İstanbul: Five years after the murder of Hrant Dink

On January 19th, 2012, a huge demonstration took place in İstanbul. According to some sources, more than 50,000 people took to the streets to protest the court’s decision regarding the murder of Hrant Dink case.

Hrant Dink was an editor of the newspaper AGOS, which was the voice of the Armenians in Turkey. There was a campaign of hate against him in the mainstream media before his killing. Five year ago, on January 19th, 2007, he was shot and murdered — as stated, by 17-year-old Ogün Samast — in front of the newspaper’s building where he was worked. During the trial, it became clear that the murder was supported by the state authorities. Phone call records were deleted, evidences were covered up, information was concealed, reports were destroyed, investigations were closed, and intelligence officers were acquitted due to period of prescription.

After 5 years, the trial concluded in January 17th, 2012. The court punished only Ogün Samast (the person who shot Hrant Dink) and Yasin Hayal (for inciting the murder), and declared that there is no organization behind the killing. As a reaction to this unjust conclusion, and to commemorate Hrant, only two days after the end of the trial tens of thousands of people gathered in Taksim and marched to the place where Hrant Dink was shot dead. The slogans chanted were: ‘Katil devlet hesap verecek’ (Murderer State will give account for this), ‘Hepimiz Hrant’ız, hepimiz Ermeniyiz’ (We’re all Hrant, we’re all Armenians), ‘Bu dava böyle bitmeyecek’ (This trial is not going to end like this), ‘Faşizme inat kardeşimsin Hrant’ (Defiance of fascism, you’re my brother Hrant).

Various groups of anarchists also participated in the demonstration. One of the groups held a banner reading ‘Üzgün olmaktansa öfkeli olmayı yeğlerim’ (I’d rather be angry than sad) and another group the banner ‘Teferruatlar’ (Appendants).

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