Turkey: Hrant Dink commemorated on the anniversary of his assassination

Turkey: Hrant Dink commemorated on the anniversary of his assassination
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Filmmaker Alper has stressed in his address to the crowd that justice has not been met even 16 years after Dink's murder.

Armenian Journalist Hrant Dink was commemorated on Thursday in Istanbul at the same spot he was assassinated 16 years ago by a trigger man. A large crowd gathered for the commemoration and an address was made by filmmaker Emin Alper.

Stressing that justice has not been met years after the murder of Dink, Alper said:

"Blood is still oozing from the wound of our friend who is lying on a sidewalk of Osmanbey neighborhood. The thin trail of blood is streaming in search of a path, running between his feet that rest on the ground facing each other. It is trying to find a way through Anatolian soil to his hometown in Malatya, running under court doors turned-stone in the face of search for justice, under houses to which hateful, vengeful instigators return in peace in the evenings, the blood is streaming through the remains of Camp Armen."

He continued:

"We can change this story of humanity, and we have to. If we are looking for justice, if we seek punishment not only against the trigger man but also against the instigators, not only the instigators but also against those who turned Dink into a target, then we have to change this story. We have to do it, as not only the blood of Dink, but the blood of thousands of innocent people massacred in these lands are still running among us."

Assassination of Hrant Dink

Dink, the founder and editor-in-chief of Armenian newspaper Agos, struggled for a truthful recollection of historical facts hidden in the foundations of modern Turkey, in particular the 1915 Armenian Genocide that eradicated the Armenian population in the Ottoman Empire. Dink equally sought for a reconciliation between the Armenians and the people of Turkey.

He was shot by a Ogun Samast, the triggerman, on 19 January 2007, among a crowd of people in a very busy spot near the offices of Agos in Istanbul's Osmanbey.