Who Was Hrant Dink?

euronews

Hrant Dink was a highly-esteemed Turkish-Armenian editor-in-chief of weekly Agos. According to Wikipedia, Agos is an Armenian bilingual weekly newspaper published in Istanbul, Turkey.

Dink was murdered in broad daylight in front of his newspaper’s building on January 19th, 2007, by a 17-year-old Turkish nationalist. The triggerman, Ogün Samast, was convicted of premeditated murder and sentenced to 22 years and 10 months of prison after a two-year trial.

The trial into the murder resumed Sept. 17, 2013, after the Supreme Court of Appeals ruled that all suspects in the case had acted as part of a criminal organization, rather than individually.

Istanbul’s 5th High Criminal Court, which is overseeing the case, announced on Oct. 30, 2014, that it will focus on the “criminal organization” allegations against suspects, a move that lawyers representing the victim’s family have demanded since the start of the retrial.

Yusuf Hayal and Erhan Tuncel are accused of convincing Samast in Trabzon to shoot Dink.

Turkey’s Constitutional Court stated that civil servants and institutions allegedly implicated in the murder of Dink should be investigated. Its detailed ruling on the case was on Nov. 12, 2014.

Thousands of people recently have taken to the streets of Istanbul to commemorate the death Dink, who was shot eight years ago on January 19th, 2007.