Dink murder 8th anniversary commemorated in Istanbul

Dink murder 8th anniversary commemorated in Istanbul

PanARMENIAN.Net - The Sisli District Organization of the Turkey’s opposition Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) commemorated Hrant Dink with a rally on the 8th anniversary of his assassination in Istanbul.

The HDP also released a press statement underlying Cizre police chief Ercan Demir's connection with the Dink murder. Several recent murders and disappearances in Cizre have been linked to police.

Agos, the Armenian weekly newspaper reports, that a petition was launched for the name of Ergenekon Street to be changed to Hrant Dink Street. As in previous years, a “Hrant Dink Street” sticker was placed on the “Ergenekon Street” sign. The campaign for the name change will remain open to signatures until April 24, the day of commemoration of the Armenian Genocide.

A group of around fifty people unfurled a banner stating "Time to face Hrant, time to face the Genocide”, and chanted the slogans, “Kurd, Turk, Armenian / Long live the fraternity of peoples”, “We are all Hrant / We are all Armenian”.

Xunav Altun, District Co-President of the HDP Sisli District Organization, reminded that the 8th anniversary of Dink’s murder also corresponded to the 100th anniversary of the Genocide, adding, “The Genocide continues… Those who claimed that Sevag Balıkcı, who was murdered for being an Armenian while fulfilling his military duty, died because of a joke that went wrong; those who claim that Maritsa Kucuk, who was taken from us at her home in Samatya, was killed during a crime of petty larceny, in fact want to murder the truth itself. Our response to those who perceive Armenians as ‘remnants of the sword’ is to broaden our sisterhood and brotherhood, and to cry out the truth. We demand true justice for Hrant, Sevag and Maritsa, the most recent rings in the chain of the Armenian Genocide. We hold light to this darkness that transforms babies into murderers.”

Agos founder and editor-in-chief, Hrant Dink, was also commemorated at his graveside with a ceremony attended by his family and friends. The commemoration event was attended by MP from the Republican People's Party Sezgin Tanrikulu, who reminded that other than a few gunmen, the real organizers of the murder were not unearthed.

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