The first news item I came across today was a CNN story about Hrant Dink being shot in Istanbul. I am saddened immensely but I am neither shocked nor surprised. Being outspoken in Turkey is dangerous. Being an Armenian and outspoken in Turkey is certainly a death sentence.
Being an outspoken Armenian bootlicker probably has its perks though. I'm sure that's what Patriarch Mesrob Mutafian seems to be counting on.
ReplyDeletePatriarch Mutafian has no choice but to be careful in his words as we shouldn’t forget that there is still a small Armenian community in Istanbul. Any provocative word comes out of his mouth will cause more killings of Armenians.
ReplyDeleteHe is a community leader with certain responsibilities and one of them is to protect his community. He is a courageous man and a good Armenian. At the end he was the only Armenian prominent leader who stood against the closure of Melkonian school in Cyprus.
As a community leader Patriarch Mutafian has the responsibility to protect his flock. He and the other Turkish-Armenians do not live in Southern California so the options available to them are limited.
ReplyDeleteMassive funeral procession in Istanbul for Hrant Dink.
ReplyDeleteI am a little cynical when it comes to 'show of support' publicity stunts. I think the Turkish attitude towards the Armenians will not improve. they will continue to deny their history. Hrant Dink was a prominent journalist who was not afraid to speak out and he paid the price for it. The Turkish PM may express sorrow but I am sure he was smiling wide in his mind. No wonder that his excuse for not going to the funeral was that he had to dedicate the opening of a road project outside Istanbul.
Now that Hrant Dink is gone, a big headache for the Turkish government has disappeared. There are a couple of other pesky Turkish intellectuals but they have fled Turkey so cannot be eliminated easily. See what kind of a problem Litvinenko's murder has been for Putin.
All this big shock, or funeral processions are for a show. They want to prove to the EU that they are not the barbaric nation that the Europeans think of them and should be accepted into the EU.
Wait a few more days and we will see them get back to business as usual - oppress their ethnic minorities, bully Cyprus, deny what they did to the Armenians, etc.
Your sadness is the same sentiment in our sad hearts.
ReplyDeleteHere in Italy,
we remember Hrant Dink,
and here, in this blog:
http://guerrillaradio.iobloggo.com/
we can't forget the armenian genocide.
Victor,
italian blogger from Milan