Turkey embraces the memory of Hrant Dink; hundreds of thousands march
syd | 24.01.2007 13:33
Istanbul January 23, 2007
52 year old journalist Hrant Dink, who was gunned down as he left his newspaper's offices in Sisli last Friday afternoon, was accompanied by tens of thousands of people and a cloud of white pigeons on his last journey through the streets of Istanbul yesterday.
Thousands of people march on the Unkapani bridge over the Golden Horn
'We all are Hrant Dink. We all are Armenians.'
the funeral ceremony of Turkish-Armenian editor Hrant Dink in Istanbul
Following the 11.00 ceremony for Dink at the Agos offices, the long slow cortege of perhaps one or even two hundred thousand people began was to be the 8 kilometer march behind the hearse carrying Dink's coffin. The path taken by the marchers wound its way from Sisli through Taksim, eventually winding up at the Balikli Armenian cemetary, and taking those participating hours to complete. The crowds walking behind the hearse were mostly silent, some carrying large posters and small signs saying "We are all Hrant Dink," or "We are all Armenian." While many of the signs were in Turkish, a significant number were also in Armenian and Kurdish, as the show of support in Dink's memory brought together a wide spectrum of different ethnic and religious groups.
The religious services for Dink took place yesterday at 14.00 at the Armenian Church of the Virgin Mary, across the street from the Armenian Patriarchate in Kumkapi. The journalist was then buried by family and friends and numerous supporters at the Balikli Armenian cemetary in Zeytinburnu.
syd
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