A Year Later: Are We Still All Hrant Dinks? (Winter 08)

Mary Kandaharian
kandaharian88@ucla.edu

On January 25 2008, emotions were stirring as people walked into the hall of the Western Diocese Church where a picture of Hrant Dink’s face gazed down on close to 300 people.

The Western Diocese Church and the Organization of Istanbul Armenians honored the one-year anniversary of the courageous Agos editor-in-chief Hrant Dink’s assassination. The night was filled with profound slideshows, musical interludes and eloquent speeches.

The event started with a somber slideshow portraying the life of Hrant Dink, a dedicated and fearless writer. The images in the slideshow both captured him as an everyday individual and at the same time, a warrior who fought for a cause with his pen rather than a sword.

Following the moment of silence, opening remarks were made by Simon Acilacoglu, President of OIA and Nancy Kolligian, President of NAASR on the same platform that Hrant Dink made his speech a year and a half ago to most of the same people present at his commemoration.

These speakers stressed Hrant Dink’s persistent efforts to bring reconciliation between the Turkish and Armenian nations and people.

"He struggled to make the footsteps that we should all follow," noted Kolligian. "He is one of the rare people whose life and death represent his ideas."

Stephen Kurkjian, who is a Pulitzer Prize winning investigative reporter, described how he flew to Istanbul the second he heard of Hrant Dink’s death. He wanted to be present at the funeral; he further described the array of emotions he felt visiting his hometown after ten years.
He was amazed by the changes he witnessed. "People were all chanting, ‘We are all Hrant, we are all Armenian.’ I was amazed because I was there 10 years ago and no one ever pronounced their Armenianness" said Kurkjian.

His speech was followed by a musical interlude where the traditional flute and harp were played by two musicians, Salpi and Sosi Kerkonian. The music emphasized the melancholic mood of the night.

Professor Taner Akcam from the University of Minnesota was a long-time friend of Dink. He talked about his relationship on the personal level with Hrant Dink. "Everyone deals with Hrant’s death in their own way. I feel like I lost my brother," said Akcam.

Akcam recounted the times of Dink’s journalist days, "Agos was his outlet, his frustration, his child."

Hrant Dink was the founder and editor-in-chief of the newspaper Agos in Turkey from its founding in 1996 to his death in 2007.

A short audio visual display was featured entitled "Swallow’s Nest" produced by Bulent Arinli. This video presentation depicted Dink’s youth spent at the Gedikpasa Armenian Orphanage and his summers at the Tuzla Armenian Children’s Camp.

The camp played a significant role in Dink’s life both personally, as he met his future wife there, and professionally, as the government-led closing of the camp in 1984 was one of the factors that raised Dink’s awareness of the issues of the Armenian community and eventually led his becoming an activist.

Shortly thereafter, Dr. Richard Hovannisian, AEF professor of Armenian History at UCLA, gave a speech reflecting the accomplishments and motivations behind Dink’s controversial actions.
Hovannisian noted, "His thoughts and actions seemed extreme, but they were genuine. He believed that the traditional Armenian way of addressing the Armenian Genoicide should be modified."

He then concluded, "Martyrs sacrifice themselves knowingly and willingly. Victims die without knowing. Hrant knew. Let us hope we understand the mission of Hrant Dink."

Closing the day of remembrance, Archbishop Hovnan Derderian gave a speech about Hrant Dink’s deeds as a martyr of the Armenian cause and finished the commemoration with a final prayer.

And with this concluded the one-year anniversary of the death of an Armenian martyr.