Death of leading human rights activist "huge loss" for Turkey
19 January 2007
London - Minority Rights Group International (MRG) on Friday condemned the killing of Turkish-Armenian editor Hrant Dink saying the country had lost a leading human rights defender. “This is a huge loss not just for minorities but for everyone in Turkey. He was a defender of human rights and peace, a brave person, the type of person Turkey needs,” Nurcan Kaya, MRG’s Turkey programme officer said.
.
Dink, the editor of the newspaper Agos, was reportedly shot three times by unknown gunmen outside his office. He was a well-known critic of Turkey’s human rights record and was a rare spokesman for country’s non-Muslim minorities. He has been prosecuted several times in the past for writing about the Armenian genocide. On the last occasion in 2005 he was given a six month suspended sentence for writing on the issue. Dink was also attacked by nationalists and seen as a traitor by some in the Turkish media because of his preference to identify himself as an Armenian not a Turk.
The international human rights organisation also said the killing reflected the increasing extremist and nationalist sentiment in Turkey.“This killing is a manifestation of the rise in nationalism in Turkey today. In such situations it is always people from minority communities who are worst affected,” Kaya added.