Tribute to Hrant Dink

TRIBUTE TO HRANT DINK

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HON. FRANK PALLONE, JR.

of new jersey

in the house of representatives

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of Hrant Dink, a beloved journalist, activist, and a man of conscience. Two years ago, on January 19, 2007, Mr. Dink was assassinated in front of his office building in Istanbul. As a Turkish Armenian, he worked tirelessly to unite the Armenians and the Turks. Serving as the editor-in-chief of Agos, Turkey's only bilingual Armenian and Turkish newspaper, Hrant Dink was a leader. When it came to the Armenian Genocide, he rejected the Turkish government's subversion of history. Instead of accepting state denial of the Armenian Genocide, he advocated for truth and battled Turkey's strangling grip on freedom of speech. For these convictions, Hrant Dink was tried for insulting Turkishness under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code. For these convictions, Hrant Dink was brutally assassinated. Two years later, Turkey's citizens who speak honestly about the Armenian Genocide still face potential prosecution and imprisonment for publically denigrating the Turkish Nation or Turkish Republic. This ultra-nationalism hijacks history at the expense of freedom of speech, stifling discussions by the Turkish people. Two years later, the investigation into Hrant Dink's murder is in disarray, corruption in the judicial and police system runs deep, and Turkey's moral authority is weakened. The many involved in Hrant Dink's killing, from members of the gendarmerie to extremist nationalists, have been charged or imprisoned for their actions, but it has become apparent that Istanbul and Trabzon's security departments had information that Hrant Dink would be killed, but failed in their duty to protect him. Turkey should act swiftly to bring justice to the memory of Hrant Dink. This hate and denial produces an environment of fear. This environment produces extreme nationalist organizations that manipulate young men to kill in the name of the Turkish Republic. The law enforcement community was tainted by officers who portrayed Hrant Dink's assassin as a proud Turkish citizen, placing a Turkish flag in his hand and flashing photographs to celebrate a murder. Now, more than ever, Turkey must shun this behavior and embrace the lessons that Hrant Dink taught--the need for reconciliation between the different realities in Turkey. There are those on the extreme fringe who stone Armenian Churches and in the midst of soccer matches chant in jubilation the name of Hrant Dink's killer. These individuals may be extreme, but the Turkish government fosters their existence through laws like Article 301. But there also exists the people in Turkey who see past government intimidation and chant "We are all Armenian, we are all Hrants," as they gather in thousands upon thousands to celebrate his life. On the wake of the 60th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on Genocide, thousands of Turkish intellectuals signed on to a letter apologizing to the Armenian people for the genocide. This promising show of empathy amongst the Turkish people is welcome.

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The apology states, "My conscience does not accept the insensitivity showed to and the denial of the Great Catastrophe that the Ottoman Armenians were subjected to in 1915. I reject this injustice and for my share, I empathize with the feelings and pain of my Armenian brothers and sisters. I apologize to them."

Unfortunately, the Turkish state remains set on its same path to impede reconciliation. A probe launched by a Turkish state prosecutor will investigate the apology campaign to decide if it violated Article 301. As the judicial system continues to assault freedom of speech, elected officials also hamper progress. Recently, Parliamentarian Canan Aritman employed racism against Armenians. Angered by President Abdullah Gul's response to the campaign, she suggested that "Abdullah Gul should be the president of the whole Turkish nation, not of his ethnic origin." She then encouraged fellow parliamentarians to "investigate the ethnic origin of the president's mother." On behalf of Hrant Dink's memory, I call on Turkey to come to terms with its own history and shed the shackles of suppression. In honor of Hrant Dink these actions would be an apt call to conscience.

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