Thousands of people shouted slogans, placed red roses, and prayed at the exact site and time of his assassination. Nothing is known about his killer. A memorial ceremony was held at his grave and a Mass was held in his memory.
Istanbul (AsiaNews) – Thousands of people gathered yesterday in front of the former office of the Agos newspaper to remember the journalist Hrant Dink, editor of the newspaper, who was murdered on 19 January 2007 at the exact place and time.
People chanted various slogans: ‘We are all Hrant’, ‘Justice for Hrant’, and, with the government’s failure to find his murderer in mind, ‘It is not late to be ashamed’.
The ceremony ws set for 3 pm, but people began arrving an hour earlier carrying placards, banners and red roses to place at the site where the Armenian journalist fell.
Hrant Dink, convicted in 2005 for writing about the Armenian genocide, was shot four times by a young man, aged 18-19.
From the outset, the attack was seen as an attempt to prevent Turkey from joining Europe.
Over time, Hrant became a symbol of the fight against fascism and the obscurantism of the Turkish government.
Other murder victims were also commemorated at the rally in Istanbul’s Şişli district, all unsolved cases, such as Tahir Elçi, head of the Diyarbakır Bar Association, killed in 2015, and Cüneyt Cebenoyan, who died in a strange car accident last summer.
Since Hrant Dink fought to ensure that Turkey respected its minorities, Selahattin Demirtaş, co-chair of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Peoples’ Party (HDP), currently in prison, was also mentioned.
The rally was preceded at noon by a gathering at Hrant Dink’s grave in the Balıklı Armenian cemetery and a memorial Mass at the Surp Asdvadzadzin Church near Bakırköy.