Hrant Dink Memorial, Liberty Square, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2007

Given the amazing example that Hrant Dink set to Armenian, Kurd and Turk alike, it’s no wonder that the blogosphere is full of posts about his life, death and burial. Reporters Without Borders has even dedicated its blog to the murder of this Turkish-Armenian journalist and editor, and it is perhaps only a fitting place to start this roundup of blogs dealing with one of the main news events of the past week. The RSF Blog staff provides the background.

Aged 53, Dink was killed by several shots fired at him on the 19th of January outside the premises of his privately-owned newspaper in Istanbul.

A well-known journalist and one who was respected by his colleagues, Dink was the target of several prosecutions over his views on the massacre of Armenians under the Ottoman empire. In 2005, he received six-month suspended sentence for “humiliating Turkish identity.” He was prosecuted against in September 2006 over an interview he gave to Reuters in which he referred to the massacres in Anatolia during the First World War as “genocide.” He had been facing a possible three-year prison sentence.

A young man, Ogun Samast, was arrested on the evening of 20 January. He is said to have admitted to firing several shots at Dink. He reportedly said he did not regret shooting Dink and did it because the journalist “insulted the Turkish people.”

Other posts available in English and French include two of our very own bloggers. The first, Artyom at iArarat, says that while Dink’s murder was a shock, it came as no surprise.

To many of us the hand that pulled the trigger ending Hrant’s precious life is the same hand that signed the orders to put Armenians of the Ottoman Empire to death en masse. It is a metaphysical continuity, a logical outcome of an ideology that resists tolerance and bona fide towards the other, the outsider, the gavur, the Armenian. And never mind the that the murdered is an Armenian, the political opportunists in Turkey and their hired pens in the Turkish media were quick to capitalize on the tragedy of Hrant’s murder and proclaim that the murder was aimed at the identity of the Turks, their international image and prestige.

The other, Observer at What Democracy Means, also points the blame at the authorities in Turkey and agrees that Dink’s murder was the culmination of decades of anti-Armenian policy in Armenia’s western neighbour. However, he also points out that the Turkish State is not necessarily the same as the Turkish people.

Hrant Dink murdered - by the Turkish state! Not by the ultra-nationalist youth Ogun Samast, 17 years old who doesn’t know any better, but the Turkish State, for this murder is only the culmination of processes long built up by the state machine. Despite the restarted propoganda wars on the internet I still belive in the Turkish people. No people can be classified as “bad”, “fascist”, or one with “poisonous blood”, or “race of murderers” - it is simply NOT ACCEPTABLE. The Turkish people, thousands of them went on streets saying: “We are all Hrant Dink…We are all Armenian..” in an amazing act of solidarity to Hrant Dink, Armenian, their follow citizen. We must be stong now and not give way to provocation.

What’s really interesting, however, is what other non-Armenian bloggers are writing. Haji Kensington, an Iranian journalist in London, for example, describes Dink’s murder as that of a “dissident by a dogmatist.”

Dink received a six-month suspended prison sentence in October 2005 for “insulting Turkish identity” in an article. That was exactly when Turkey was amending its criminal law to prepare for membership of the EU. His murder has sullied that idea; Istanbul stock market indicators have fallen and the prime minister has called the incident “an attack to the freedom of speech and stability of Turkey.”

All these concerns are because of an increase in Turkish chauvinism. Even when I talk to Turks living in London, they voice serious reserves about Europeans and how they might plunder their identity.

It is interesting to remember that a few months ago, Orhan Pamuk, another Turkish dissident, received the Nobel Prize for literature.

It seems that 2007 is not a good year for freedom of speech and thought, either. With the world becoming flatter, I am optimistic that less people will be attracted to reactionary groups.

This issue of freedom of speech and some elements reacting against what they see as enemies of the state is also touched upon by Michael Levy. Writing for the Britannica Blog, he specifically raises the issue of Article 301 in the Turkish Constitution which is used to prosecute dissidents in Turkey. Even so, Levy points out that Dink was also willing to defend freedom of speech even if specific legislation favoured the Armenian cause.

(…) Hrant Dink’s murder (…) is the culmination of a life spent getting under the skin of Turkish authorities and the Turkish public. In November, my blog post on free speech quoted Dink as critical of a proposed French law that would make it a crime to deny that the Armenian massacres by Turks constituted genocide. If the French law went into effect [it was adopted in october 2006], Dink claimed “I will go to France and publicly declare that there was no Armenian genocide—even though I fervently believe the opposite.” (…)

What’s most surprising about the RSF blog, however, is inclusion of a post by an Azeri blogger in Hungary. As every reader of this blog will know, Armenia is in conflict with both Azerbaijan and Turkey so the post is interesting if only because a raw nerve has been hit with Vugar Seidov.

The blood of the slain journalist is still warm on Istanbul pavement, but Armenian politicians have already begun to use this terrible murder in their own interests. Armenian Parliament speaker Tigran Torosyan stated that “Turkey should not even dream of entering the European Union” after such a killing. What he means is that the guilty one is not the criminal.. but the state of Turkey. So Turkey should be collectively punished, even though its leaders have immediately criticized the murder, and its citizens filled the streets to express their protest. Torosyan doesn’t see this, for him the whole world is divided into Turkey and NotTurkey.

On a brighter note, Katy at New Eurasia says that Armenians and Turks are coming together on the Internet at least, and I’ve already posted a digest of some of the posts from Turkish bloggers as well as commentaries from several Turkish newspapers. The New York Times has also reported some sign of conciliation between the two sides.

After working for hours on the Hrant Dink Wikipedia page with a lot of Armenians and Turks yesterday, I was pleased to see a call for a Turkish-Armenian joint Wikipedia community, similar to a Turkish-Greece community formed last year.

Artyom at iArarat, however, is not so convinced, however.

In the wake of Hrant Dink’s brutal killing in Istanbul last week media reports have been rife on how appalled the Turkish government was at the murder and so on and so forth. Many observers even went as far as to say that there has never been such a reaction from Turkish ruling elites vis-à-vis the Armenians. If historical record stands for anything their reaction is anything but novel or remotely original, but may even portend far more darker days yet to come, if the current sanguinity over a possible reconciliation fails to materialize.

Indeed, the same theme is continued by Raffi at Life in the Armenian Diaspora. This is the general perception of most ethnic Armenians living outside of the Republic.

In perusing through the Turkish blogs and media, however, another thing has struck me. Slowly, but surely, Armenians are yet again being dragged through the mud. The popular sentiment is to state that “ultra-nationalist Turks and Armenians will use Dink’s death for their dark means”. […] But, for Turks, “ultra-nationalism” really means killing Hrant Dink because he spoke aloud the facts of the Armenian genocide. Big difference. And thus the Turkish spin begins. It’s not enough that Armenians have to endure another leader being gunned down, but, the Turkish press now has to muddy the waters yet again and very carefully bring the issue of the Armenians into play. Blur the lines, muddy the waters. […]

Nevertheless, images of thousands of Turks paying their respects to Dink have made Raffi consider that reconciliation is possible.

One of the few bright spots in this dark event has been how Turkish citizens have temporarily responded with an outpouring of love and respect for Hrant Dink. Thousands took to the street in Istanbul chanting “We are Hrant, We are Armenian”. Universal condemnation from Turkish entities across the globe has been swift and clear. I have been touched and surprised by these sentiments. As someone who has never visited Turkey, by choice, I never imagined what Dink’s murder meant to so many people. Thus, I am somewhat encouraged that at some point, Turks will be able to accept their genocidal past, and come clean. On the other hand, I hope Armenians, who like myself, have never been able to break free of the 1915 Turk image, do so after this barbaric gundown of Hrant Dink. I am willing to give it a try. And Dink has inspired me to do it.

Let’s hope that Turkey now addresses many of the issues raised by the assassination of Hrant Dink. This not only extends to repealing Article 301, but also paying more attention towards the rights of its minorities as well as any dissenting voice in Turkish society. It might also consider establishing diplomatic relations with Yerevan now, and stopping its blockade of Armenia without preconditions.

Anyway, as I posted previously, while Hrant Dink was buried in Istanbul, Armenians in Yerevan also mourned his loss. One of the organizers of that event, Arsineh at Life in Armenia, has already posted some photos from that event, and Tirami Su has posted others. Some of mine are here, and I’ll be posting more later.

Talking of photos, Raffi at Life in the Armenian Diaspora says that the images of Dink’s funeral in Istanbul are “extraordinary.”

Hrant Dink Memorial, Liberty Square, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia © Onnik Krikorian / Oneworld Multimedia 2007