“We are all Hrant Dink…We are all Armenian..”
I have been following the developments on the assassination of Hrant Dink over the past hours. I am both surprised and proud that so many people came out and showed their support for this man. I must confess that I only really familiarised myself with his work just a couple of days ago, as part of research for a University project I’m doing on Armenian Genocide - however, his dedication and inspiration did impress me.
Just a couple of reflections on the reports we are hearing. According to BBC sources, Robert Kocharyan, Armenian President, is quoted as stating that this murder “raises serious questions” in Turkey. This much is true, but what exact questions these are, is left unmentioned.
I also read reports of Tigran Torosyan - the Speaker of Parliament, who was quoted as stating “Following this, Turkey should not even dream about joining the European Union..”
Whilst this is a tragedy, and a great, great loss. I wonder if there are some people who may seek to use this event as both publicity for the Armenian Genocide ( lets face it, it has been on major news screens today) , and also a chance to insult Turkey. I worry that statements like that of Tigran Torosyan do nothing but agitate an already tense situation. It is naieve to consider that the assassination of Hrant Dink should make Turkey not “even dream” of European Union entry. It is also a bad reflection on the Armenian official position - and I am waiting to hear a comment that suggests this is some kind of Armenian perpertration. It is really time for our Armenian politicians to think carefully about the way they react to this murder.
I hope I got my point accross, I’d be interested to know what our readers think about the possible aftershocks of this assassination.
Harmick,
With all due respect to your interesting and sensitive blog, of course people will use this as a vehicle to promote Armenian Genocide recognition. And, there is absolutely nothing wrong with it. In fact, the very reason Dink was in hot water with ultra-nationalist Turks/eventually killed was due to the fact that he championed the facts of the Armenian Genocide to Turks and was beginning to change the minds of many. It would be a tragedy if Dink’s murder doesn’t spur more discussion about Turkey’s immoral position of denying it every happened.
And, I feel that the Armenian government’s position is restrained, yet appropriate in the face of yet another murder to an Armenian in Turkey. It’s politics on the global scale, and there are chess word games that need to be played out. Tigran Torosyan’s statement won’t agitate anything because it is barely being heard. Yet, sometimes, you have to come out swinging.
What is somewhat stunning and worrisome to me is that some Armenians are so passive and politically unsophisticated to not actually take a stand and make some noise when such an affront to our larger community takes place.
In short, it is of the utmost importance to further Dink’s pursuit of continuing to educated the public- Turkish or otherwise- of the crimes of the past that haunted his soul until the end.
Comment by Raffi Meneshian — 1/21/2007 @ 5:24 am
Tigran Torosyan’s statement was very harmful and went completely against the spirit of Hrant. It’s sad that some will make statements related to him which have nothing to do with his dreams. Everyone, Turks, Armenians, Kurds, etc. all owe it to him to honor his memory by living up to his ideals, and that includes disavoying things like persecuting others for things they very much have the right to say along with villifying of an entire nation because of certain people. Hrant wanted Armenians and Turks to come together and work through these problems, villification of either country will get us nowhere.
Comment by Paul — 1/21/2007 @ 7:16 am
I agree with Harmick’s statment 100 percent. Now is the time to come out swinging. I afraid, the murder of Hrant Dink will do little change Turkey from within…the population is too deep into denial.
The only way to change them is to take the gloves off and get the world community to condemn Turkey for what it was in the past and who it is today…Turkish sensibilities be damned.
In short, Turkey will only be changed from outside pressure.
Comment by Raffi — 1/21/2007 @ 9:22 am
Turkey will only be changed by internal AND external pressure — and that is what we can expect from European intergration and the deaths of many Turks and Kurds, and now an Armenian, at the hands of Turkish nationalists.
Otherwise, I don’t think anybody needs to “use” Dink’s murder to campaign for Genocide Recognition. Just the very fact that a man who stood for peace and reconciliation between Armenian and Turk has been killed because he also spoke about the past does that automatically.
But anyway, internal demand for change is as important if not more so than outside pressure. If it were any other way there will be more violence and more problems. Personally, I can only hope that those more liberal and moderate Turks realize the importance of questioning what kind of society they live in.
Of course, when Turkish and Kurdish journalists died in the past under similar circumstances, many in Turkey were just as shocked, but nothing changed. In this sense, yes, the European Union must keep an eye on this case and must now call for immediate changes and an appropiate response from the Turkish Government.
Still, to be honest, I am encouraged by the comments I’ve read from both Armenian and Turkish bloggers so far, but maybe I’m not asking the most poignant question on that? Just how many of them are there in the scheme of things? Still, I’m sure this story won’t go away, and I’m sure that Dink’s legacy will have postive effects on some part of Turkish society and also demands for Genocide Recognition.
How will it impact the bill to recognize the Genocide in the U.S., for example? Like I said, nobody needs to use Dink. His tragic death has already put the issue firmly on the agenda, and personally, I think that a fitting legacy for a peaceful and noble man will be both internal moves to acknowledge its own past, and recociliation between Armenian and Turk.
Still, I’m not naieve enough to suppose that will be the case. I can, however, hope that it is.
Comment by Onnik Krikorian — 1/21/2007 @ 2:06 pm
A Turkish person inteviewed on CNN said today that Turkey is a fashist country. What other bad publicity for Turkey do you need?
Apparently nothing has changed in Turkey in last 100 years.
Hrant Dink has died for the cause of having world recognize Armenian Genocide.
Comment by Karen Melikyan — 1/21/2007 @ 6:27 pm
From my post at What Democracy Means:
Comment by Observer — 1/23/2007 @ 12:14 am
As a Turkish student lives in Istanbul, I am deeply in full of sorrow that we have lost one of our brothers named Hrant Dink who always wanted the foundation of mutual understanding between Armenians and Turks. I will be in funeral ceremony and will walk about 8 km from Agos to MeryemAna Armenian Church. Believe in me that the proportion of Turks who understand and accept your past extreme distress is not likely small.
Hrant always believed that Turks should leave their paranoiac feelings about Armenians and Armenians should leave their trauma in order to establish mutual understanding between us.
Please recall that we were real brothers in Anatolia until Ottoman-Russian War and Berlin Agreement of 1878. Turks and Armenians have accused each other of being traitor. Like a couple who truly loved each other. Something happened and we are in this situation.
Only we can cope with this bad situation. Only we can solve our problems. Not the US or EU. That is what Hrant said and wanted.
Please note that what I wrote here is not the only feelings because of the assasination of Hrant. I had the same feelings after the assasination of 41 Turkish
diplomats by ASALA in mid 70s and 80s.
Comment by Ali — 1/23/2007 @ 2:12 am
Dear all,
i am Turkish. I feel deeply sorry for Hrant, and couldnt hold my tears when watching the news. You should all know that we were brothers 100 years ago..It is such a shame that we dont know each other anymore. We could have been speaking Armenian or Turkish now. You think Turks are blood thirsty monsters. We are not. We are you and you are us. We have the same reaction to events, good or bad. Talking about genocide only damages our relations. Yes there were mass killings and Turks got killed too. OR circassians, or Kurds…. In my grandma’s time, mentioning races when talking about humans was rude and shameful. I grew up with Armenians (yes there are still lots in Istanbul) and Jews thinking exactly the same way as me. I did not agree Hrant that it was genocide, as some Armenians were armed, and had joined the Russian army.I agreed what happened is tragic and we should take lessons from it. I agreed also to him that this hatred against a race is a unifying force to Armenian diaspora. Turkish of today are not even a race. We are ethnically a soup. You are hating something that doesnot exist. Anyway, whatever I agreed or not, Hrant had the right to say whatever he thinks. And I have the right to say what I think also. The nationalist bastard who killed Hrant has the same mentality with some Armenian disapora who stopped a common international association to be formed to investigate the genocide. love to you all.
Comment by jale — 1/23/2007 @ 3:56 pm
For anyone who has been following the funeral it is obvious what an outpouring of grief there is in Turkey, among both Armenians and Turks.
Turkey has changed more in the past 5 years than in the previous 80. Some of this was due to Hrant’s work. It is a tragedy that he was murdered when he had so much more to contribute to the dialogue between Armenians and Turks.
He believed that Turkey would come to terms with the legacy of the Armenian Genocide only through internal discussion and out of that would come atonement and an improvement in the lot of all the minorities in Turkey, both muslim and non-muslim. He was anathema to Armenian nationalists who are now shedding crocodile tears for him.
He was against, as I am and many Armenians I know are, the idiotic French law that criminalizes denial of the genocide. You do not shut those you disagree with by legilative means (or the bullet for that matter). You discredit them with the power of facts, reason and argument.
Turks have started realising that what their State has been saying for the past 80 years is a big lie. There is still the nationalist right and ultra right which is very entrenched that won’t tolerate any deviation from their racist beliefs. Hrant Dink’s death shows that clearly. There are however brave voices chipping away at this idea of a ‘monoculture’ which indoctrinates every schoolkid in Turkey today.
A Turkey that is European, human rights oriented and at peace with all its neighbours is the best guarantee for the Armenian State as well as for the remnaining Armenians in Turkey.
The response to the death fills me with hope as Armenians and Turks carry on down the path that Hrant carved. The new editor of Agos, Etyen Mahcupyan is the other bright voice of Turkey’s Armenians. I am sure Agos will carry on being vocal. Let the nationalists in Turkey and our own nationalists keep on braying. As we say in Armenian ‘barab dagare shad tsayn ge hane! (The barrel that is empty makes the loudest noise… ok sounds better in Armenian!). They thrive off each other! The only thing they stand for is hate!
Many of us, Turks and Armenians are tired of this. We need to move forward. The States (both Turkey and Armenia) will have to eventually follow.
Comment by Vasken — 1/23/2007 @ 4:14 pm
ps to my note above. It is important to remember that the views of Torosyan re European integration don’t really matter. It is not his decision to make.
So many, Turks and Armenians alike, are trying to score cheap political points out of this heinous crime. They should be exposed for what they are. Tashnags marching in Yerevan! Give me a break! They are our own Armenian Nazis! They stand against everything Hrant stood for! Just like Devlet Bahceli’s Nazis in Turkey!
Posturing and making declarations is the easy way out. If these people want to make a difference they should concentrate on building bridges with the sizable number of Turks and others who are challenging their own constitution and historiography.
Comment by Vasken — 1/23/2007 @ 4:32 pm
As a Turk I mourned for Hrant because he was part of Turkey, one of us. He was a man like a man.
He was a good man that wanted to do something for the land he lived in. I did not agree with all his views but also did not bother me.
He could have easily used his position to grab quick fame and money but he didn’t (unlike Orhan Pamuk)
He was an antidode to Orhan Pamuk and he belonged to this land and people more than Orhan Pamuk.
I hope next year’s Nobel Peace Price would go to Hrant.
Let your soul lye in peace my brave brother.
Comment by Oguz Tanrisever — 1/24/2007 @ 12:46 pm
Your sadness is the same sentiment in our sad hearts.
Here in Italy,
we remember Hrant Dink,
and here, in this blog:
http://guerrillaradio.iobloggo.com/
we can’t forget the armenian genocide.
Victor,
italian blogger from Milan
Comment by guerrilla radio — 1/26/2007 @ 2:24 am
I am a Turkish woman. Mom’s family had to move from Greece in 1930’s & dad’s family had to move from Crimea Peninsula in the 2nd. WW. Dad’s family settled down to a house of a Greek family had to migrate to Greece. Unfortunately this is the sad reality of Anatolia. There were sensitive calculations upon this beautiful land , and famous allies like France , Italians and of course Brits provocated the native people of the land as they do the same today in Iraq. So they won’t allow the things to be cleared out , because people will get the realities and see the real guilty powers. There were so may Armenian brothers suffered but they should have defend their country against the invaders. Though any ordinary Turk can hate Armenians , but diaspora should act logically. Today we are all Armenians..
Comment by Funda TANJU — 2/2/2007 @ 5:01 pm