By Gabriella Gage
Mirror-Spectator Staff
WATERTOWN — The numbers six and 17 played a symbolic role in the January 20 talk delivered by Ümit Kurt during a post-service program hosted by the Friends of Hrant Dink at St. James Armenian Church. These numbers served as a reminder of the loss of the Turkish-Armenian journalist — six for the number of years since Dink’s assassination and 17 for the number of assailants who have yet to be punished for taking his life.
Close to 200 people gathered after church services for the coffee hour. Parishioners, members of the community, Dink family members and those seeking justice for Dink communed for a memorial tribute and discussion of Dink’s legacy, six years after his death.
Dink, an influential Turkish-Armenian journalist and advocate for freedom of speech and recognition of the Armenian Genocide in Turkey, was assassinated on January 19, 2007, in front of his office at the Agos newspaper in Istanbul.