The murder of editor-in-chief of the Armenian Agos Weekly Hrant Dink changed the conscience of Turkish society. As reported by “ArmenPress”, this is what famous Turk intellectual, historian Taner Akcam wrote in his article published in the Turkish Taraf. “During Hrant Dink’s funeral, Turkey clashed with an unprecedented civil resistance. Every year, more and more Turks are starting to follow Hrant Dink’s example and pursue their civil rights and justice. Hrant was murdered because he said ��?I am Armenian, I want to be a citizen with equal rights like everyone’. This is the most important particularity of the wave of civil resistance-to pursue rights, freedoms and justice without taking into consideration citizens’ ethnic and religious belonging,” writes the Turk intellectual, reminding that many demonstrators reiterated the thought that “I am a Turk, I am nobody’s slave, I am a citizen, I want to participate in decision-making processes’ during the anti-governmental demonstrations that were taking place in Gezi. Akcam mentions that the recent clash between local residents and the police in the Lije colony of Diyarbekir was hinged on the same issue since the Kurds were demanding their rights. The Turk intellectual reminds that there had been similar clashes even before Dink’s murder and records that after a couple of years, those crimes turned into ceremonies held by the families of victims to remember the crimes that the Turkish society had forgotten. “Hrant helped form a new conscience in Turkey and helped create an unprecedented movement. What brought Lije and Gezi, Kurds and Turks together was the torch that was lit after Dink’s murder,” writes the Turk intellectual.

Taner Akcam, who is one of the few Turk intellectuals who have recognized the Armenian Genocide perpetrated by the Turkish government, visited Armenia with Hrant Dink in 2005 and participated in the series of events dedicated to the 90^th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Hrant Dink was murdered by Turk ultranationalists in front of his Agos Weekly editorial office on January 19, 2007. On the day of his funeral, hundreds of thousands of people came out to the streets of Istanbul with signs reading “We Are All Armenian”, “We Are All Hrant”. On 17 January 2012, the 13^th Court of Heavy Crimes of Istanbul acknowledged Yasin Hayal guilty of planning and guiding the crime and sentenced him to life in prison. Ogyun Samast, justifying that he was a minor at the time of the crime, was sentenced to 22.5 years in prison. The court ruled that the murder wasn’t an organized crime and had removed the allegations submitted by 19 persons suspected of being a member of a terrorist organization. The attorneys of Hrant Dink’s family appealed the Turkish court’s shameful verdict, after which the Court of Appeals of Turkey overturned the point of the January 17 verdict of the 14^th Court of Heavy Crimes of Istanbul in which it was mentioned that the murder of Hrant Dink wasn’t organized by an “armed terrorist organization”. In its verdict regarding appeal, the 9^th Criminal Department of the Court of Appeals mentioned that the accused weren’t members of an “armed terrorist grouping”, but an organization “established with the purpose of committing a crime”.

armenpress.am