ISTANBUL (Today’s Zaman) — Journalist Hrant Dink was remembered on the fourth anniversary of his assassination on January 19 by family, friends and human rights organizations.
Friends of Dink, a Turkish-Armenian who was assassinated four years ago, once more called for justice as they gathered in front of the building where the Turkish- Armenian weekly he headed, Agos, is located.
The crowd, which gathered at 3 p.m., the time Dink was shot by 17-year-old ultranationalist Ogün Samast, held signs of protest against a system that failed to reveal the masterminds of the crime. “No justice in four years,” “No Parliament in four years,” “Justice for Hrant” read the placards that they carried along Sisli’s Halaskargazi Street, which was closed to traffic, and as they laid red carnations where Dink fell after being shot from behind. Dink’s widow, Rakel Dink, did not say anything but greeted the crowd from the window of Agos.
Several groups marched to Sisli from different locations in Istanbul. One of them was led by actor Mehmet Alabora. Another group set off from Taksim with placards that read, “We will not forget” and “We will not forgive.”
Dink’s family filed a new suit last week against 31 officials — including the former governor of Istanbul and the former local gendarmerie commander and police chief in Trabzon — for neglect and “aiding the murderer by way of making it easy to commit the crime.” The investigation into Dink’s murder has stalled as the suspected perpetrator and his accomplices have been put on trial, but those who masterminded the plot to kill him have yet to be exposed and punished.
