2ND Thousands gather to mourn Turkish-Armenian journalist


dpa German Press Agency
Published: Tuesday January 23, 2007

Ankara- Tens of Thousands of people gathered in Istanbul
Tuesday to pay their last respects to Turkish-Armenian journalist
Hrant Dink, 52, shot dead on Friday by a 17 year-old youth with
extreme nationalist views.
Dressed in black, the mourners gathered outside the offices of
Agos newspaper where Dink was shot three times on Friday afternoon.

From there, they marched behind a hearse carrying Dink's coffin
for eight kilometres to the Armenian Orthodox Virgin Mary
Patriarchate Church for the funeral ceremony.

As requested by organizers of the funeral those marching carried
just one type of placard that read "We are all Hrant Dink, we are all
Armenians."

"You have left the ones you loved, your children and
grandchildren, but you did not leave your country," Dink's widow
Rakel told the crowd before the march.

The funeral was presided over by Armenian Patriarch Mesrob II and
was attended by government ministers, journalist colleagues and
Turkish people from all walks of life.

In his funeral address, the patriarch called for an end to
hostilities between Armenians and Turks.

Armenians who had lived in Turkey for "thousands of years" should
not be looked upon as "foreigners and potential enemies," he said.

Patriarch Mesrob said he hoped that there would be a dialogue
between Turkey and the Republic of Armenia.

Arman Kirakossian, Armenia's deputy foreign minister, also
attended. Turkey and Armenia have no diplomatic ties. Thousands later
gathered at Balikli Armenian cemetery where Dink was buried.

Dink had attracted death threats from nationalists in Turkey and
was last year found guilty under Turkey's notorious Article 301 for
having "insulting Turkishness" for comments he made in his newspaper
concerning Turkish-Armenian relations.

Prosecutors focused on a quote from an article in Argos newspaper
in which Dink said he had "a special call to the Armenians in the
diaspora who are getting poisoned by their anger towards the Turks."

Dink had earlier been found not guilty of "insulting the Turkish
state" for remarks he made at a conference in 2002 where he stated
that Armenians face discrimination in Turkey.

Police Tuesday continued questioning the youth who confessed to
the murder on Saturday evening.

It appeared that while he had uttered extreme nationalist views,
he had no direct links to extremist groups although he did associate
with a number of known extremists.

© 2006 - dpa German Press Agency