‘It is With Shame that I Accept this Award…’: Hrant Dink Award Winners Announced

The Hrant Dink Foundation bestowed the Hrant Dink Award for the third time Thursday evening in Istanbul. The award — handed out every year on Dink’s birthday, Sept. 15 — is traditionally shared between two people: one, a citizen of Turkey; the other, a foreign national.

 

As noted on the official Hrant Dink Award website, the award is given to “people who work for a world free of discrimination, racism, and violence, take personal risks for their ideals, use the language of peace and by doing so, inspire and encourage others.”

 

This year, independent Istanbul-based newspaper Taraf editor-in-chief and lead columnist Ahmet Altan (pictured below) was the Turkish recipient of the award.

“It’s not with joy but with shame that I accept this award. Along with Turkey’s 70 million people, I was unable to prevent Hrant’s murder. With 70 million people, I was unable to discover the real perpetrator. Accepting this award with shame, I am going to keep it as a deposit — to return it one day to the person who uncovers Hrant’s iniquity,” said Altan in his address.

 

The other recipient of the award was Mexican journalist, feminist and human rights activist Lydia Cacho Ribeiro (pictured below). She was given the award by jury member, Yerevan Press Club President Boris Navasardian and Erkan Ersöz of Turkey’s Conscientious Objection Movement, one of the recipients of last year’s award.

The other recipient of last year’s award was Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón Real, while in 2009, the award winners were Turkish journalist Alper Görmüş and Israeli journalist, publicist Amira Hass.