Epress.am News from Armenia
Do we really want to uncover Hrant Dink’s murder? Or do we want to continue to live with our pain and embarrassment? These questions arise when we remember the day of Hrant’s death, said journalist Aris Nalci, speaking of his colleague, Armenian-Turkish weekly Agos chief editor Hrant Dink in an Epress.am interview. Recall that Dink was assassinated in front of his office in Istanbul on Jan. 19, 2007.
Aris is Agos’ Managing Editor, working at the Istanbul-based publication for 13 years. He came across Hrant Dink on his journey as a journalist, and considered him his spiritual father and teacher.
Regretfully, Aris Nalci says, four years after Dink’s death, very little has changed in relations between the Armenian and Turkish public. Very little has been done of all that which was talked about — what was the Turkish-Armenian journalist fighting for? he asked.
“I am afraid Hrant Dink’s name will become a trademark. Many are using his name, but not implementing his ideas,” said Nalci.
In Nalci’s opinion, in truth, the reforms that took place in the Turkish public were carried out not by Armenians or Turks, but by Hrant. His name became the name of the community, he said.
“I always say reforms are carried out by people, people can be good or bad, and not states or nations. He did the reforms and he paid for them with his life. But, at this time, we are at least 2 steps away from realizing Hrant’s ideas. This refers to Armenians as much as Turks, and Armenians in Armenia and Armenians in Turkey,” he said.
Nalci recalled that Hrant’s struggle was for freedom of speech; however, in this area, there are still many problems in Turkey today. Hrant Dink wanted to see active dialogue between Armenians and Turks, today, however, that dialogue is lacking.
“After four years since Hrant Dink’s death, Turkey’s Prime Minister [Recept Tayyip] Erdogan is able to say bad things about Armenians; he is still able to say that they can deport citizens of Armenia from Turkey. In terms of freedom of speech, we’re still at the same place. Even the European Court issued a ruling against Turkey, but the government and state still haven’t done anything [to implement that ruling],” said Nalci.
The Turkish-Armenian journalist noted that two of Dink’s dreams have not yet been realized: there is no radio station in Turkey belonging to Armenians, though there was the opportunity, but the Armenian community didn’t act on it; and there also isn’t a school for immigrants from Armenia.
“These dreams don’t just belong to Hrant. They are ‘musts’ for democracy. We are forced to say that after Dink’s death, the situation on freedom of speech and democracy has remained the same,” he said, adding that even Agos was unable to develop new ways of communication.
“And I’m saying that I am ashamed for this myself and I’m ashamed for everyone,” confessed Nalci.
According to him, Armenians and Turks must resolve those issues for which Hrant Dink was struggling to find a solution. This is a problem jointly shared by the Armenian and Turkish public. It’s necessary to stimulate the dialogue between the two countries, to create a joint newspaper and TV channel, and to raise to an official level joint projects by NGOs with the aim of bringing the two nations’ peoples closer together.
The Armenian and Turkish public were facing the same issues prior to Jan. 19, 2007.