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Turkey embraces the memory of Hrant Dink; hundreds of thousands march
Hurriyet, Turkey
Jan 24 2007
52 year old journalist Hrant Dink, who was gunned down as he left his
newspaper's offices in Sisli last Friday afternoon, was accompanied
by tens of thousands of people and a cloud of white pigeons on his
last journey through the streets of Istanbul yesterday.
Mourners gathered from the early morning Tuesday in front of the Agos
newspaper offices in Sisli, amassing to leave candles and flowers
around the portraits of Dink in front of the building, and later to
hear the words spoken by the slain journalist's wife, Rakel Dink.
Reading a letter she had entitled "A Letter to my Lover," Rakel
Dink addressed Hrant, saying "You have left those you love. You have
departed from your children, your grandchildren, those who are here
to say farewell to you, my embrace. But you have not departed from
your country." Standing behind Rakel Dink were the couple's children,
Sera, Ararat, and Delal.
Following the 11.00 ceremony for Dink at the Agos offices, the long
slow cortege of perhaps one or even two hundred thousand people began
was to be the 8 kilometer march behind the hearse carrying Dink's
coffin. The path taken by the marchers wound its way from Sisli through
Taksim, eventually winding up at the Balikli Armenian cemetary, and
taking those participating hours to complete. The crowds walking behind
the hearse were mostly silent, some carrying large posters and small
signs saying "We are all Hrant Dink," or "We are all Armenian." While
many of the signs were in Turkish, a significant number were also in
Armenian and Kurdish, as the show of support in Dink's memory brought
together a wide spectrum of different ethnic and religious groups.
The religious services for Dink took place yesterday at 14.00 at
the Armenian Church of the Virgin Mary, across the street from the
Armenian Patriarchate in Kumkapi. The journalist was then buried by
family and friends and numerous supporters at the Balikli Armenian
cemetary in Zeytinburnu.
Hurriyet, Turkey
Jan 24 2007
52 year old journalist Hrant Dink, who was gunned down as he left his
newspaper's offices in Sisli last Friday afternoon, was accompanied
by tens of thousands of people and a cloud of white pigeons on his
last journey through the streets of Istanbul yesterday.
Mourners gathered from the early morning Tuesday in front of the Agos
newspaper offices in Sisli, amassing to leave candles and flowers
around the portraits of Dink in front of the building, and later to
hear the words spoken by the slain journalist's wife, Rakel Dink.
Reading a letter she had entitled "A Letter to my Lover," Rakel
Dink addressed Hrant, saying "You have left those you love. You have
departed from your children, your grandchildren, those who are here
to say farewell to you, my embrace. But you have not departed from
your country." Standing behind Rakel Dink were the couple's children,
Sera, Ararat, and Delal.
Following the 11.00 ceremony for Dink at the Agos offices, the long
slow cortege of perhaps one or even two hundred thousand people began
was to be the 8 kilometer march behind the hearse carrying Dink's
coffin. The path taken by the marchers wound its way from Sisli through
Taksim, eventually winding up at the Balikli Armenian cemetary, and
taking those participating hours to complete. The crowds walking behind
the hearse were mostly silent, some carrying large posters and small
signs saying "We are all Hrant Dink," or "We are all Armenian." While
many of the signs were in Turkish, a significant number were also in
Armenian and Kurdish, as the show of support in Dink's memory brought
together a wide spectrum of different ethnic and religious groups.
The religious services for Dink took place yesterday at 14.00 at
the Armenian Church of the Virgin Mary, across the street from the
Armenian Patriarchate in Kumkapi. The journalist was then buried by
family and friends and numerous supporters at the Balikli Armenian
cemetary in Zeytinburnu.