FROM APRIL 24 TO JANUARY 19

By Khajag Mgrdichian

 

On January 19, in broad daylight in Istanbul, Turkish intolerance opened fire on Hrand Dink, the editor of  the newspaper Agos, making him a martyr in the struggle for freedom of thought and speech.

 

From the very first day of this crime, the Turkish authorities did everything in their power to convince the international opinion, that the incident was the work of immature extremist youngsters, and that they condemn this deed.

 

This lame Turkish attempt is not new; this very same approach was adopted even before 1915 and, as a matter of fact, it still continues.

 

Listen to the Turkish officials’ and ‘intellectuals’’ expressed points of view on the Armenian genocide, and you will notice the same approach. In spite of the overwhelming historical evidence, from Ecevit and Demirel to Ozal and Erdogan, they all insist, that there was no official decision to massacre the Armenians at the beginning of the past century, there was simply a conviction, that the Armenians, as an untrustworthy element, should be moved from the conflict regions of World War I. As for the massacre of some deportees, it was due to the unsanctioned actions of certain armed elements, motivated by righteous revenge in view of attacks against Turkish populations perpetrated by Armenian armed bands.  They are reluctant to discuss the ‘special units’ formed by order of the Sultan Abdul Hamid, or the hardened criminals released from penitentiaries by the Ittihadist authorities and the covert orders issued by the Interior Minister Taleat.

 

Today’s Turkey repeats the same gabble. Turkish officials try to wash their hands of any responsibility in Hrand Dink’s assassination, presenting the incident as a crime committed by extremist youths, refusing to talk about the ‘Gray Wolves’, ‘Ulkujis’, or the strictly covert transfer of state funds to government sponsored chauvinistic mafias in the 1990’s, during the Tansu Ciller administration, all brought to light following the notorious Susurluk car crash -- or even today’s infamous Article 301.

 

It was the same Hrand Dink, who was convicted and condemned to six months incarceration by the courts, based on Article 301.  In sham conformity to European standards, Turkey could not condemn Hrand Dink to death, but that same state carried out the execution through elements sponsored by it.

 

Hrand Dink’s main transgression was his audacity to state that “Rather than being a Turk, I am a citizen of Turkey, and I am Armenian!” Yes, Hrand Dink was not a Turk, he was Armenian, and for that very reason, he was judged guilty by the Turkish courts and his punishment was considered insufficient by elements active under the very nose of the authorities; elements who considered a death penalty more appropriate and picked him as a target of this revolting crime.

 

The same ‘guilt’ caused the violent demise of Siamanto, Daniel Varuzhan, Zohrap, Komitas, Vardges and countless other intellectuals, and today, their hundreds of thousands of heirs in Turkey do not dare state that they are Armenian, because they know very well, that the Turk, with his borrowed Latin alphabet and Western garb, has yet to abandon the mentality of Gray Wolves.

 

 

Translated by Tatul Sonentz          

"Hairenik" Weekly