January 19, 2007
Hrant Dink Murdered
A prominent Turkish-Armenian editor, convicted in 2005 of insulting Turkish identity, has been shot dead outside his newspaper’s office in Istanbul.
Crowds of Hrant Dink’s colleagues and supporters gathered at the scene, chanting their outrage at his murder.
Dink was given a six-month suspended sentence in October 2005 after writing about the Armenian “genocide” of 1915.
The US, EU and Armenia have condemned his murder and Turkey’s leaders vowed to bring those responsible to justice.
“A bullet has been fired at democracy and freedom of expression,” Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a hastily convened news conference.
[snip]
Dink was among dozens of writers in Turkey who have been charged under 301 of Turkey’s penal code with insulting Turkish identity, often for articles dealing with the killing of Kurds and Ottoman Armenians.
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