Saturday, January 18 2020 14:38

ArmInfo. Tomorrow, January 19, marks the 13th anniversary of the murder of a Turkish journalist of Armenian descent, the editor-in-chief of the ''Agos'' newspaper,  Hrant Dink, however, the instigators of this crime have not been  punished to this day.

In connection with the 13th anniversary of Dink's murder, the  Armenian National Committee of Canada (ANCC) made a statement in  which it noted that it remembers and honors the famous fighter for  justice.

"Hrant Dink was more than a mere journalist reporting daily news and  publishing opinion pieces: he epitomized the values of a tolerant and  just society in a country marred by intolerance and injustice" said  Hrag Tarakdjian, co-president of the ANCC.

Dink was shot in broad daylight by a young Turkish ultra-nationalist  man, who was later praised and glorified, leaving international  reactions into the investigation of the crime largely skeptical.

Dink's long-standing journalistic career and later his assassination  forever changed the face of Turkish society.

"In the aftermath of his assassination, many hidden political  sentiments within Turkish society were surfaced, when hundreds of  thousands of Turks marched alongside Armenians, demonstrating their  solidarity" said Shahen Mirakian, co-president of the ANCC.

Despite continuous death threats and trumped-up legal charges, Dink  dedicated much of his career pressuring the Turkish government to  come to terms with its criminal past, while urging the Turkish people  to learn the truth about the Armenian Genocide and speak up for it.   "While Hrant Dink's legacy continues to inspire people to this day,  unfortunately the Turkish government has regressed into further  authoritarianism, infamous for jailing the highest number of  journalists in the world" said Tarakdjian and Mirakian.

"With so many fundamental human rights practically non-existent in  Turkey today, Ankara can and should no longer be considered a  so-called "NATO ally" that Canada and the rest of the international  community can rely on" concluded Tarakdjian and Mirkian.

To note, Hrant Dink was killed on January 19, 2007 in Istanbul in  front of the editorial office of his "Agos" newspaper. However, the  instigators of the crime were never identified. The court sentenced  only the murderer himself, Ogun Samastak, to imprisonment for 22  years 10 months, and Yasin Khayal, accused of incitement to murder,  to life imprisonment. On September 17, 2013, the trial resumed. And  on January 19, 2015, in the framework of the case, the ex-chief of  police Dzhizre Ercan Demir was arrested, but the investigation has  not yet been completed, and the customer has not been found.  According to the decision of the European Court of Human Rights, the  Turkish authorities violated the right of Hrant Dink to life and the  right to freedom of speech. The ECHR sentenced Turkey to pay 133  thousand euros to the Hrant Dink family.