Hrant Dink Commemorated
Filed under: Europe, Turkey — Michael van der Galien, Editor-in-Chief on January 19, 2008 @ 5:18 pm CET
Today marks the one year anniversary of Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink’s violent death. He was killed by an extreme nationalist, who murdered this hero of free speech because of his opinion on the Armenian issue.
Although I obviously don’t agree with Dink on the issue - he called it a genocide, I don’t believe it was - he was a courageous person and someone who didn’t let anyone intimidate him. He said what he thought was right and he, in the end, paid the ultimate price.
His opinions and outspokenness made him an enemy of Turkish nationalists and of the Armenian Diaspora, because he basically told them to get a life (he wasn’t fond of the diaspora, which he considered to be obsessed and extreme).
TDN has “prepared an exclusive report” for today, which aims to “shed light, from various perspectives, on the political process prior to Dink’s assassination, a notorious turning point in Turkey’s Republican history.” At TDN you can find “both Armenian and Turkish intellectuals discussing the assassination of Dink.”
It’s a good, interesting read. I suggest everyone takes the time to read it. His death was horrific, and it could have been a blow to the freedom of speech but… Turks were unified in condemning the cowardly murderer and the sympathies that led to his murder and, instead, walked around with signs saying “we’re all Armenians now.”
Hrant Dink’s death could have accomplished what the murderer wanted to accomplish - silence Dink and everyone else who agree with him - but instead, his crime had the opposite effect: yes, Dink was murdered and that was horrible, but it made Turks more determined to protect and expand the freedom of speech.
1 Global Voices Online » Turkey: Remembering Hrant Dink
January 20, 2008 @ 10:28 am CET[…] not agreeing with much of what Hrant Dink said or believed in, PoliGazette also comments on the issue of ultra-nationalism, but says that Turkey has changed as a result. Today marks the one year anniversary of […]
2 Global Voices Online » Turkey: Remembering Hrant Dink
January 20, 2008 @ 10:28 am CET[…] not agreeing with much of what Hrant Dink said or believed in, PoliGazette also comments on the issue of ultra-nationalism, but says that Turkey has changed as a result. Today marks the one year anniversary of […]
3 Babanian
January 20, 2008 @ 4:41 pm CETThrough his life and death and its aftermath Hrant Dink symbolizes the struggle of the Ottoman Armenians. May the struggle for justice continue until it transforms Turkey.
4 Michael van der Galien
January 20, 2008 @ 4:43 pm CETWell, he saw that slightly differently himself: he was a Turkish-armenian, not an Ottoman Armenian. Nor did he see his life in the light you seem to see it.
Then again, that’s also why the Armenian diaspora hated Dink with a passion.
BTW: although Turkey can certainly use some changes, the country that truly has to be transformed is Armenia, where tyranny rules.
5 Babanian
January 21, 2008 @ 1:36 am CETHe was a Turkish Armenian who suffered an Ottoman treatment of Armenians.
They shared the same objective but differed in tactics. He spoke to the hearts of Turks and gained their respect in increasing numbers so much so that the nationalists felt threatened. His tactic unfortunately lead to his execution by nationalists. Had he survived no telling what he would have said.
Yes to each country its own remedy and timeline.
6 Lazlee
January 22, 2008 @ 12:06 am CET"Had he survived no telling what he would have said."
Not entirely true. He had plans to go to France and shout in a public square that there was no Armenian genocide if the law making it a criminal offense to say so was ever fully adopted–because Dink believed in free speech for all.
Correction. Dink was not executed by "nationalists." He was killed by one criminal who conspired with a few others. Turks who kill other Turks are not nationalists. They are criminals and/or sociopaths.
Turkish Nationalists are people who believe in doing things that benefit the nation of Turkey and killing Turkish citizens, such as Dink, does not qualify as such. Those who marched after his death, chanting "We are all Hrant Dink. We are all Armenian." are Turkish Nationalists, not the criminal who pulled the trigger.
It’s a nicely racist trick you use, trying to make all Turkish Nationalists look like psychos and is no different than Turks saying all Armenians are ASALA terrorists.
7 Babanian
January 22, 2008 @ 7:28 pm CETIn his last editorial before he died http://hyelog.blogspot.com/2007/01/last-editorial-of-dink-translated-into.html, he indicated that he was preoccupied with the "Dark Humor".
I wish that this was correct. That what I though of initially too. In http://www.bianet.org/english/kategori/english/104282/more-than-ten-thousand-gathered-in-memory-of-hrant-dink it is clear that there was a big conspiracy behind Hrant Dink’s execution. I quote:
"Rakel Dink asked: “What has my country’s justice system done about the gendarmerie who knew everything up to the brand of the gun that was used in the murder, about the [nationalist organisations] who planned the murder? What has my country’s justice system done about the assistant governor and his so-called friends who tried to put my husband in his place?”"
I would like to point ot you that I did not say Turk nationals. I said Turk Nationalists. Therefore, the point you are making is not applicable.
8 Babanian
January 24, 2008 @ 4:09 pm CETPerhaps now we may be able to get some answers: Turkish nationalists plotted to kill Nobel winner.