Dink was struggling in his efforts to reach modern and universal values in Turkey. However this is not unique to Dink, like him those who are trying to solve Turkey’s problem as a Turkish citizen were also having difficulties.

Dink’s struggle was not limited to Turkey. As well as Turkish ultra-nationalists, Armenian Diaspora and the especially the Armenian nationalists, were quite critical of his ideas. Even, Armenian Diaspora was completely odds with him, over his stance to discuss Armenian genocide and accusing him of supporting Turkey’s thesis. In short, Hrant’s life has been full of endeavours against intolerance and radicalism, and on a cold day in January 19, 2007 bullets from another intolerant gun has ended his life.

After the tragic event, the “Assassin State” protests by a handful of people have been replaced by the savvy public’s “We are all Hrants, We all Armenians” chantings.  Amount of people attended to these protests, which were well over the number of Armenians living in Turkey, and these moves has been regarded as the society’s sympathy and empathy toward Mr. Dink.

Through out all TV broadcast and newspapers, there was the common agreement upon the unacceptability of his murder under any circumstances and the loss of Mr. Dink is not only a pain for his family and Armenians in Turkey, but a pain and a sorrow for all Turkey.

His tragic death has given a chance to Turkish society to review its position. After his death, his qualities such as being a conciliator, opposing extremes and being someone from Turkey’s common heritage are the key points that struck us. Opposed to the extremist ideas among Armenian radicalism and intolerance in the Diaspora, he didn’t build his identity upon a Turkish animosity. He expressed his problems as a Turkish intellectual; therefore he was an intellectual role model who talks like someone among us and preserves his believes in rational solutions.

It is hard to say that the Armenians in the diaspora is interested in the capture of the suspects, rather they didn’t find any wrongdoing to use this as a chance to broadcast their publicity without losing time. The first to call was as usual French Armenians. This was no coincidence, because Armenian extremists’ ASALA terror organization was founded in Beirut which was then controlled by French, during 1970s they have carried out atrocities against Turkish diplomats around the world. One of their biggest attacks has been to Turkish Airlines bureau at the Orly Airport in 1983. This extremist Armenian group’s ideas and motives were built on Turkish animosity and these ideas have been flourished under French tolerance. Once again, we have been witnessed that these ideas are still alive in France. When the statements of these groups were read, it will be obvious to understand their mindset. The assassin is known, there is no need to trace and determine the clues. Turkish state is the assassin and the reason is Turkey’s denial of Armenian genocide claims. According to spokesmen of Armenian groups, “Turkey’s acceptance of Armenian genocide will prevent such accidents in the future”. Armenian Diaspora’s such act to use his corpse to broadcast their rhetoric is an indication of their bearish, unprincipled and bigoted mindset.

There is always the possibility of the presence of an extremist murderer in such a case, but the spontaneity of such an act is close to impossible. And groups in Turkey have nothing to gain from this killing.

In these cases, the key question is “who wins”. Armenian groups trying to demolish Turkey’s psychological resistance against genocide claims are on the top of list. Hrant Dink’s murder is a move to block Turkey’s efforts against Armenian claims. It is much easier to target Turkey by hiding behind Hrant’s body. Unfortunately, it is now much harder to find anyone to listen, when Turkey’s proposals like “let’s discuss this subject” and “lets mutually investigate the historical evidences”. After Mr. Dink’s murder, the cannonballs fired by Armenians in France will replaced by full scale assault against Turkey. From this perspective, this act has played more in to the hands of extremist Armenians.

It is a reality that extremist Armenians is used terror attacks and carried out political assassinations thorough ASALA to reach their goals. It is hard to say who the background actors of this horrible act are. It is hoped that, the ambiguity left behind by this murder could be answered with concrete data.

This comment has been partially translated from
http://www.usakgundem.com/yazarlar.php?type=1&id=558

Ihsan Bal, Assoc Prof. Dr, Head of USAK Security Studies