the January 19 roundtable discussion hosted by the RA Ministry of Diaspora and entitled “Hrant Dink: 10 Years Later”, Director of the Institute of Oriental Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia, Turkologist Ruben Safrastyan gave a speech entitled “Hrant Dink as a Figure and an Individual”.

In his speech, Ruben Safrastyan expressed gratitude to the RA Ministry of Diaspora for organizing the commemorative event and stated that the roundtable discussion serves as an opportunity to understand and interpret Hrant Dink the phenomenon once again.

“A decade is a period during which we can sum up our impressions of this individual, reinterpret and understand who Hrant Dink was, why he fought for all of us and why he was killed.

His struggle was first and foremost for him to fully discover his identity and the identity of the Armenians so that he could express the thoughts that were particularly the thoughts of a person living in modern-day Turkey. Dink fought for his people and justice until the day he died, and this is his greatness and achievement. The image of Hrant Dink consolidates all Armenians around the world. By sacrificing his life, he paved the way for the future,” the Turkologist said, adding that Dink was determined and, as he would say, he was always in the focal point of the struggle, reported Hayern Aysor.

Ruben Safrastyan recalled an episode of the life of the most famous Armenian journalist in Turkey. “While publishing articles for Istanbul’s Marmara Daily, Hrant Dink presented himself with the pseudonym “Jutak” (Violin). The violin is considered one of the musical instruments that has the greatest influence on a person. He was trying to have an influence on people and lead the crowd, but he became a “fearful pigeon” that was killed.”

The Turkologist also recalled his meeting with Dink in 2003 when Dink had said that he was going to be killed. It seemed as though he foresaw his death.

At the end of his speech, Ruben Safrastyan touched upon Turkish-Armenian MP Garo Paylan. “It is safe to say that Garo Paylan is following in Hrant Dink’s footsteps. When I was preparing my speech for this roundtable discussion, I found a photo of Garo Paylan holding the photo reading “We are all Armenian, We are all Hrant Dink” during Dink’s funeral. It was very influential. I must also state the fact that Garo Paylan took his first steps in journalism as a journalist for Agos Weekly under the supervision of Hrant Dink.”

Gevorg Chichyan