June 19, 2022 marks the 15th anniversary of the assassination of prominent Istanbul Armenian journalist, editor-in-chief of Agos weekly Hrant Dink.
Agos is the only weekly published in Armenian and Turkish in Turkey. Dink was shot dead from the three gunshots fired to his head from behind by Turkish ultra-nationalist Ogün Samast on January 19, 2007, in front of the then office of this newspaper, on national grounds.
In 2011, Samast was convicted of Dink's assassination, he was sentenced to 22 years and 10 months in prison, but questions still remain about the involvement of Turkish state security forces in the case.
In June 2007, Hrant Dink was posthumously given the award of the President of Armenia.
Hrant Dink was commemorated at a ceremony on Wednesday on the spot where he was assassinated, Turkish media reports.
A crowd gathered outside Sebat Apartment building in Şişli, where a large poster of Dink adorned the facade of the place. It was there Dink was shot dead, just outside the Agos newspaper where he served as editor-in-chief. Mourners left carnations on the sidewalk where Dink’s lifeless body laid and lit candles as Turkish and Armenian songs blared from loudspeakers. The ceremony began at 3 p.m. local time (12 p.m. GMT), during which friends and family of Dink made speeches to remember the late journalist.
"A rapprochement and this reflecting on the people on both sides was Hrant’s biggest dream," said Agos editor-in-chief Yetvart Danzikyan, a friend of Dink, during the remembrance ceremony. Ankara and Yerevan recently started talks to ease tensions and are set to resume flights in early February, amid hopes of reopening borders after decades of diplomatic freeze. "He would be at the forefront to promote such normalization if he was alive today," Danzikyan said.
