Hrant Dink, who was killed by a gunman three years ago outside the offices of his weekly Agos, was commemorated yesterday in Istanbul.
Thousands of people gathered outside Agos newspaper’s offices in Istanbul and chanted slogans, “persisting against fascism, you are my brother Hrant.” On the third anniversary of the killing of Hrant Dink, the editor-in-chief of Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, his family, friends and people who liked him commemorated Dink. Dink’s wife Rakel said, “we will persistently walk on the path of rightness and love.”
“What has happened in the name of justice for the last three years?,” Dink’s son, Arat, asked the crowd. “Are these three kids alone in their mocking us?,” Arat said referring to three people, including Dink’s murderer, who still stand trial for the murder. “Were the prey a hundred years ago and today we are the bait,” Arat said.
Hrant Dink was assassinated on January 19, 2007 near his office in Istanbul. Almost two years after his death, the murderers were convicted. But new details are still being disclosed, particularly, concerning Ergenekon terrorist organization’s complicity in the crime. Dink’s murderer Ogun Samast (18) was recognized of full legal age at the time of committing the crime. Court procedures revealed a third person’s involvement in the affair. Following Dink’s murder, Noble Prize laureate Orhan Pamuk left Turkey for fear of being subjected to physical violence.
