January 12th afternoon, I was invited to Hrant Dink 23.5 Site of Memory to speak about the “Insufficient Memory” video, which is Ümit Kıvanç’s compilation of excerpts from Hrant Dink’s speeches. In recent years, I have refrained from speaking about Hrant Dink, whom I knew in his lifetime, wrote for his newspaper, felt the profound pain of his loss, and supported those carrying on his newspaper Agos after his death.
However, this time, the invitation came from the Hrant Dink Foundation, established to preserve his legacy, and it was not possible not to respond to this call. What could I convey? The fatigue induced by the state of the Turkey and the world, as well as the course of the murder case, have made it challenging for me to find new words. So I stood aside, contemplating the saying, “If speech is silver, then silence is golden,” and remembering and honoring him in my inner world.
Also, what new words could I find especially when Hrant ahparig, through his writings and speeches, had expressed himself so effectively? Would I be able to offer any original ideas to the audience?
Then suddenly, I realized an aspect of January 19, 2007, the date he was assassinated in front of his newspaper, that I had not noticed until now. Hrant Dink, a truth teller in his lifetime, attempting to delve into the source of Armenian and Turkish peoples’ common concerns like a timeless sage, did not know he would be killed. In his last two articles, even though he conveyed the unease of his spirit, and declared awareness of impending dangers, didn’t he ultimately write that people would not harm doves? Yes, he was well aware of the intensifying pressure and threats, but he still did not lose hope and could envision dreams for the future. He believed that the people he lived with would protect his life and had entrusted himself to them.
But we know better. We saw that life did not unfold as he had hoped. He was in fact killed. Killed in a state-sponsored crime, and by a child manipulated into holding a gun. He did not know he would be killed; we had lived to see it, to learn it. Therefore, we had also seen what happened after January 19, 2007. After that date, we witnessed all the turmoil, power struggles, and anti-democratic, authoritarian practices in Turkey, while from the perspective of Armenians, we experienced the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide; the velvet revolution that brought Nikol Pashinyan to power; the Karabakh wars of 2016 and 2020; the ethnic cleansing of Karabakh Armenians, and a further deterioration of already fragile relations between Turks and Armenians.
We knew, we lived through all of these, yet Hrant Dink knew none of them.
Hrant Dink is in his office. Dink enjoyed working in environments filled with objects he loved and symbols reflecting Armenian culture. Therefore, one of the most remarkable areas of the 23.5 Hrant Dink Site of Memory is his workspace․
As a public figure he manipulated his pen in a minefield, striving for a thorough reckoning with the past and the establishment of peace between Turks and Armenians. He worked towards the effort of building a peaceful future, not as a carrier of an “Armenian cause,” but as a citizen, a participant in the struggle to create a new Turkey around democracy, justice, and freedoms. As an Armenian who was born and lived in Turkey, he resonated as a “bridge person” who understood the spiritual worlds of both Armenians and Turks, believing that the path to healing the wounds of these two neighboring peoples lay in the connections they would build with each other.
All these challenging efforts naturally led him to navigate through thorny paths. He was targeted for reporting that Sabiha Gökçen – the first Turkish woman aviator and one of the adopted daughters of Atatürk – was an Armenian orphan. He was taken to court and punished for “insulting Turkishness” based on one of his articles about the Armenian identity. He was even summoned to the office of the Istanbul governor, where he was discreetly threatened by members of the Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MİT). He faced dangers, all the while the pressure around him was steadily tightening.
It was inconceivable that Hrant Dink, as an Armenian, as a dissident, as an intellectual well-versed in the history of the Armenian Genocide, would not recognize the adamant core and iron hand of the Turkish state’s mindset. So, how was it that, despite all these threats, he never took a step back? Certainly not due to recklessness, lack of awareness, or thoughtlessness. If that were the case, would he have concluded his last article with the words, “While I may view my current state of mind as one of dovelike disquiet, I know that the people of this country will never hurt a dove. Doves live their lives in the hearts of cities, amid the crowds and human bustle. Yes, they live a little uneasily, a little apprehensively — but they live freely, too…”? He truly trusted the people among whom he lived, not as a rhetorical gesture or a show of sincerity, but genuinely. What made him a true humanist, and the driving force that expanded the influence of his words, was the authenticity of this trust, his belief in people.
Hrant Dink’s funeral on January 23, 2007, brought together hundreds of thousands, leaving an important mark in history with the resounding chants of ‘We are all Hrant, We are all Armenian.’
So, we now know at least one thing better than he did: that he was killed. We know that Turkey is a country where even a peaceful Armenian journalist espousing so many peaceful views fell victim to an assassination, and those who killed him went unpunished. This makes me indebted to him and others who, like him, made efforts for us to live together peacefully but were either killed or are imprisoned. It suggests to me that we are still far from a Turkey where the past is properly confronted, where peace is established, and where freedom and justice are ensured in all aspects. With this current state of Turkey, we inevitably find ourselves far from his dream of Turkish-Armenian and Turkey-Armenia peace. So, it is legitimate to ask: Did Hrant Dink die in vain? Did the hundreds of thousands who attended his funeral shout “We are all Hrant, we are all Armenian” in vain?
The thought of what creative ideas Hrant Dink might have come up with to reverse the course of the discouraging events that have unfolded in the last seventeen years continues to linger in my mind. But unfortunately, we lost Hrant Dink. Armenians lost him. Turks lost him. We all lost him, together. Hrant Dink will continue to inspire us, but those of us who will seek new ways to turn the heavy Armenian and Turkish skies into sunnier days, who will come together and initiate a struggle where none of us are left behind, are the ones who will carry on his legacy. We, peaceful Armenians, Turks, Kurds, and others; we, believers in the possibility of a different world. Today, we may not know how this will happen. We might feel hopeless, cynical, and disappointed. However, even these recent years, where we have seen a glimpse of what could happen if we step back, should motivate us to strive for something better, to shake off the dead weight on our shoulders. Only then can Hrant Dink not have died in vain, becoming our “ahparig” who contributed his mind and hard work to the foundation of our bright future.
–
* “Ahparig” is an Armenian term of endearment, meaning “elder brother” or “beloved brother.”
** 23.5 Hrant Dink Site of Memory, opened its doors to visitors in three languages on June 17, 2019. The space sheds light on Hrant Dink’s life, his struggle, the story of Agos newspaper, the process leading to the assassination, and the events that followed, providing an opportunity to glimpse into the recent history of Turkey in the context of minority rights, human rights, and democratization.
You can virtually explore Hrant Dink’s workspace and significant milestones of his life through a virtual tour.
Rober Koptaş is a writer and publisher, lives in Istanbul. He served as the editor-in-chief of Agos newspaper from 2010 to 2015 and the general director of Aras Publishing from 2015 to 2023.
Also read:
Letter from Istanbul: The Irony of the Armenian Photographer
Letter from Istanbul: Turkish Republic of Impunity
