Turks Remember Hrant Dink

It seems like yesterday but it has indeed been more than a year since Hrant Dink was assassinated in Turkey. Here is an excerpt from a BBC article:

At a short ceremony led by Mr Dink's close friends and family, crowds of people marked his murder at 1457 (1257 GMT) on 19 January 2007 with a moment of silence outside the offices of the Agos newspaper.

The trial, which began in July, is being held behind closed doors because the alleged gunman, Ogun Samast, is 17 years old.

Mr Dink's family has accused the authorities of collusion, and the court is also considering allegations of a cover-up.

Shouldn't something as crucial as this trial, at least to Turkey's future as a member of the EU, be highly public so that the entire world can see whether justice is being served or merely covered up? This simply inspires more due suspicion from the Armenians, Turks, and the world at large.

Possible Imprisonment for Hrant Dink's Son

Will the madness ever stop?

The Istanbul prosecutor office urges up to 3 years of imprisonment for Arat Dink, the son of Hrant Dink. An action against Agos editor Arat Dink and his fellow Sargis Serobyan was brought for a repeated publication of Hrant Dink’s interview where he recognized the Armenian Genocide.

"The most absurd and dangerous is the fact that describing a historical event as 'genocide' is perceived as insulting Turkishness," Arat Dink said.

Absurd isn't quite the word I'd use to describe the laws and lack of freedoms in Turkey!

Source: PanArmenian

Hrant Dink's Trial Continues

Yes, you read that correctly.

...after about three weeks after the assassination of Agos Armenian-Turkish newspaper editor Hrant Dink, the Sisli circuit court of Istanbul resumed legal proceeding against Dink, who was earlier accused of "insulting Turkishness" and handed a 6 months’ suspended sentence. The Turkish Court of Appeal agreed with the sentence but changed it stating that 15 people who brought in the suit can’t be considered plaintiffs, since the "insult" was not targeted at them.

...the Sisli court fulfilled the order of the Supreme Court and decreed that the individuals who took the action are not plaintiffs. However, a judge said that Dink’s death was not officially registered in the court records and postponed the hearing to June 14.

How long does it take to record one of the most heinous of assassinations in recent memory?

Source: PanArmenian

Hrant Dink's Agos Newspaper Receives Death Threats

Even though many took to the streets in support of condemning Hrant Dink's murder, there are some who want more.

Employees of the bilingual “Agos” weekly said they received a letter late Wednesday that described Dink as an “enemy dog” and warned that anyone calling World War One-era massacres of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey a genocide will meet his fate.

“If you fail to exercise caution, many of your other dogs will also die,” read the letter signed by the obscure Turkish Revenge Brigade (TIT). “We have enough explosives to send the ‘Agos’ building skywards.”

“If you claim to have endured a genocide in 1915, then you don’t know what a genocide is. A real genocide will begin now,” it said.

The newspaper will not be swayed, even if a small group of ultranationalist pigs believe otherwise. I'm convinced that Turkey is on the verge of enormous change, but I fear that more killings of the sort will take place in the meantime.

Source: ArmeniaLiberty