The background to the murder of Turkish journalist Hrant Dink

by wsws (reposted)

Sun, Jan 28, 2007 10:04AM

On January 19 Hrant Dink, the well-known Turkish journalist of Armenian origin, was murdered in broad daylight on the streets of Istanbul by a right-wing assassin. Dink’s murder is the tragic result of a wave of nationalism and chauvinism spearheaded by the Turkish military, supported by its “civilian partners,” which has terrorized the country over the last few years.

Dink was assassinated outside the Istanbul offices of Agos, the bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly newspaper he edited. He was shot in the head and neck three times, allegedly by 17-year-old Ögün Samast, an unemployed youth from the northeastern town of Trabzon, with links to fascist organizations.

Dink, who died at the age of 51 leaving behind a wife, two daughters and a son, was the most outspoken and courageous opponent of the official Turkish nationalist policy of denying the Armenian genocide, which took place in 1915 towards the end of the Ottoman Empire. At the same time, Dink was an outspoken advocate of mutual respect between Turkey’s majority population and its Armenian minority.

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http://wsws.org/articles/2007/jan2007/turk-j27.shtml

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