Hrant Dink's only book published in Istanbul

PanARMENIAN.Net - An international foundation that was founded to promote Turkish-Armenian relations following the 2007 murder of famous Turkish-Armenian writer and journalist Hrant Dink, has published Dink's first and only book.



The International Hrant Dink Foundation's publicity cocktail for the book "Two Close Nations, Two Distant Neighbors" was held on Thursday at the Tutun Deposu in the Tophane quarter of Istanbul, with the attendance of the murdered journalist's wife, Rakel, his daughter, Sera, Etyen Mahjupyan, who took over the post of editor-in-chief of the Armenian daily Agos after Dink's demise, and a number of other journalists, academics and intellectuals, such as Ali Bayramoglu, Prof. Ahmet nsel, Esber Yagmurdereli and Hakan Tahmaz.



In a short speech, Rakel Dink said: "We live on for the continuity of that courageous voice. He used to speak out for justice without asking questions or questioning things. We should follow in his footsteps for the sake of justice. Let my husband's ears ring."



"Hrant Dink never wrote a book. He used to make fun of this situation, saying, 'I'm a writer without a book.' This humorous approach also points to the fact that Hrant was a man of action. As the founder and editor-in-chief of Agos, he developed a style and a way of action, primarily on Turkish-Armenian relations, one of the main problems in Turkey. He also contributed to the democratization process in Turkey," according to the poster that invited people to the publicity cocktail. In the book, Dink talks about the importance of Turkish-Armenian relations.



"He writes that he dedicated the book to the Armenians, Turks and Kurds killed during the forced migrations of 1915. "Are we going to act like the perpetrators of the great disasters of the past or are we going to write new pages in a way befitting a civilized person by extracting lessons from those errors? This is the biggest responsibility incumbent on us. It's my most important duty to make efforts for the improvement of Turkish-Armenian relations," he writes, Zaman reports.