Today's Zaman - Leading Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink was shot dead outside his newspaper office yesterday by an unknown assailant, sending Turkey into deep shock and prompting foreign criticism and statements of concern.
"This heinous attack is against all of us; on our unity, our integrity, our peace and stability," Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdodan said at a hastily arranged press conference. "This is an attack against freedom of thought and our democratic way of life." Erdodan cut short a Cabinet meeting to upon the news of Dink's murder and said he had told his justice and interior ministers to shed light on the killing.
In a statement the Foreign Ministry expressed deep regret at murder of Dink, "a distinguished member of Turkey's Armenian community," and went on: "We strongly denounce and condemn this heinous attack. . The perpetrator(s) of the attack will be caught in the shortest time possible and brought to justice."
News reports said Dink had been shot three times in the neck. An 18 or 19-year-old man was sought as a suspect, and unconfirmed reports said police have detained two people in connection with the murder.
Dink, a 53-year-old Turkish citizen of Armenian descent, had gone on trial numerous times for speaking out about World War I events, which Armenians claim amount to a genocide. He had received numerous threats from ultranationalists, but authorities said he had never demanded state protection.
Last year the Supreme Court of Appeals upheld a six-month suspended jail sentence against him for referring in an article to an Armenian nationalist idea of ethnic purity without Turkish blood. The court said the comments went against Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code, which deals with "insulting Turkishness."
Dink's murder comes as Armenians step up efforts to win international recognition for the alleged genocide and is set to sour political atmosphere in the international scene, something that would complicate Turkey's efforts to counter the claims. The United States and the European Union immediately expressed concern over the attack.
"It's meaningful that this attack comes as the Armenian allegations are on the agenda," Erdodan said. "It is meaningful that bloody hands targeted Dink."
Turkey denies allegations of genocide and says the killings of Armenians took place as the late Ottoman Empire was trying to quell civil unrest sparked by riots of Anatolian Armenians, who then sided with the invading Russian army.
A draft resolution urging the US administration to label the killings as genocide is expected to be brought to US Congress in the coming days, and analysts say the passage of the resolution is almost a foregone conclusion.
Political tensions
Dink's murder may exacerbate domestic tension as well, as political parties are appealing to nationalists for vote ahead of the upcoming elections.
Hundreds who gathered at the site of the shooting were kept behind police lines as Dink's body lay on the street, covered by a white sheet. As an ambulance took away his body, the crowd broke into applause -- a sign of respect for the deceased -- and about 20 people chanted, "The killer state will be held to account," and "Long live the fraternity of the people."
"Those responsible for the attack, those who planned or instigated it, will be caught at once and brought to justice," Erdodan said in Ankara.
"This bullet was fired against Turkey ... an image has been created about Turkey that its Armenian citizens have no safety," said private CNN Türk editor Taha Akyol. Fehmi Koru, a columnist at the Yeni Safak newspaper, said the killing was aimed at destabilizing Turkey. "His loss is the loss of Turkey," Koru said.
'Like a pigeon'
In his last column for Agos, Dink complained that he had become famous as an enemy of Turks and wrote of threats against him.
"My computer's memory is loaded with sentences full of hatred and threats," Dink wrote. "I am just like a pigeon ... I look around to my left and right, in front and behind me as much as it does. My head is just as active.
In an interview with Reuters news agency, Dink said last July: "I will not leave this country. If I go I would feel I was leaving alone the people struggling for democracy in this country. It would be a betrayal of them. I could never do this."
"I'm living together with Turks in this country," Dink said in an Associated Press interviews as he contemplated his latest trial. "I don't think I could live with an identity of having insulted them in this country ... if I am unable to come up with a positive result, it will be honorable for me to leave this country."