Murdered journalist Hrant Dink remembered in Istanbul march (January 2014)
Murdered Armenian journalist Hrant Dink has been remembered with a march through Istanbul on the seventh anniversary of his death. The renowned former editor-in-chief of Agos newspaper was shot dead in broad daylight outside his work premises.
Extreme nationalist teenager, Ogün Samast was convicted of pre-meditated murder and sentenced to 22 years and 10 months in prison for carrying out the assassination. But many people – including those on the march – believe higher powers masterminded the plan against a man who openly rejected Turkey’s denial of the 1915 Armenian Genocide.
“Government agencies, both covert and public, are involved in Hrant Dink’s murder,” said one man on the march. “They’re now in a power struggle. But the case is not really moving forward. They’re trying to cover the truth up. They shot him together, they killed him together, they protected others together and now they’re covering it up together. Therefore, they’re all guilty.” The acquittal of top suspects in the original trial has since been overturned by the Supreme Court of Appeals. Some suspects who had previously been cleared of instigating the murder – such as Yasin Hayal and Erhan Tuncel – are now being retried.
The “Friends of Hrant Dink” organisation set up the march to call for justice in the unresolved case. It claims that almost all of the civil servants who were involved in the death of the journalist were encouraged by the government. Euronews’ correspondent in Istanbul says: “Hrant Dink was not just remembered on the seventh anniversary of his murder, but his friends and colleagues also called for justice. They demanded the trial of not only the man who pulled the trigger, but those who steered him to pull it.”
