Hrant Dink: ‘He was a truth narrator’

Agos Newspaper Editor-in-Chief Hrant Dink was murdered in front of the newspaper building in Şişli in Turkey on 19 January 2007.

Fourteen years later, one of the Hrant Dink’s close friends, writer and cartoonist Kemal Gökhan Gürses, told Mesopotamia Agency (MA): “I think this was the purpose of Hrant. He thought that if people hear and understand each other and talk to each other, it will help them to get away from their prejudices. According to Hrant: ‘Our only way should be to advocate living together'”.

Dink’s friend Tatyos Bebek said: “According to Hrant, those people who were exposed to discrimination, especially minorities, had to be protected. The minority problem, the Kurdish problem, the Alevi problem, and the headscarf issue were actually an identity problem. He believed that all these problems could be solved through democratisation. Thanks to Hrant, an enlightenment had almost begun for the Armenians and hope was increased”.

Bülent Aydın from Hrant’s Friends Initiative described Hrant as a “truth narrator”. This year, the Hrant Dink commemoration will be be held in a different manner from previous years, because of the restrictions in place over the pandemic. Aydın stated that the commemoration event will be held online on 19 January due to the pandemic.