversial figure

The murder of the editor, who had sought reconciliation between Muslim Turks and Christian Armenians after decades of animosity, has shocked Turkey, where Dink also had earned a reputation for promoting dialogue between Turks and Armenians.

It has also made many question its tolerance for minorities and for freedom of expression.

But the country's media said the killing may lead to better ties between Turkey and the small ex-Soviet republic of Armenia. Turkey broke off diplomatic ties in 1993 over a territorial row.

Officials from Armenia were invited to attend the funeral of Dink.

In recent years Turkey has become a more liberal country, helped by reforms aimed at preparing the country for European Union membership. But the killings of ethnic Armenians during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century remains a sensitive issue.

Armenians and other countries regard those massacres as genocide, a claim rejected by the Turkish government, which says Armenians and Turks were killed in civil warfare.

Dink was known for speaking out against the killings and had been called into court a number of times on allegations of "insulting" the Turkish state in his writing.

Andrew Finkel, a journalist in Turkey and a friend of Dink's, emphasized that Dink's killing was "a tragedy" for a country attempting to come to terms with its past.

Finkel said resentment toward Dink existed among ultranationalist Turks, and the people who staged "ugly scenes" at his trials are the same ones who staged rallies directed at Orhan Pamuk, the Nobel Prize-winning Turkish writer who faced charges of insulting Turkishness as well.

He described Dink as a bright and brash man who was a well-known figure in Istanbul and an advocate for Turkey's small Armenian community -- a once-populous group now numbering around 60,000 or 70,000.

"If anything, he was a great Turkish patriot," Finkel told CNN.

"Mr. Dink, for all the libels against him, for all the opposition that was against him in certain sections of the right-wing Turkish press, was really in favor of Turkish and Armenian neighbors being able to look each other in their face and recognize their past histories. He was a courageous man who died in a terrible way."
Key test for Turkey

Joel Campagna, Mideast program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists, said, "Like dozens of other Turkish journalists, Hrant Dink has faced political persecution because of his work. Now it appears he's paid the ultimate price for it."

Campagna said Turkey "must ensure that this crime does not go unpunished like other cases in the past and that those responsible for his murder are brought to justice."

He said that over the last 15 years, 18 Turkish journalists have been killed -- making the country the eighth deadliest in the world for journalists in that period. He said many of the deaths took place in the early 1990s, at the peak of the Kurdish separatist insurgency.

Reporters Without Borders, another journalists' advocacy group, also said a proper investigation was needed, underscoring its position that "this will be a key test for a country that hopes to join the European Union. No one would understand if Turkey failed to do everything possible to shed light on this tragedy."

CNN's Talia Kayali and Paula Hancocks contributed to this report.


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This is a must read article, well written..

By Hrant's death, A lot of positive things happening lately, I won't exaggerate, but maybe more than 250 000 people were on the streets to mourn him, the whole Turkey was watching his funeral on Tvs.. and I am sure many of them were sad to see that.. Armenian Politicans were invited, and they attended the funeral and thanked the Turks for organising A Massive Funeral like that. I also thank everyone who attended or felt bad for Hrant's death (even thou not much of Turks will read this)..

Ultra-nationalism is being discussed in Turkey now, Genocide is being discuss in Turkey now, Freedom of thoughts and speech is being discussed now, and Most importantly the relationship with Armenians is being discussed now, I hope peace comes sooner between these two people, and I hope to increase the number of those who wants this hate to end between these two countries..

R.I.P Hrant Dink, these two People will never forget you..

 

[JCK]

I saw pictures of the demonstration today.

 

[Zé Tahir]

Hey Snoop, the demonstrators that held signs saying "We're all Armenians", were Turks amongst those people?

 

[Snoop]

anything Happened in Sweden? I heard in Europe there were a lot of demonstrations from Armenians there, I am not sure how did they react thou, If they cared about Hrant? or was another oportunity to show their hates