|
50,000 Turks mourn slain Armenian editor
2007-01-23
Some 50,000 people filed silently through Istanbul on Tuesday behind the coffin of slain Turkish Armenian editor Hrant Dink, whose killing has stirred debate about influence of hardline nationalism in the country. From early morning, tearful mourners, many holding identical black-and-white signs reading "We are all Hrant Dink" and "We are all Armenians," gathered outside the Agos newspaper office where Dink was shot three times in broad daylight last Friday. White doves were released into the air as somber music played. Much of downtown Istanbul was closed to traffic. Ogun Samast, 17, has confessed to killing Dink for "insulting" Turks. A nationalist militant friend of Samast has admitting to police that he incited Samast to kill Dink. "We are seeing off our brother with a silent walk, without slogans and without asking how a baby became a murderer," Dink's widow Rakel, surrounded by her three children, told mourners. Amid tight security, thousands of people followed the black hearse with the coffin on its 8-km (5 mile) journey across Istanbul and the Golden Horn waterway to an Armenian church. Cabinet ministers, foreign diplomats, Armenian government officials and members of both Turkey's 60,000-strong Armenian community and the global Armenian diaspora joined the service. The killing has sparked concerns about Turkey's attitude to its minorities, not least among the diaspora which is especially influential in France and the United States. The European Union, which Turkey hopes to join, wants Ankara to improve the rights of its ethnic and religious minorities. "This is not an exceptional case but the result of a poisonous nationalist atmosphere. Turkey's credibility abroad has hit rock bottom," said Turkish businessman Vural Oger. Dink, like dozens of other intellectuals, had been prosecuted for his views on the massacres of Armenians by Ottoman Turks in 1915 -- a very sensitive issue in Turkey. Turkish media criticized the prime minister, president and top army generals for staying away from Dink's funeral. "If the president, the prime minister and chief of the general staff came to the funeral, I would be hopeful the state has given up on a lynching culture and started to (practice) self-criticism," said liberal columnist Cengiz Candar. NATIONALISM Like Nobel Literature laureate Orhan Pamuk, Dink had come under fire from nationalists, including some politicians. They felt his view that Turkey should face up to its role in the massacres of Armenians threatened national security and honor. Turkey has become a more open, liberal country in recent years, helped by a swathe of EU-linked reforms. But the murder of the editor, who had sought reconciliation between Muslim Turks and Christian Armenians, was a reminder of darker fears that still haunt this predominantly Muslim country. Turks are taught from early childhood to revere their country, its flag and its founder Kemal Ataturk -- but this heavy emphasis on the nation can lead to intolerance for outsiders and has fueled various militant groups over the decades ready to use violence against perceived threats. Newspapers said the murder may lead to warming ties between Turkey and the tiny ex-Soviet republic of Armenia. Turkey broke off diplomatic ties in 1993 over a territorial row. Turkey denies claims that 1.5 million Armenians died in a systematic genocide at Ottoman Turkish hands, saying large numbers of both Christian Armenians and Muslim Turks perished. But, to Ankara's dismay, many foreign parliaments have passed laws recognizing the massacres as genocide. Dink's murder has increased pressure on the pro-EU government to scrap a controversial law used against Dink and others to curb freedom of expression.
Five Turks charged in murder of editor (2007-01-25)Turkish teen jailed over journalist's murder (2007-01-24)50,000 Turks mourn slain Armenian editor (2007-01-23)Turkey probes journalist's murder amid huge public outcry (2007-01-20)Nobel winner Pamuk returns home amid tight security (2006-12-14)
| 
