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23 January 2007
Armenian Diaspora flows into Istanbul today for Hrant Dink's funeral
With
ethnically Armenian journalist Hrant Dink being laid to rest today in Istanbul
after his murder on an Istanbul street on Friday afternoon, a full plane load of
Armenian citizens from Yerevan is expected to arrive today in Turkey to attend
funeral services.
In addition, though Armenian President Robert Kocharian is not himself attending, he will be sending his top level consultant, Samson Ozarat, who emigrated from Turkey to Armenia some years ago, to attend the funeral. Also in attendance will be Armenian Deputy Foreign Minister Arman Kirakosian, as well as the General Secretary of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation Foundation, Karen Mirzoyan. From France, which has a strong Armenian community of its own, the head of the French Armenian Foundation, Alexi Govcian, will arrive in Turkey with a delegation, as will Armenian religious leaders from both Bulgaria and Romania.
Patriarch
Karekin II represented by Barsamian
Arriving at Istanbul's Ataturk Airport yesterday was Armenian Patriarch Hajak
Barsamian, the Orthodox leader of Armenians living on the East Coast of the US,
and who arrived in Turkey as the official representative of Patriarch Karekin
II, the world leader of the Armenian community.
Crowds mass in Istanbul to bid farewell to Hrant Dink
With thousands of people marching slowly behind the black hearse carrying
murdered journalist Hrant Dink's coffin through the streets of Sisli, towards
Istanbul's Taksim Square, Istanbul citizens came out in masses today to honor
the slain Agos newspaper general editor on his final journey.
Armenian melodies wafted from the offices of Agos newspaper in Sisli this
morning in advance of the ceremony which took place there, at which Dink's
widow, Rakel Dink, addressed the crowds. The hearse arrived this morning in
front of the Agos offices, allowing the cortege which followed Dink to accompany
him on his last visit to the newspaper he founded and ran.
The crowds winding their way through some of Istanbul's most central districts
behind the hearse carrying Dink's coffin are mostly silent, with Agos newspaper
journalists insisting that the funeral cortege itself not be a place for the
shouting of slogans. Many in the crowd are carrying posters and signs which read
"We are all Armenian" or "We are all Hrant Dink. " Some of the signs also
pointedly read "Murderer 301," a reference to the controversial article 301 of
the Turkish Penal Code which forbids "insulting Turkey, Turkishness, or the
Turkish Parliament." The 17 year old from Trabzon who shot the gun that ended
Dink's life said he did so because Dink had "insulted Turkey."
