The Hrant Dink Award

[hipeter924]

ANDREW FINKEL
The Hrant Dink Award
Any regular reader of this column -- or indeed anyone who has read it more than once -- will appreciate that while I sometimes take a stab at being sentimental, it is not really what I do best. So I am at a loss at how to describe the ceremony I attended the other night in İstanbul.

It was to bestow the second annual award named after the Turkish-Armenian editor Hrant Dink. “The award is presented to two people from inside and outside Turkey,” or so the rubric runs “who work for a world free of discrimination, racism and violence, take personal risks for their ideals, use the language of peace, and by doing so, inspire and encourage others.” It took place on Sept. 15, the day of Hrant’s birthday, and not Jan. 19, the day that he was slain. This, I take to mean, is that it is designed to commemorate his work and not to mourn his sacrifice. Yet the truth of the matter is that I found the occasion terribly, terribly sad.
I am sure I have succumbed in the past to the temptation of claiming a friendship with Hrant and to be affected by his death in order to justify my own opinions. “This is what Hrant thought,” I argued -- and so it has to be so. It is true that I liked him as a person and respected his opinions. I interviewed him once in detail and would phone to ask his view on this or that; but our lives did not intersect all that much and, if pushed, I would have to describe him as a colleague or acquaintance. I did write a public letter once protesting the cruel imbecility of the court sentence he received for insulting Turkishness and I am proud of my reward -- a big bear hug the next time he saw me. This, oddly enough, was at the trial of Orhan Pamuk, where Hrant was baited by the ultranationalist crowd in the street outside. I associate that hug with the one I received from the Armenian patriarch, Mesrob II, at Hrant’s funeral, his body wracked with sobs. That was the last time I saw Mesrob as well. He now suffers from a wasting illness.
The Hrant Dink Award- ANDREW FINKEL

 

[Mr.Fitnah]

The Blight of Asia

By G. Horton

The long out of print, well known book "THE BLIGHT OF ASIA" was published in 1926 in the USA and written by the American General Consul in Smyrna in 1922, who was an eye witness of all the perils of that city and of its Christian inhabitants. This testimony comes from a high-ranking American diplomat, who served in this capacity in that part of the world for about 30 years, and was therefore a knowledgeable and impartial source.
G. Horton's "Blight of Asia"

 

[hipeter924]

Well its a shame that so many people fail to realize that the first genocide against Christians of the 20th century was committed by Muslim Turk's, against the Greek, Assyrian and Armenian minorities (all of which followed the Christian faith) of Turkey , so its no surprise that many in the west, the Muslim world and in Turkey try to deny it, as it shatters the Islam of peace more completely than the current terrorist attacks.

The Kurds helped in the Genocide too as they were given false promises by Turkish Muslim leaders (everything from heaven to independence), and of course they got genocide at Dersim http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dersim_Massacre not long later in 1937, which proved that Turks or rather their government could not be trusted, and of course given the chance (like another world war) the current Turkish government would genocide and ethnic cleanse its minorities again.

You could even say on a minor scale its doing so already in Kurdistan, and with individual Armenian's like Dink (who is without doubt the 1,500,001st victim of the Armenian Genocide), of course it isn't just Armenian's as Turks who dare to speak out are brutally killed (in state sponsored killings) or threatened by the Turkish state or by their extreme nationalist supporters, anyone who dares publish a book about the Armenian Genocide is prosecuted under the infamous article 301, and many who have published have been bombed by extreme nationalists.

 

[ekrem]

Dersim Rebellion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The people in this province refused the transformation from feudal system of Ottomans to State Authority of the Republican period.
It was a rebellion against State Authority, locals refusing to pay taxes, refusing to participate in military conscription, rejecting State laws and solely following Feudal laws.
Simply trying to live as they did in Ottoman Empire.

No authority is bigger then the State.

The surpression of the Rebellion contributed also to feminism as Sabiha Goekcen marked her place in Histroy as first female combat pilot.
She was ethnic Armenian Turk and adopted by Ataturk.
Sabiha Gökçen - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

She bombed them from the Air.
Later she would receive the Jeweled Medal for her striking precision in that combat mission.
Link - Air Command and Staff College Gathering of Eagles

 

[ekrem]

That time was also DAWN of WW2.
Turkey was neutral in WW2.
We could not use some rebellions within territory, which were exploitable from outside to drag Turkey into WW2 chaos.

 

[ekrem]

Orhan Pamuk

Teenager at age 17 who shot Hrant Dink.
Scenes from his interrorgation

Drinking tea

Smoking a cigarette

Reading newspaper

Ogün Samast böyle sorguland? - Polis Adliye- ntvmsnbc.com

06.10.2010 - Galeri - Yeni ?afak

 

[ekrem]

Captured in the city of Trabzon
Local Jandarma building

The pictures from the post above are from Central Police station of Istanbul, where he was transferred to after being captured in Trabzon.

 

[ekrem]

Billboard ad of Iskenderun city council near school

Love it or leave it.

?Ya sev ya terk et? afi?i tart??mas? - Milliyet.com.tr

 

[hipeter924]

Thanks for helping my argument, Turkey is more socially degenerate than I thought, next time you kill someone...move the body and don't do it in public, then cover it up and blame it on an accident. Even Hollywood could teach you that.