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PRESS RELEASE
Armenia Solidarity, Nor Serount Cultural Association
(supported by: Armenian Genocide Trust, Seyfo Centre
c/o the Temple of Peace,
Cardiff, Wales
Tel 07718982732
[email protected]
Hrant Dink Commemmoration in London
An international crowd including British, Armenian, Kurdish,
Assyrian and Turkish intellectuals gathered to commemorate the death of
Hrant Dink at the Monument to the Innocents in front of Westminster
Abbey, London, on Saturday 19th January 2008.
Prayers were said by Canon Segovsky of Westminster Abbey. Nouritza
Matossian, writer and friend of Hrant Dink, paid a personal tribute, and
concluded:
I have said it before and I will repeat that Hrant Dink was our
Martin Luther King ... Hrant Dink deserves the Nobel Peace Prize and
would bring it great honour. We will join the millions around the world
who have founded groups and centres bearing his name to continue his
work and remember him today.
The author Desmond Fernandes observed that: "We, who are present,
acknowledge the genocide and oppose those denialist discourses that seek
to maintain an oppressive, publicly unaccountable structure of
governance in Turkey". He spoke about Hrant's position on the genocide
and the recognition of the genocide by leading Kurdish organisations,
writers and politicians. A moving message from Diamanda Galás, the
internationally renowned composer and performer, was read out. Kasim
Agpak, a representative of the Kurdish Youth Collective, noted that
"Hrant's killing cannot only be explained through hysteria, anxiety and
ultra-nationalism. Those listed [i.e. targeted] indeed represent an
outcome of a long implementation of constitutional racism and ongoing
racist discourses". Messages from Gurgîn Bakircioglu (Vice Chair of
the Kurdish Student and Academic Association), the Swedish MP Esabelle
Reshdouni, the Armenian National Union of Sweden, the Kurdish National
Union of Sweden and Professor David Gaunt (from Södertörn University
College in Stockholm) were also read out. For Gurgîn: "Hrant ... lives
through his son, Arat Dink, the son that faced the same charges, was
convicted for it and given the same one year suspended sentence for
insulting Turkishness". For Professor David Gaunt, it is a shame that
Turkey has not recognized the Armenian/Assyrian genocide and he condemns
the murder of Mr. Dink.
A portion of Hrant's work was read by Nouritza Matossian.
Professor Khatchatur Pilikian, as his tribute, sang "God the Free (Song
of Freedom)" by Mikael Nalbandian, and two white doves of peace were
released by Khatchig Vartanian, Editor of the UK Armenian magazine,
Voice of Nor Serount.
.Hrant Dink Day Speeches
Nouritza Matossian's tribute:
A whole year has passed since we were in shock at the vile murder
of Hrant Dink, a man who stood for peace and harmony, the editor of a
small weekly in Istanbul which rocked Turkey. The hideous irony is that
Hrant Dink was the one man who succeeded in bringing together and
forging friendships between opposing groups. He stood up for the rights
of Armenians, Kurds, Alevis, women in Turkey.
As you all know, he was shot down outside his newspaper office by
a cowardly juvenile assassin hired by the deep state. The truth is that
I am still in shock. Today we join millions who are mourning him all
over the world.
Like many others Hrant Dink changed my way of thinking and feeling
about myself as an Armenian. I, the daughter of a survivor of the 1915
Armenian Genocide, wanted to visit Turkey. But my father who had
established us in Cyprus was upset. 'Do you want to go and break your
heart? '
I went for my book on Arshile Gorky and later Hrant Dink
interviewed me. Straightaway he struck me as a new kind of Armenian and
also a new kind of Turk. He gave me his wholehearted friendship straight
away and I to him.
He was forthright, but more than that he behaved like any European
would behave in a democracy. There was not the slightest shade of fear
or hesitation in him. Like an aristocrat who cannot change his breeding,
he was a democrat, and had decided not to compromise, even if he did not
live in a democratic country. He campaigned for Turkey to join the EU.
He travelled the world as the best kind of Ambassador for Turkey.
He had forged a large circle of his family and friends - a
liberal, intellectual group, also committed to a free society in a
modern Turkey who spoke out fearlessly and who respected him.
We may well ask why such a man was hounded and persecuted?
Ironically Hrant was preaching moderation to both Armenians and
Turks, enlightenment and free expression.
The charges brought against him under the infamous Article 301 for
insulting Turkish identity seemed so trivial that he did not believe any
judge would take seriously. The final straw was when he asked Armenians
to take any poisonous hatred for Turks out of their hearts. As he often
said to me, 'These are not the same Turks who killed our grandparents.
They have changed.' Yet his words were taken to mean the opposite and
he was sentenced to 6 months imprisonment.
I saw Hrant Dink in October 2006. The torrent of obscenities and
poison, of death threats was weighing on him. He no longer drove a car.
He was conscious that his every word and movement was monitored. He
would place his mobile phone on the table and say, 'I have nothing to
hide. It's better that they know everything.'
A year on writers and publishers are still prosecuted today, along
with his son Arat Dink. Hrant's murderers have not been brought to
justice.
Next week the Turkish parliament will discuss amendments, to 301,
still leaving "denigration of the Turkish nation" as a criminal offence
carrying severe penalties.
Unfortunately, the EU, in its negotiations with Turkey, has
insisted on amendment rather than repeal of these dangerous laws. The UK
and the EU should now do all they can to ensure Article 301 is no longer
used as a tool of repression, and that no one else is killed or
tortured, or persecuted solely for expressing opinions. You can support
Human Rights Groups, PEN, Amnesty, Article 19, Index, to campaign. We
will commemorate him on 28th February.
I have said it before and I will repeat that Hrant Dink was our
Martin Luther King. If the blacks in America won their civil rights and
now have a presidential candidate, why not the ethnic communities in
Turkey?
It is only a matter of time. But let us make it our time. In the
life span that Hrant Dink would have enjoyed if he had not been robbed
of it so unjustly.
Hrant Dink deserve the Nobel Peace Prize and would bring it great
honour. And we will join the millions around the world who have founded
groups and centres bearing his name to continue his work and remember
him today.
Asdvatdz Hokin Lusavore. May God rest his soul.
Nouritza Matossian is author of Black Angel, The Life of Arshile
Gorky.
© Nouritza Matossian 19 Jan 2008
------------------------------------------- -------------------------------
Speech from Desmond Fernandes:
We are gathered here, as many other people are around the world,
today, in your honour and remembrance, and in deepest sorrow and regret
at the way your life was taken.
We also stand together, today - in solidarity - to also oppose
those forces - and the values of the forces and ideologies - that
targeted you, and to reiterate the importance of the struggle for
justice, remembrance, rights and recognition of peoples and individuals,
as well as of the genocide.
As you stated:
'Of course I'm saying it's a genocide ... Because its consequences
show it to be true and label it so'.[1][1]
We also take note of what you said in March 2006:
"The activities of the Diaspora, the Genocide resolutions passed
by other countries every year, have contributed to the growing
consciousness in Turkey".[2][2]
You also "attributed much of the growing recognition of the
Armenian Genocide in Turkey to the Kurdish struggle for national rights
there"[3][3] - a struggle that many Kurds, Armenians and others,
including many human rights groups, clearly also recognise to be a
struggle against a genocidal regime.[4][4] As you said:
The [Turkish] government used to say, 'We don't have Kurds or a
Kurdish problem. Those people fighting up in the mountains are actually
Armenians' ... And to prove their assertions, they would publish
photographs in newspapers showing the uncircumcised corpses of the
defeated fighters. The Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan was referred to
as 'The Armenian Bastard'.[5][5]
Despite these various state inspired denialist discourses, as you
noted:
The process of democratization in Turkey can no longer be turned
back. "There is a movement to talk about the past and a desire to know
what happened to Armenians ... On the other side, the Turkish government
has responded with more propaganda".[6][6]
But, as you said:
"One day, they will recognize that the Armenian Genocide has to be
addressed. But they will try to delay it and water it down as much as
possible".[7][7]
On the day Hrant was assassinated, the editorial in his newspaper
Agos, which he had written, clearly stated the following: "The [Turkish]
government hasn't still been able to formulate a correct approach to the
'Armenian question'. Its real aim is not to solve the problem, but to
gain points like a wrestler in a contest. How and when it will make the
right move and defeat its opponent. That's the only concern. This is not
earnestness. The state ... does not shy from trying its own
intellectuals" who seriously address this issue. "It restores" - for
propaganda purposes - "an Armenian church in the Southeast, but only
thinks, 'How can I use this for political gains in the world, how can I
sell it?'".[8][8]
Hrant was not the first person to be targeted as a result of
Turkish state inspired ideologies and actions: Nor, sadly will he be the
last. We must also remember today Turkish-born university teacher Fuat
Deniz, a Christian Assyrian, who appears to have been murdered in Sweden
just this December 2007 for acknowledging, debating and publicly
speaking about the Assyrian genocide,[9][9] which is - alongside the
Armenian, Greek and Kurdish genocides - also, yet to be recognised by
the Turkish state.
We, who are present, acknowledge the genocide and oppose those
denialist discourses that seek to maintain an oppressive, publicly
unaccountable structure of governance. It also needs to be restated here
that leading Kurdish organisations, leaders, community representatives,
academics, writers, poets and musicians acknowledge the Armenian and
other genocides, as well as the role that some Kurds played in those
genocides, even as other Kurds opposed the nature of the genocidal
assaults. They also condemn the actions of those Kurds that participated
in the genocide. Those acknowledging the Armenian genocide include
Zubeyir Aydar, when he was Chair of the Executive Council of the
Parliament of Kurdistan in Exile; Abdullah Ocalan and the PKK; Kemal
Burkay and the Socialist Party of Kurdistan;[10][10] Mehdi Zana; Sivan
Perwer, the late Musa Anter, Anter Anter, Serhat Bucak, Nejdet Buldan,
Selahattin Celik, Yashar Kaya and many others.[11][11]
Message from Diamanda Galás, internationally renowned composer
and performer of Songs of Exile, Vena Cava, Schrei X, Plague Mass and
Defixiones, Will And Testament - a song-cycle that "is dedicated to the
forgotten and erased of the Armenian, Assyrian, and Anatolian Greek
genocides which occurred between 1914 and 1923": [12][12]
The longer it takes to address the mandate of applying Turkishness
to all things good - and good to all things Turkish, the longer will it
take to redress the financially-supported cultural disinformation spread
by those institutions and persons in Turkey who, using as a criminal
mandate the necessity to translate all aural arts (songs, poetry,
theatre, and other human ritual practices) into Turkish before they are
allowed to be performed by the general public, effectively cleanse it of
its owners' names and claim it as Turkish invention, innovation.
Once the art is performed into Turkish it may then be claimed as
Turkish, and thusly as a Turkish art form. With the censored owners
under control or in prison for performing the work illegally (in their
own languages), it can then be safely deposited under "anonymous" or a
Turkish name into a vault that has been protected and in fact proclaimed
as an ethnically inviolate treasure, with the help of Turkey's good
friends, America and Israel.
It is no mystery that the Greeks, the Armenians, the Assyrians,and
the Kurds were for centuries expected to provide their own boys and
young men to the Turkish military for centuries, in order to ensure
protection of their familes and land from the the Ottoman Republic, for
example, but this enlistment also included composers of music,
performers, singers, poets, and so on, who were
NOT allowed to perform in any tongue but Turkish. Later, when
their arms were taken away and they were slaughtered, the works they
left behind were claimed as Turkish, as are the Hagia Sofia, Assyrian
and Greek sculpture, and Armenian poetry.
In the obvious case of the great blind oudist Udi Hrant, he cannot
be heard on record singing in Armenian, although he WAS an Armenian,
and one of the most famous Armenians who lived in Turkey. He can only be
heard singing in Turkish.
The melodies of the amanes, amanethes, shared throughout Greece
and Anatolia are now still claimed to be shared by all the cultures who
have lived in Anatolia, since the agora of Smyrna/Izmir was the meeting
place for Greeks, Armenians, Kurds, Jews, Arabs, and Assyrians, and all
shared verses and sang this music to "a god invited by despair". The
word "amanes" refers to "mana", or mother, in Greek: in other words, it
is the last cry of the soldier on the battlefield, and it is the
universal cry of the lonely. Fortunately the word "aman" is permissable
in Turkey, but how soon will be be written in Turkish books of musical
education that this great vocal tradition is initially a Turkish one?
What then will the Greeks who hear our finest amanes singer Dalgas think
in 100 years? In even 50?
As a daughter of a Maniate Spartan and an Anatolian hailing from
Smryna/Izmir, the Black Sea, and Alexandria, I find the ethnic cleansing
of art to be preposterous, but also to be dangerous. If an Armenian is
told to reject what may be his by birthright because he is later
educated by disinformation passed down through Turkish Ethnic Music
Institutes that the music he loves is NOT Armenian but in fact Turkish,
what does he have left? How many dromoi/makams (scales) does he have
left to sing? This is true for all the cultures I mention above.
Robbery is not just the robbery of money or human flesh; it
involves the soul murder of cultures
which will soon die if it they have no more songs to sing.
Especially in the desert. And survival in the desert has been proven to
be perilous.
Kasim Agpak of the Turkish-Kurdish Youth Collective said:
"Hrant's killing cannot only be explained through hysteria,
anxiety and ultra-nationalism. Those listed indeed an outcome of a long
implementation, plantation of constitutional racism and anti-democratic
articles and attitudes. How can a 17 year old kid can have a strong
nationalistic feelings that drove him to kill someone in the name of
defending his nation? What are the elements behind it? It was not long
after that lynch campign against Kurds began. Officials who were
responsible of Semdinli incident released. Intellectuals oppressed under
the famous 301 article. Orhan Pamuk had to leave his country. Perhaps he
knew, in Turkey, even Doves can be killed. There was even no
understanding of people's saying that we are all Armenians, we are all
Hrant Dink. There was an immediate response, reaction to it saying, No,
we are all Turks. What does this tell us? The only and true meaning of
we are all Armenians was that we are all human beings.
Hrant is son of Mesopotamia, he is son of Ararat, he is son of
Tigris and Euphrate!... His intellectual work, his understanding of
humanism, his ideas and thoughts are for me, as being Kurd, will be a
path that should be followed...
A message from Gurgîn Bakircioglu, Vice Chair of the Kurdish
Student and Academic Association (KSAF) and Editor of Beyan.net:
What Hrant Dink did was that he spoke about Turkey's most
controversial issue and for this, he was slain. But they did not kill
Hrant, he lives through his son, Arat Dink, the son that faced the same
charges, was convicted for it and given the same one year suspended
sentence for insulting Turkishness.
I believe that Hrant installed a concrete foundation before he was
murdered by spineless cowards that stabbed democracy and freedom of
speech in the back.
Gandhi once said:
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight
you, then you win.
I have some messages with me from Sweden.
Firstly, I have brought a message from the Kurdish Student and
Academic Association of Sweden, of which I am Vice-chairman. We wish our
Assyrian/Armenian friends peaceful respect between each other and we
recognize the massacres as a genocide and for this, we are also sorry.
The reason that Hrant Dink was slain was that he had not forgotten the
genocide, he had not forgotten his own history.
The Armenian National Union of Sweden and all Armenians of Sweden
greet you all.
The Kurdish National Union of Sweden condemns the Armenian
Genocide; they hope that the massacres will be recognized as genocide.
At the same time they don't want all of the Kurdish people to be
associated as active participants.
They are honouring the memory of Hrant, his struggle and the
Armenian people's right to exist as Armenians.
Professor David Gaunt from Södertörn University College in
Stockholm also wanted to send a message: He thinks that it is a shame
that Turkey has not recognized the Armenian/Assyrian genocide and he
condemns the murder of Mr.Dink.
A message from Esabelle Reshdouni, a Swedish MP, Equality-politics
representative:
Hrant Dink was an advocate of Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the
Press and champion for minority rights in Turkey. During his visit here
in Sweden, as a Member of Parliament, we had the privilege of meeting
him and hearing his thoughts and arguments about his articles, his works
but also about the development of the situation in Turkey, now engaged
in negotiations for membership in the EU. Dink was firmly convinced that
the European community would support Turkey in the improvement of
several important issues, such as those mentioned above. He had been
charged for treason when he had written about the Armenian genocide and
the past which Turkey must admit and acknowledge. Article 301, on which
he was prosecuted and convicted to a suspended sentence was the kind of
shortcoming which Dink hoped to be reformed.
He felt threatened, but never spoke of it. Many organizations
expressed their concerns about the threat situation, but no one would
take the threat seriously until it was too late. And the governments,
the journalists and the rest of the world were swift in condemning the
murder and the conditions in Turkey leading to that unfortunate destiny.
And it is even more saddening and alarming that today, one year after
the murder of Hrant Dink, Article 301 of the Turkish Criminal law, still
is in power and continues to be utilized to silence those who speak of
reforms, improvements, freedom of speech and human rights in Turkey.
Hrant Dink's son, Arat Dink, was, on October 10, 2007, prosecuted and
sentenced to the same punishment as his father for reprinting Hrant
Dink's last article. I sincerely hope that the world will not stay
silent and indifferent and let history repeat itself.
A poem was read by Nazim Hikmet, one of Hrant's favourite
Turkish poets - a poet who was exiled from Turkey for many years and
imprisoned earlier by the Turkish state for exposing and speaking out
against Turkish state terror against the marginalised . Nazim Hikmet
also acknowledged, decades ago, the terrible crimes perpetrated in the
massacres of the Armenians and spoke of the relevance to confront this
terrible crime)
-------------------------------------------------- -------
The Strangest Creature On Earth - by Nazim Hikmet
Trans. by Randy Blasing and Mutlu Konuk (1993)
You're like a scorpion, my brother,
you live in cowardly darkness
like a scorpion.
You're like a sparrow, my brother,
always in a sparrow's flutter.
You're like a clam, my brother,
closed like a clam, content,
And you're frightening, my brother,
like the mouth of an extinct volcano.
Not one,
not five--
unfortunately, you number millions.
You're like a sheep, my brother:
when the cloaked drover raises his stick,
you quickly join the flock
and run, almost proudly, to the slaughterhouse.
I mean you're strangest creature on earth--
even stranger than the fish
that couldn't see the ocean for the water.
And the oppression in this world
is thanks to you.
And if we're hungry, tired, covered with blood,
and still being crushed like grapes for our wine,
the fault is yours--
I can hardly bring myself to say it,
but most of the fault, my dear brother, is yours.
The text of the song sung by Prof Khatchatur Pilikian
God the Free (Song of Freedom) by Mikael Nalbandian
translated as "Liberty"by Zabelle Boyajian
When the God of Liberty
Formed of Earth this mortal frame,
Breathed the breath of life in me,
And a spirit I became
Wrapped within my swaddling bands,
Bounced and fettered helplessly,
I stretched forth my infant hands
To embrace sweet Liberty
All night long,until the dawn,
In my cradle bound I lay;
And my sobbing's ceaseless moan
Drove my mother's sleep away
As I begged her, weeping loud,
To unbind and set me free;
From that very day I vowed
I would love thee, Liberty
---------------------------------------- ----------------------
The following article by Ragip Zarokulu, the Turkish
publisher who faces trial next week for publishing the translation in
Turkish of "The Truth will set us free" by George Jerjian was read at
the end of the event
THE LEGACY OF MILITARIST NATIONALISM IN TURKEY
Ragip Zarakolou - an abridged English translation.
The national security state was a concept utilised
during the cold war era when military dictatorships were encouraged by
the West not only to deal with the external enemy but with the so called
"internal enemy" too. During the 1960s and 70s many countries in Latin
America, as well as Greece, Turkey, Indonesia, South Korea were ruled by
military coups with such an objective. Argentina, Chile and Turkey also
suffered from a process which destroyed their democratic movements and
establishments. In Brazil, Chile and Turkey the regimes were
reconstituted either by elimination of or by significant restructuring
of their political parties, trade unions, clubs and societies - all
under the pretext of "national security".
This model has a past which takes us to the 1920s:
Militarist regimes were established by Salazarism, Francoism and
Kemalism. To this list can be added the dictatorships of General
Pilsudski in Poland, General Metaxas of Greece and of Admiral Horty of
Hungary.
The military nationalist establishment in Turkey has
worked hand in glove with the West and the United States in particular,
and has enhanced its ideology to the extreme. So much so that elected
governments have had little effective power on a number of key issues
and areas of government, which are the exclusive domain of the dictates
of the military, through its control of the "National Security Council".
There is in Turkey a SECRET CONSTITUTION known as the "Red Book".
During the summer of 2006 Erdoghan's government
accepted the "Red Book" in its new form and refused to reveal it to the
public, claiming that it should remain secret due to its importance to
the state. As the situation stands "extreme nationalism" and "racism"
are not classified as dangerous extremism in Turkey. Thus aggressive
nationalism is not frowned upon and its murderers "will kill on orders"
but within this psyche they are confidentially looked upon as "boys with
good intentions" - literally "our boys".
Some of the media is against this state of affairs,
while another section is building up a wave for new "heroes" for this
psyche of militarist nationalism. TV programmes have at times
unrealistic stories. For example the seat of the Greek Church in the
Fener district of Istanbul is declared to be a "New Vatican". The
Christian missionaries are stated to be a great threat, claiming that
their intention is to Christianise the Kurds and the Alevis. [The Alevis
are semi Islamic and form apparently twenty two percent of the entire
population - Translator]. However those who are seen purely as Turkish
by blood [a concept that cannot be proved in Anatolia - Tr.] are thought
not to be in danger. Kurds and Alevis are declared to be unreliable.
Although it is claimed that Turkey is a secular state
the pious foundations or schools belonging to, for example, the Armenian
and Greek churches have been persistently eroded by the state and are
looked upon as "foreign". This problem erupted significantly during the
presidency of Ismet Inonou [from 1938, second only to Ataturk]. The long
term objective is to completely eliminate these so claimed "foreign"
Christian establishments.
The Protestant and Catholic communities in the country
have significant difficulties in conforming to and establishing their
places of worship officially. Bombs have been thrown in the Greek
Patriarchate a number of times.
The military's official website places the Christian
Missionaries among its list of dangers. Denying the Armenian Genocide is
one of its primary objectives. Its declarations are in line with the
ideology of Turanism-Panturkism. The military even backs Talat Pasha's
disastrous World War exploits. On 28 April 2007 it even had the audacity
to call for a coup by e-mail. These of course can be looked upon as
training for the future.
The military during the last 90 years has refused to
solve the Kurdish issue by peaceful and political means. There have been
generals who have even declared that "if it was not for this damned
"Human Rights" difficulty we would have solved the problem in one day"!
[In this respect one has to remember the fate of the Armenians of
Western Armenia as well as of Anatolia, additionally the fates of the
Christian Assyrians and Pontic Greeks must also be considered - Tr.].
This militarist nationalism will of course utilise
veiled methods in its war against the "internal enemy". This psyche is
expanded through massive propaganda to Turkish citizens abroad, thus
persistently harassing progressive researchers and authors such as Taner
Akcam during their scholarly public appearances. A direct order from
above for such pursuits is even unnecessary since numerous racist and
nationalist organisations, according to their ideological brainwashing
will pursue and will implement, like programmed robots, what is required
or "necessary".
This regime's long history even harks to the dark days
when it had ties with the Nazis. Since the Cold War, however, it has
been significantly revitalised by NATO and is uncompromising on its
stance and ideology: Those who stand in its way in the country are told:
"you will be pushed out of the way"!
The question here is: Was the attack on Hrant Dink a
coincidence? Is it also a coincidence that because the Syriac Christian
community is now investigating its genocide it is coming under threats
and that one of its researchers was recently murdered in Sweden?
Why are the Catholic priests from abroad constantly
attacked, and one was murdered?
Why are the Protestants and the Germans who have
chosen to live in Turkey having difficulty in pursuing their religious
beliefs without harassment?
What has all this to do with a state that claims to be
secularist?
None of the above and more are coincidences. The
mindset remains militarist. This state of affairs can only be ended by
internationalist solidarity of peoples.
---------------------------------------------- ------------------
[1][1] BIA News (2007) 'Retrospective On Trials Against Hrant Dink', 19
January 2007 (Accessed at:
http://www.bianet.org/2006/11/01_eng/news90480 .htm).
[2][2] The Bay Area Armenian National Committee (2006) 'Hrant Dink &
Ragip Zarakolu Visit the Bay Area', The Bay Area Armenian National
Committee, 14 March 2006 (Accessed at:
http://www.ancsf.org/pressreleases/2006/031420 06.htm).
[3][3]The Bay Area Armenian National Committee (2006) 'Hrant Dink &
Ragip Zarakolu Visit the Bay Area', The Bay Area Armenian National
Committee, 14 March 2006 (Accessed at:
http://www.ancsf.org/pressreleases/2006/031420 06.htm).
[4][4] For further details, see Fernandes, D. (2007) The Kurdish and
Armenian Genocides: From Censorship and Denial to Recognition? Apec,
Stockholm, and the Rasti website (http://rastibini.blogspot.com/).
[5][5] The Bay Area Armenian National Committee (2006) 'Hrant Dink &
Ragip Zarakolu Visit the Bay Area', The Bay Area Armenian National
Committee, 14 March 2006 (Accessed at:
http://www.ancsf.org/pressreleases/2006/031420 06.htm).
[6][6] The Bay Area Armenian National Committee (2006) 'Hrant Dink &
Ragip Zarakolu Visit the Bay Area', The Bay Area Armenian National
Committee, 14 March 2006 (Accessed at:
http://www.ancsf.org/pressreleases/2006/031420 06.htm).
[7][7] The Bay Area Armenian National Committee (2006) 'Hrant Dink &
Ragip Zarakolu Visit the Bay Area', The Bay Area Armenian National
Committee, 14 March 2006 (Accessed at:
http://www.ancsf.org/pressreleases/2006/031420 06.htm).
[8][8] As quoted by Candar, C. (2007) 'The so-called "Akdamar Museum"',
Turkish Daily News, 30 March 2007.
[9][9] AINA (2007) 'Killing of Assyrian Professor Feared to Be Linked to
Research', 15 December 2007.
[10][10] See Fernandes, D. (2007) The Kurdish and Armenian Genocides:
>From Censorship and Denial to Recognition? Apec, Stockholm.
[11][11] See Fernandes, D. (2008) Perspectives on the Armenian,
Assyrian, Greek and Kurdish Genocides. Apec, Stockholm
[12][12] See Defixiones, Will and Testament
(http://www.diamandagalas.com/defixiones /the_concept.htm).
Armenia Solidarity, Nor Serount Cultural Association
(supported by: Armenian Genocide Trust, Seyfo Centre
c/o the Temple of Peace,
Cardiff, Wales
Tel 07718982732
[email protected]
Hrant Dink Commemmoration in London
An international crowd including British, Armenian, Kurdish,
Assyrian and Turkish intellectuals gathered to commemorate the death of
Hrant Dink at the Monument to the Innocents in front of Westminster
Abbey, London, on Saturday 19th January 2008.
Prayers were said by Canon Segovsky of Westminster Abbey. Nouritza
Matossian, writer and friend of Hrant Dink, paid a personal tribute, and
concluded:
I have said it before and I will repeat that Hrant Dink was our
Martin Luther King ... Hrant Dink deserves the Nobel Peace Prize and
would bring it great honour. We will join the millions around the world
who have founded groups and centres bearing his name to continue his
work and remember him today.
The author Desmond Fernandes observed that: "We, who are present,
acknowledge the genocide and oppose those denialist discourses that seek
to maintain an oppressive, publicly unaccountable structure of
governance in Turkey". He spoke about Hrant's position on the genocide
and the recognition of the genocide by leading Kurdish organisations,
writers and politicians. A moving message from Diamanda Galás, the
internationally renowned composer and performer, was read out. Kasim
Agpak, a representative of the Kurdish Youth Collective, noted that
"Hrant's killing cannot only be explained through hysteria, anxiety and
ultra-nationalism. Those listed [i.e. targeted] indeed represent an
outcome of a long implementation of constitutional racism and ongoing
racist discourses". Messages from Gurgîn Bakircioglu (Vice Chair of
the Kurdish Student and Academic Association), the Swedish MP Esabelle
Reshdouni, the Armenian National Union of Sweden, the Kurdish National
Union of Sweden and Professor David Gaunt (from Södertörn University
College in Stockholm) were also read out. For Gurgîn: "Hrant ... lives
through his son, Arat Dink, the son that faced the same charges, was
convicted for it and given the same one year suspended sentence for
insulting Turkishness". For Professor David Gaunt, it is a shame that
Turkey has not recognized the Armenian/Assyrian genocide and he condemns
the murder of Mr. Dink.
A portion of Hrant's work was read by Nouritza Matossian.
Professor Khatchatur Pilikian, as his tribute, sang "God the Free (Song
of Freedom)" by Mikael Nalbandian, and two white doves of peace were
released by Khatchig Vartanian, Editor of the UK Armenian magazine,
Voice of Nor Serount.
.Hrant Dink Day Speeches
Nouritza Matossian's tribute:
A whole year has passed since we were in shock at the vile murder
of Hrant Dink, a man who stood for peace and harmony, the editor of a
small weekly in Istanbul which rocked Turkey. The hideous irony is that
Hrant Dink was the one man who succeeded in bringing together and
forging friendships between opposing groups. He stood up for the rights
of Armenians, Kurds, Alevis, women in Turkey.
As you all know, he was shot down outside his newspaper office by
a cowardly juvenile assassin hired by the deep state. The truth is that
I am still in shock. Today we join millions who are mourning him all
over the world.
Like many others Hrant Dink changed my way of thinking and feeling
about myself as an Armenian. I, the daughter of a survivor of the 1915
Armenian Genocide, wanted to visit Turkey. But my father who had
established us in Cyprus was upset. 'Do you want to go and break your
heart? '
I went for my book on Arshile Gorky and later Hrant Dink
interviewed me. Straightaway he struck me as a new kind of Armenian and
also a new kind of Turk. He gave me his wholehearted friendship straight
away and I to him.
He was forthright, but more than that he behaved like any European
would behave in a democracy. There was not the slightest shade of fear
or hesitation in him. Like an aristocrat who cannot change his breeding,
he was a democrat, and had decided not to compromise, even if he did not
live in a democratic country. He campaigned for Turkey to join the EU.
He travelled the world as the best kind of Ambassador for Turkey.
He had forged a large circle of his family and friends - a
liberal, intellectual group, also committed to a free society in a
modern Turkey who spoke out fearlessly and who respected him.
We may well ask why such a man was hounded and persecuted?
Ironically Hrant was preaching moderation to both Armenians and
Turks, enlightenment and free expression.
The charges brought against him under the infamous Article 301 for
insulting Turkish identity seemed so trivial that he did not believe any
judge would take seriously. The final straw was when he asked Armenians
to take any poisonous hatred for Turks out of their hearts. As he often
said to me, 'These are not the same Turks who killed our grandparents.
They have changed.' Yet his words were taken to mean the opposite and
he was sentenced to 6 months imprisonment.
I saw Hrant Dink in October 2006. The torrent of obscenities and
poison, of death threats was weighing on him. He no longer drove a car.
He was conscious that his every word and movement was monitored. He
would place his mobile phone on the table and say, 'I have nothing to
hide. It's better that they know everything.'
A year on writers and publishers are still prosecuted today, along
with his son Arat Dink. Hrant's murderers have not been brought to
justice.
Next week the Turkish parliament will discuss amendments, to 301,
still leaving "denigration of the Turkish nation" as a criminal offence
carrying severe penalties.
Unfortunately, the EU, in its negotiations with Turkey, has
insisted on amendment rather than repeal of these dangerous laws. The UK
and the EU should now do all they can to ensure Article 301 is no longer
used as a tool of repression, and that no one else is killed or
tortured, or persecuted solely for expressing opinions. You can support
Human Rights Groups, PEN, Amnesty, Article 19, Index, to campaign. We
will commemorate him on 28th February.
I have said it before and I will repeat that Hrant Dink was our
Martin Luther King. If the blacks in America won their civil rights and
now have a presidential candidate, why not the ethnic communities in
Turkey?
It is only a matter of time. But let us make it our time. In the
life span that Hrant Dink would have enjoyed if he had not been robbed
of it so unjustly.
Hrant Dink deserve the Nobel Peace Prize and would bring it great
honour. And we will join the millions around the world who have founded
groups and centres bearing his name to continue his work and remember
him today.
Asdvatdz Hokin Lusavore. May God rest his soul.
Nouritza Matossian is author of Black Angel, The Life of Arshile
Gorky.
© Nouritza Matossian 19 Jan 2008
------------------------------------------- -------------------------------
Speech from Desmond Fernandes:
We are gathered here, as many other people are around the world,
today, in your honour and remembrance, and in deepest sorrow and regret
at the way your life was taken.
We also stand together, today - in solidarity - to also oppose
those forces - and the values of the forces and ideologies - that
targeted you, and to reiterate the importance of the struggle for
justice, remembrance, rights and recognition of peoples and individuals,
as well as of the genocide.
As you stated:
'Of course I'm saying it's a genocide ... Because its consequences
show it to be true and label it so'.[1][1]
We also take note of what you said in March 2006:
"The activities of the Diaspora, the Genocide resolutions passed
by other countries every year, have contributed to the growing
consciousness in Turkey".[2][2]
You also "attributed much of the growing recognition of the
Armenian Genocide in Turkey to the Kurdish struggle for national rights
there"[3][3] - a struggle that many Kurds, Armenians and others,
including many human rights groups, clearly also recognise to be a
struggle against a genocidal regime.[4][4] As you said:
The [Turkish] government used to say, 'We don't have Kurds or a
Kurdish problem. Those people fighting up in the mountains are actually
Armenians' ... And to prove their assertions, they would publish
photographs in newspapers showing the uncircumcised corpses of the
defeated fighters. The Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan was referred to
as 'The Armenian Bastard'.[5][5]
Despite these various state inspired denialist discourses, as you
noted:
The process of democratization in Turkey can no longer be turned
back. "There is a movement to talk about the past and a desire to know
what happened to Armenians ... On the other side, the Turkish government
has responded with more propaganda".[6][6]
But, as you said:
"One day, they will recognize that the Armenian Genocide has to be
addressed. But they will try to delay it and water it down as much as
possible".[7][7]
On the day Hrant was assassinated, the editorial in his newspaper
Agos, which he had written, clearly stated the following: "The [Turkish]
government hasn't still been able to formulate a correct approach to the
'Armenian question'. Its real aim is not to solve the problem, but to
gain points like a wrestler in a contest. How and when it will make the
right move and defeat its opponent. That's the only concern. This is not
earnestness. The state ... does not shy from trying its own
intellectuals" who seriously address this issue. "It restores" - for
propaganda purposes - "an Armenian church in the Southeast, but only
thinks, 'How can I use this for political gains in the world, how can I
sell it?'".[8][8]
Hrant was not the first person to be targeted as a result of
Turkish state inspired ideologies and actions: Nor, sadly will he be the
last. We must also remember today Turkish-born university teacher Fuat
Deniz, a Christian Assyrian, who appears to have been murdered in Sweden
just this December 2007 for acknowledging, debating and publicly
speaking about the Assyrian genocide,[9][9] which is - alongside the
Armenian, Greek and Kurdish genocides - also, yet to be recognised by
the Turkish state.
We, who are present, acknowledge the genocide and oppose those
denialist discourses that seek to maintain an oppressive, publicly
unaccountable structure of governance. It also needs to be restated here
that leading Kurdish organisations, leaders, community representatives,
academics, writers, poets and musicians acknowledge the Armenian and
other genocides, as well as the role that some Kurds played in those
genocides, even as other Kurds opposed the nature of the genocidal
assaults. They also condemn the actions of those Kurds that participated
in the genocide. Those acknowledging the Armenian genocide include
Zubeyir Aydar, when he was Chair of the Executive Council of the
Parliament of Kurdistan in Exile; Abdullah Ocalan and the PKK; Kemal
Burkay and the Socialist Party of Kurdistan;[10][10] Mehdi Zana; Sivan
Perwer, the late Musa Anter, Anter Anter, Serhat Bucak, Nejdet Buldan,
Selahattin Celik, Yashar Kaya and many others.[11][11]
Message from Diamanda Galás, internationally renowned composer
and performer of Songs of Exile, Vena Cava, Schrei X, Plague Mass and
Defixiones, Will And Testament - a song-cycle that "is dedicated to the
forgotten and erased of the Armenian, Assyrian, and Anatolian Greek
genocides which occurred between 1914 and 1923": [12][12]
The longer it takes to address the mandate of applying Turkishness
to all things good - and good to all things Turkish, the longer will it
take to redress the financially-supported cultural disinformation spread
by those institutions and persons in Turkey who, using as a criminal
mandate the necessity to translate all aural arts (songs, poetry,
theatre, and other human ritual practices) into Turkish before they are
allowed to be performed by the general public, effectively cleanse it of
its owners' names and claim it as Turkish invention, innovation.
Once the art is performed into Turkish it may then be claimed as
Turkish, and thusly as a Turkish art form. With the censored owners
under control or in prison for performing the work illegally (in their
own languages), it can then be safely deposited under "anonymous" or a
Turkish name into a vault that has been protected and in fact proclaimed
as an ethnically inviolate treasure, with the help of Turkey's good
friends, America and Israel.
It is no mystery that the Greeks, the Armenians, the Assyrians,and
the Kurds were for centuries expected to provide their own boys and
young men to the Turkish military for centuries, in order to ensure
protection of their familes and land from the the Ottoman Republic, for
example, but this enlistment also included composers of music,
performers, singers, poets, and so on, who were
NOT allowed to perform in any tongue but Turkish. Later, when
their arms were taken away and they were slaughtered, the works they
left behind were claimed as Turkish, as are the Hagia Sofia, Assyrian
and Greek sculpture, and Armenian poetry.
In the obvious case of the great blind oudist Udi Hrant, he cannot
be heard on record singing in Armenian, although he WAS an Armenian,
and one of the most famous Armenians who lived in Turkey. He can only be
heard singing in Turkish.
The melodies of the amanes, amanethes, shared throughout Greece
and Anatolia are now still claimed to be shared by all the cultures who
have lived in Anatolia, since the agora of Smyrna/Izmir was the meeting
place for Greeks, Armenians, Kurds, Jews, Arabs, and Assyrians, and all
shared verses and sang this music to "a god invited by despair". The
word "amanes" refers to "mana", or mother, in Greek: in other words, it
is the last cry of the soldier on the battlefield, and it is the
universal cry of the lonely. Fortunately the word "aman" is permissable
in Turkey, but how soon will be be written in Turkish books of musical
education that this great vocal tradition is initially a Turkish one?
What then will the Greeks who hear our finest amanes singer Dalgas think
in 100 years? In even 50?
As a daughter of a Maniate Spartan and an Anatolian hailing from
Smryna/Izmir, the Black Sea, and Alexandria, I find the ethnic cleansing
of art to be preposterous, but also to be dangerous. If an Armenian is
told to reject what may be his by birthright because he is later
educated by disinformation passed down through Turkish Ethnic Music
Institutes that the music he loves is NOT Armenian but in fact Turkish,
what does he have left? How many dromoi/makams (scales) does he have
left to sing? This is true for all the cultures I mention above.
Robbery is not just the robbery of money or human flesh; it
involves the soul murder of cultures
which will soon die if it they have no more songs to sing.
Especially in the desert. And survival in the desert has been proven to
be perilous.
Kasim Agpak of the Turkish-Kurdish Youth Collective said:
"Hrant's killing cannot only be explained through hysteria,
anxiety and ultra-nationalism. Those listed indeed an outcome of a long
implementation, plantation of constitutional racism and anti-democratic
articles and attitudes. How can a 17 year old kid can have a strong
nationalistic feelings that drove him to kill someone in the name of
defending his nation? What are the elements behind it? It was not long
after that lynch campign against Kurds began. Officials who were
responsible of Semdinli incident released. Intellectuals oppressed under
the famous 301 article. Orhan Pamuk had to leave his country. Perhaps he
knew, in Turkey, even Doves can be killed. There was even no
understanding of people's saying that we are all Armenians, we are all
Hrant Dink. There was an immediate response, reaction to it saying, No,
we are all Turks. What does this tell us? The only and true meaning of
we are all Armenians was that we are all human beings.
Hrant is son of Mesopotamia, he is son of Ararat, he is son of
Tigris and Euphrate!... His intellectual work, his understanding of
humanism, his ideas and thoughts are for me, as being Kurd, will be a
path that should be followed...
A message from Gurgîn Bakircioglu, Vice Chair of the Kurdish
Student and Academic Association (KSAF) and Editor of Beyan.net:
What Hrant Dink did was that he spoke about Turkey's most
controversial issue and for this, he was slain. But they did not kill
Hrant, he lives through his son, Arat Dink, the son that faced the same
charges, was convicted for it and given the same one year suspended
sentence for insulting Turkishness.
I believe that Hrant installed a concrete foundation before he was
murdered by spineless cowards that stabbed democracy and freedom of
speech in the back.
Gandhi once said:
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight
you, then you win.
I have some messages with me from Sweden.
Firstly, I have brought a message from the Kurdish Student and
Academic Association of Sweden, of which I am Vice-chairman. We wish our
Assyrian/Armenian friends peaceful respect between each other and we
recognize the massacres as a genocide and for this, we are also sorry.
The reason that Hrant Dink was slain was that he had not forgotten the
genocide, he had not forgotten his own history.
The Armenian National Union of Sweden and all Armenians of Sweden
greet you all.
The Kurdish National Union of Sweden condemns the Armenian
Genocide; they hope that the massacres will be recognized as genocide.
At the same time they don't want all of the Kurdish people to be
associated as active participants.
They are honouring the memory of Hrant, his struggle and the
Armenian people's right to exist as Armenians.
Professor David Gaunt from Södertörn University College in
Stockholm also wanted to send a message: He thinks that it is a shame
that Turkey has not recognized the Armenian/Assyrian genocide and he
condemns the murder of Mr.Dink.
A message from Esabelle Reshdouni, a Swedish MP, Equality-politics
representative:
Hrant Dink was an advocate of Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the
Press and champion for minority rights in Turkey. During his visit here
in Sweden, as a Member of Parliament, we had the privilege of meeting
him and hearing his thoughts and arguments about his articles, his works
but also about the development of the situation in Turkey, now engaged
in negotiations for membership in the EU. Dink was firmly convinced that
the European community would support Turkey in the improvement of
several important issues, such as those mentioned above. He had been
charged for treason when he had written about the Armenian genocide and
the past which Turkey must admit and acknowledge. Article 301, on which
he was prosecuted and convicted to a suspended sentence was the kind of
shortcoming which Dink hoped to be reformed.
He felt threatened, but never spoke of it. Many organizations
expressed their concerns about the threat situation, but no one would
take the threat seriously until it was too late. And the governments,
the journalists and the rest of the world were swift in condemning the
murder and the conditions in Turkey leading to that unfortunate destiny.
And it is even more saddening and alarming that today, one year after
the murder of Hrant Dink, Article 301 of the Turkish Criminal law, still
is in power and continues to be utilized to silence those who speak of
reforms, improvements, freedom of speech and human rights in Turkey.
Hrant Dink's son, Arat Dink, was, on October 10, 2007, prosecuted and
sentenced to the same punishment as his father for reprinting Hrant
Dink's last article. I sincerely hope that the world will not stay
silent and indifferent and let history repeat itself.
A poem was read by Nazim Hikmet, one of Hrant's favourite
Turkish poets - a poet who was exiled from Turkey for many years and
imprisoned earlier by the Turkish state for exposing and speaking out
against Turkish state terror against the marginalised . Nazim Hikmet
also acknowledged, decades ago, the terrible crimes perpetrated in the
massacres of the Armenians and spoke of the relevance to confront this
terrible crime)
-------------------------------------------------- -------
The Strangest Creature On Earth - by Nazim Hikmet
Trans. by Randy Blasing and Mutlu Konuk (1993)
You're like a scorpion, my brother,
you live in cowardly darkness
like a scorpion.
You're like a sparrow, my brother,
always in a sparrow's flutter.
You're like a clam, my brother,
closed like a clam, content,
And you're frightening, my brother,
like the mouth of an extinct volcano.
Not one,
not five--
unfortunately, you number millions.
You're like a sheep, my brother:
when the cloaked drover raises his stick,
you quickly join the flock
and run, almost proudly, to the slaughterhouse.
I mean you're strangest creature on earth--
even stranger than the fish
that couldn't see the ocean for the water.
And the oppression in this world
is thanks to you.
And if we're hungry, tired, covered with blood,
and still being crushed like grapes for our wine,
the fault is yours--
I can hardly bring myself to say it,
but most of the fault, my dear brother, is yours.
The text of the song sung by Prof Khatchatur Pilikian
God the Free (Song of Freedom) by Mikael Nalbandian
translated as "Liberty"by Zabelle Boyajian
When the God of Liberty
Formed of Earth this mortal frame,
Breathed the breath of life in me,
And a spirit I became
Wrapped within my swaddling bands,
Bounced and fettered helplessly,
I stretched forth my infant hands
To embrace sweet Liberty
All night long,until the dawn,
In my cradle bound I lay;
And my sobbing's ceaseless moan
Drove my mother's sleep away
As I begged her, weeping loud,
To unbind and set me free;
From that very day I vowed
I would love thee, Liberty
---------------------------------------- ----------------------
The following article by Ragip Zarokulu, the Turkish
publisher who faces trial next week for publishing the translation in
Turkish of "The Truth will set us free" by George Jerjian was read at
the end of the event
THE LEGACY OF MILITARIST NATIONALISM IN TURKEY
Ragip Zarakolou - an abridged English translation.
The national security state was a concept utilised
during the cold war era when military dictatorships were encouraged by
the West not only to deal with the external enemy but with the so called
"internal enemy" too. During the 1960s and 70s many countries in Latin
America, as well as Greece, Turkey, Indonesia, South Korea were ruled by
military coups with such an objective. Argentina, Chile and Turkey also
suffered from a process which destroyed their democratic movements and
establishments. In Brazil, Chile and Turkey the regimes were
reconstituted either by elimination of or by significant restructuring
of their political parties, trade unions, clubs and societies - all
under the pretext of "national security".
This model has a past which takes us to the 1920s:
Militarist regimes were established by Salazarism, Francoism and
Kemalism. To this list can be added the dictatorships of General
Pilsudski in Poland, General Metaxas of Greece and of Admiral Horty of
Hungary.
The military nationalist establishment in Turkey has
worked hand in glove with the West and the United States in particular,
and has enhanced its ideology to the extreme. So much so that elected
governments have had little effective power on a number of key issues
and areas of government, which are the exclusive domain of the dictates
of the military, through its control of the "National Security Council".
There is in Turkey a SECRET CONSTITUTION known as the "Red Book".
During the summer of 2006 Erdoghan's government
accepted the "Red Book" in its new form and refused to reveal it to the
public, claiming that it should remain secret due to its importance to
the state. As the situation stands "extreme nationalism" and "racism"
are not classified as dangerous extremism in Turkey. Thus aggressive
nationalism is not frowned upon and its murderers "will kill on orders"
but within this psyche they are confidentially looked upon as "boys with
good intentions" - literally "our boys".
Some of the media is against this state of affairs,
while another section is building up a wave for new "heroes" for this
psyche of militarist nationalism. TV programmes have at times
unrealistic stories. For example the seat of the Greek Church in the
Fener district of Istanbul is declared to be a "New Vatican". The
Christian missionaries are stated to be a great threat, claiming that
their intention is to Christianise the Kurds and the Alevis. [The Alevis
are semi Islamic and form apparently twenty two percent of the entire
population - Translator]. However those who are seen purely as Turkish
by blood [a concept that cannot be proved in Anatolia - Tr.] are thought
not to be in danger. Kurds and Alevis are declared to be unreliable.
Although it is claimed that Turkey is a secular state
the pious foundations or schools belonging to, for example, the Armenian
and Greek churches have been persistently eroded by the state and are
looked upon as "foreign". This problem erupted significantly during the
presidency of Ismet Inonou [from 1938, second only to Ataturk]. The long
term objective is to completely eliminate these so claimed "foreign"
Christian establishments.
The Protestant and Catholic communities in the country
have significant difficulties in conforming to and establishing their
places of worship officially. Bombs have been thrown in the Greek
Patriarchate a number of times.
The military's official website places the Christian
Missionaries among its list of dangers. Denying the Armenian Genocide is
one of its primary objectives. Its declarations are in line with the
ideology of Turanism-Panturkism. The military even backs Talat Pasha's
disastrous World War exploits. On 28 April 2007 it even had the audacity
to call for a coup by e-mail. These of course can be looked upon as
training for the future.
The military during the last 90 years has refused to
solve the Kurdish issue by peaceful and political means. There have been
generals who have even declared that "if it was not for this damned
"Human Rights" difficulty we would have solved the problem in one day"!
[In this respect one has to remember the fate of the Armenians of
Western Armenia as well as of Anatolia, additionally the fates of the
Christian Assyrians and Pontic Greeks must also be considered - Tr.].
This militarist nationalism will of course utilise
veiled methods in its war against the "internal enemy". This psyche is
expanded through massive propaganda to Turkish citizens abroad, thus
persistently harassing progressive researchers and authors such as Taner
Akcam during their scholarly public appearances. A direct order from
above for such pursuits is even unnecessary since numerous racist and
nationalist organisations, according to their ideological brainwashing
will pursue and will implement, like programmed robots, what is required
or "necessary".
This regime's long history even harks to the dark days
when it had ties with the Nazis. Since the Cold War, however, it has
been significantly revitalised by NATO and is uncompromising on its
stance and ideology: Those who stand in its way in the country are told:
"you will be pushed out of the way"!
The question here is: Was the attack on Hrant Dink a
coincidence? Is it also a coincidence that because the Syriac Christian
community is now investigating its genocide it is coming under threats
and that one of its researchers was recently murdered in Sweden?
Why are the Catholic priests from abroad constantly
attacked, and one was murdered?
Why are the Protestants and the Germans who have
chosen to live in Turkey having difficulty in pursuing their religious
beliefs without harassment?
What has all this to do with a state that claims to be
secularist?
None of the above and more are coincidences. The
mindset remains militarist. This state of affairs can only be ended by
internationalist solidarity of peoples.
---------------------------------------------- ------------------
[1][1] BIA News (2007) 'Retrospective On Trials Against Hrant Dink', 19
January 2007 (Accessed at:
http://www.bianet.org/2006/11/01_eng/news90480 .htm).
[2][2] The Bay Area Armenian National Committee (2006) 'Hrant Dink &
Ragip Zarakolu Visit the Bay Area', The Bay Area Armenian National
Committee, 14 March 2006 (Accessed at:
http://www.ancsf.org/pressreleases/2006/031420 06.htm).
[3][3]The Bay Area Armenian National Committee (2006) 'Hrant Dink &
Ragip Zarakolu Visit the Bay Area', The Bay Area Armenian National
Committee, 14 March 2006 (Accessed at:
http://www.ancsf.org/pressreleases/2006/031420 06.htm).
[4][4] For further details, see Fernandes, D. (2007) The Kurdish and
Armenian Genocides: From Censorship and Denial to Recognition? Apec,
Stockholm, and the Rasti website (http://rastibini.blogspot.com/).
[5][5] The Bay Area Armenian National Committee (2006) 'Hrant Dink &
Ragip Zarakolu Visit the Bay Area', The Bay Area Armenian National
Committee, 14 March 2006 (Accessed at:
http://www.ancsf.org/pressreleases/2006/031420 06.htm).
[6][6] The Bay Area Armenian National Committee (2006) 'Hrant Dink &
Ragip Zarakolu Visit the Bay Area', The Bay Area Armenian National
Committee, 14 March 2006 (Accessed at:
http://www.ancsf.org/pressreleases/2006/031420 06.htm).
[7][7] The Bay Area Armenian National Committee (2006) 'Hrant Dink &
Ragip Zarakolu Visit the Bay Area', The Bay Area Armenian National
Committee, 14 March 2006 (Accessed at:
http://www.ancsf.org/pressreleases/2006/031420 06.htm).
[8][8] As quoted by Candar, C. (2007) 'The so-called "Akdamar Museum"',
Turkish Daily News, 30 March 2007.
[9][9] AINA (2007) 'Killing of Assyrian Professor Feared to Be Linked to
Research', 15 December 2007.
[10][10] See Fernandes, D. (2007) The Kurdish and Armenian Genocides:
>From Censorship and Denial to Recognition? Apec, Stockholm.
[11][11] See Fernandes, D. (2008) Perspectives on the Armenian,
Assyrian, Greek and Kurdish Genocides. Apec, Stockholm
[12][12] See Defixiones, Will and Testament
(http://www.diamandagalas.com/defixiones /the_concept.htm).