Hrant Dink Memorial in Yerevan, Armenia
Hrant Dink Memorial, Liberty Square, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2007
As Turkey buried Hrant Dink, the ethnic Armenian journalist and editor murdered in Istanbul last week, a few thousand Armenians came out to pay tribute to his memory in Yerevan’s Liberty Square. In my opinion, the memorial gathering paid tribute to the loss of one of the most remarkable men in Turkey and Armenia’s modern day history. Pan Armenian.net has a report on the event.
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ On January 23 a mass rally took place in Freedom Square in Yerevan, near State Theatre of Opera and Ballet after Alexander Spendiarian in memory of ‘Agos’ weekly editor Hrant Dink. The rally was organized by Yerevan City Council with the assistance of political and non-governmental organizations. Members of Armenian National Assembly, as well as Deputy Foreign Minister Gegham Gharibjanian, U.S. Chargé d’Affaires vice-Ambassador Anthony F. Godfrey, representatives of Armenian Apostolic Church, international and local non-governmental organizations attended the rally.
The rally was opened by funeral prayer. Some 4-6 thousand people were present, who carried Hrant Dink’s photos and banners reading “Turkey, Is This Your Way to Europe?” One big photo from Hrant Dink was placed in front of State Theatre, where the participants laid flowers and brought burning candles. One more Dink’s photo was placed on the stage of Opera Theatre. Anyone one who wishes can bring flowers and candles during this whole day.
U.S. vice-Ambassador Anthony Godfrey stated to the journalists that the United States is shocked by the assassination. Expressing deep sympathy to the family and friends of Hrant Dink, as well as to the whole Armenian nation, nevertheless, Anthony Godfrey expressed hope that even by his tragic death the Armenian Turkish journalist will make a great contribution to the unsealing of the Armenian-Turkish border, for which he was fighting his whole life. Answering the question if Hrant Dink’s death could stimulate the international recognition of the Armenian Genocide, Anthony Godfrey stressed that this issue currently is being discussed in the U.S. Congress. “But the most important thing today is the unsealing of the Armenian-Turkish border and launching dialog between Armenia and Turkey. We are very sorry for what happened,” stated the vice-ambassador.
On January 25 a mourning march is scheduled from Shahumian Square till ‘Tsitsernakaberd’, the memorial complex to the victims of 1915 genocide in Ottoman Empire. The participants will lay flowers to the Eternal Fire in memory of Hrant Dink, IA Regnum reports.
Meanwhile, PanArmenian.net also reports that a resolution condeming Hrant Dink’s assassination will be introduced in the U.S. Congress. I think it’s obvious that the resolution will be passed ahead of another bill that will once again seek to declare the massacre of Armenians living in the Ottomoan Empire an act of Genocide.
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenian Caucus Rep. Joseph Crowley will introduce a resolution in the House of Representatives this week condemning the assassination of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink. The resolution calls on the House to strongly condemn and deplore the tragic murder of Hrant Dink and urge Turkey to continue its investigation and prosecution of those individuals responsible for his murder. Furthermore, the legislation urges Turkey to take appropriate action to protect freedom of speech in Turkey by repealing Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code. A similar resolution is expected to be introduced in the Senate later this week, the Armenian Assembly of America reports.
At the same time, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Matthew Bryza is calling upon Armenia and Turkey to normalize relations. Again, given Dink’s murder, can such a call remain unheeded by Turkey? If Armenia’s neighbour truly once diplomatic relations as well as to act appropiately in light of last week’s events, I don’t think it can ignore such calls either.
/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Armenia and Turkey have a long and rich history, stated U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Matthew Bryza to the PanARMENIAN.Net journalist. In his words, the future of relations between the two countries is obviously something that Armenia and Turkey will decide but as a strong partner of both countries the U.S. encourages both countries to work towards a settlement of their differences and the resumption of normalized relations.
Still, time will tell, but the ball is well and truly in Turkey’s court, and this time, the whole world is watching. More news and photos are here.
Hrant Dink Memorial, Liberty Square, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2007
Comment by Onnik — January 23, 2007 @ 6:38 pm
Comment by Onnik — January 23, 2007 @ 6:53 pm
I see mostly middle-aged and elderly people in your pictures. Where are the young people? I didn’t attend, as considered standing in the cold for a couple of hours not such a smart move for someone with a fever.
Comment by Myrthe — January 23, 2007 @ 7:05 pm
Well, there were some young people there, but yes, you’re right. It pretty much resembled a typical opposition rally attended mostly by middle aged people and pensioners. In fact, a few of them rememebered me from photographing opposition rallies in 2003 and 2004 which was kind of strange. I know Yerevan is small, but it’s weird when such things happen.
Anyway, I spoke to Zarchka about this the other day, and she said that this is pretty much what she noticed too. That is, middle aged people were following developments in Turkey while her fellow students didn’t show much interest, if any at all. Actually, this is pretty common for almost every event in Armenia. Even the other day, the Dashnak student group only managed to assemble a few dozen outside the EU office.
Don’t get me wrong, there were young people there today, but the vast majority were pretty much from that older segment of the population regardless of what A1 Plus is reporting. Incidently, Liberty Square couldn’t be described as “overcrowded” either. I’d go for PanArmenian.net figures and put the crowd at about 5-6,000. Actually, Liberty Square was about half full, I’d say, but even so it was an event that I’m glad to see was staged.
And, although I had my fears, it was organized better than most.
However, even though you would have thought that more would have turned out, especially as reports indicate that 100,000 attended Dink’s funeral in Istanbul, it’s pretty much par for the course in Armenia. Really, apathy prevails in almost every walk of life. Interestingly, a group of Prosperous Armenia supporters turned up hoping to capitalize on the gathering with their five flags, but they stayed only five minutes before walking off.
Comment by Onnik — January 23, 2007 @ 7:25 pm
If commemorations failed to attract large segments of the populace, young and old alike, please note that reports from Armenian communities in the U.S. report the same lack of interest in remembering this honorable man and his legacy. In New York’s St. Vartan Cathedral a Sunday memorial service for Hrant was sparsely attended given the numbers of Armenians who live in the area. I believe that sadly most American-Armenians either knew precious little of Hrant and his message and thus do not appreciate the role he played behind the scenes in Turkey regarding the amelioration of Turkish-Armenian relations, let alone his struugle for democracy and human rights in Turkey generally.
There is a real need to collect the major writings and statements of Mr. Dink , either on-line or in print, so that his thoughts and viewpoints are disseminated to as many Armenians as possible. His perspectives on a host of issues were quite creative and did indeed challenge many accepted norms in the dispersion. Hrant once commented, rather sarcastically, that while he and other Armenians living in Turkey dealt with the Turks of today, many if not most Armenians in other parts of the dispersion still viewed Turkey with an Ottoman state of mind.
Today, the Armenian National Committee has organized a vigil outside the United Nations for Hrant. Funny, but I can’t recall if the ANC or the Armenian Assembly ever saw fit to pay tribute to Hrant Dink during his lifetime. Sadly, as is the case with most influential people, Hrant will be given his due in death
Comment by arapo — January 23, 2007 @ 9:09 pm
Just noticed that Zarchka updated her post on Saturday’s candlelight vigil in Yerevan. Given that it deals with this question of widespread apathy in society here, it’s very relevant to this comments section.
Comment by Onnik — January 23, 2007 @ 11:13 pm
“Funny, but I can’t recall if the ANC or the Armenian Assembly ever saw fit to pay tribute to Hrant Dink during his lifetime.”
Not sure what you mean with “pay tribute” but the ANC did recognize and appreciate Hrant’s work/message. He was, as a matter of fact, a guest of honor at the Bay Area ANC’s annual “Hai Tad” evening last year. (For details, see “Hrant Dink & Ragip Zarakolu Visit the Bay Area” at http://www.ancsf.org/pressreleases/2006/03142006.htm)
Although there may not have been complete agreement with Hrant on all his views, from my understanding the ANCA had considerable respect for Hrant and his message. Also, as I understand it, some steps were being take to coordinate more closely with him, if not, at least, to get his perspective on the efforts we in the Diaspora should take.
All that is lost now of course, but please, although being critical of ourselves is important, let’s keep the focus on the true “problem” here. The problem is the continuation of the Armenian Genocide through the continued denial and demonization of the Armenian people. Hrant was simply the 1,500,001st victim of the Armenian Genocide, a genocide that has persisted since 1915 due to the Turkish authorities’ unwillingness to accept responsibility and the apathy of the Turkish people.
I appreciated the crowds in Istanbul, but “little too late” if you ask me. Where were these folks when Hrant and 60-some others were being persecuted by the state for insulting “Turkishness”? The radicals were out there protesting Hrant, Ragip Zarakolu, Orphan Pamuk,, etc. but the folks who took the streets a few days ago stayed home. Now that the very same atmosphere they tolerated lead to the death of Hrant, they call themselves Armenians?
I don’t want to be cynical, but I’m just not in a cheery mood these days. Let’s see what time has in store for us. All I ask of my fellow Armenians is that we all get active, more than before. Getting into discussion in Blogs and pointing out the problems within our communities is all good and has its place, it’s even necessary, but at some point we just have to start working towards the solution, in practical ways.
Comment by Raffi — January 24, 2007 @ 11:26 pm
Onnik:
We had a strong group attending the Vigil in NYC on Tuesday…. According to Anna Kushner of PEN, who was there with us, only 20 attended the vigil for Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya a couple of months ago. In contrast, there were close to a thousand at the one honoring Hrant Dink.
You’re doing a great job. Keep up the good work,
Lola
Comment by Lola Koundakjian — January 26, 2007 @ 12:03 am
HRANT says”'’we have 4000 years in ANtolia ,we are from Anatolia'’.My knowledge from Armenian LISE about 7000 years way wayyyyyyyy before Cristianity Armenian’s was existed.Thank you HRANT Univers bless your soul.
Comment by hrant — January 30, 2007 @ 4:01 am