A silent cry on the streets of Istanbul

It has been five years since the Turkish-Armenian journalist and human right activist Hrant Dink was shot dead in a busy Istanbul street in broad daylight. Since then, there have been many protests and events where the public made clear that they want justice in Hrant’s case.

The murder trial finally and belatedly came to a close last January and yet it is not a satisfactory one for many of us. The decision rules out that there might have been a criminal organization behind Dink’s assassination even though all evidence points otherwise involving officials who have exploited their duty since they have been disturbed by Dink’s claims about the Armenian descent of some prominent Turkish figures.  

A man targeted for expressing his opinions

(c) Aras Margosyan

Dink who was critical of the Turkish government on issues of Armenian identity and official versions of Turkish history relating to the events of 1915, was repeatedly targeted for expressing his opinions and has unrightfully been a subject of unjust accusations in his lifetime such as “denigrating Turkishness,” but it seemed incontestable that a majority of people wanted justice after his murder. Within the last five years thousands of people gathered on many protests demanding justice for Dink, artists from various disciplines dedicated their works to his cause, and still it seems that the Turkish authorities have failed to address the state officials’ alleged involvement in the killing as well as the full circumstances behind his murder.You can read an insightful article on the case written by Başak Ertür, a Turkish research student at the School of Law, Birkbeck College here.

A silent cry mourning the fifth anniversary of Dink's murder and the verdict on his case

(c) Erhan Arık

January 19^th was the day when Dink was murdered in 2007. Two days after the verdict involving his case was delivered on January 17^th 2012, thousands of people once again gathered in Taksim to walk together to AGOS – Dink’s newspaper- building in front of where he was murdered. A great mass of people joined in the silent protest without slogans, flags yet traces of anger and bitterness were visible in their silent cry. They peacefully expressed their demand that the justice they deserve be delivered to the family of Dink, who in the words of Andrew Gardner, Amnesty International’s expert on Turkey, “was murdered for peacefully expressing his opinions.”