Dear Rakel, dearest family of Hrant Dink, dearest friends of Hrant, those who loved him

I salute you in sorrow on another January 19th.

6 years ago today, around this time, Hrant Dink was murdered right here. We know the darkness that slayed him; we know the message of these atrocious bullets.  We are all here together today to stand up against that message. We are here, from all segments of society, as people who feel indebted to Hrant Dink, as people who believe we also lost pieces of ourselves with his loss, and as people who call for justice. We are here to make sure that no one will ever receive such a sick and fatal message again. We are here to utter that hatred and violence are not any good for this country. We are here for the sake of truth and friendship.

For 6 years, we are waiting for justice. Yet, in the last 6 years, those who handed the gun to the murderers, those who encouraged them, those who organised the murder, those within the state who obscured the investigation, they were not brought before the court, promises were not kept. On the contrary, almost all public officials who paved the way to Hrant Dink’s murder were pleased and held in high esteem, were promoted. Throughout this entire operation of obscuring, forcing forgetfulness, covering-up, failing to find and uncover the organised crime, it has been justice who suffered the most for the last 6 years!

Nevertheless, we continue seeking justice relentlessly and tirelessly, without forgetting!

We want the real perpetrators to be apprehended and we want all those responsible for the murder hiding behind the shield of state to be called to account!

Dear Hrant,

You are now watching us from above, from that beautiful realm, I know.

It was thanks to you that, we, the masses deprived of literacy deliberately by the official history teaching of this country, learnt about the existence of this bloody well, deafened and silenced, covered up with the heavy stones of denial.

What we learnt made us responsible before the God and the truth.

We are here on this very day, to fulfil our responsibility before Allah and before history.

When you were taking off the cover of this bloody well, you were not doing so for hatred and enmity, but rather for healing the wounds of two peoples who lived side by side until a century ago, to eliminate the seeds of grudges and hatred sown between the people, and to create a more fair and dignified future for the two peoples. We will be taking over and continuing your struggle, for which you had to pay the price with your own life. In this struggle, we will respond to those who get angry with us, who do not understand us with the words of Yunus Emre:

God says it is the right of man to speak the truth
The one who tells lies today is doomed to feel shame tomorrow

The one who does not see the entirety of humanity as ‘‘one’’

May be the master of laws, yet denies the very truth

May God bless your soul Ahparig!

We have gathered together on the sixth anniversary. I want to have a heart-to-heart talk with you. There is not a single being that does good deeds; everyone is committing crimes, each and every state continues to commit crimes.

If crimes and sins were made of gold, no one would buy them and wear them. Yet, regrettably, both reason and perception are blinded as one commits a crime. As they chase after gains, supremacy, superiority, they do away with so many people, they are being deprived of so many things… They are engaged in annihilation, being fully aware or unaware…

If your very existence is built upon our absence, then this is not a proof of your supremacy or superiority, but rather a proof of your nihilism.

I call upon human beings that were created in the image of God: Do not abandon your humanity as you strive to grab power and authority! Dear brothers and sisters, let us not share any common ground with those that intend to steal, usurp and kill. 

Dear friends, isn’t the act of commissioning the murder of my sweetheart, my darling, my ‘çutag’ [violin in Armenian] proof of a lack of reason and perception? Doesn’t it amount to dishonour, disgrace and shame? Isn’t it a proof of intolerance? I wonder if they still ask, “What does it all mean?” Every time I think ‘‘Yes, this is actually what they mean,’’ and I lend myself to despair, Jesus Christ whispers to my ear: “If I had remained in the grave, I would have the right to despair. Yet, I did not remain in the grave. As I rise from the grave, the truth will also emerge, just like the rising of the sun.”

Rise, do not despair! Yes, we shall not be despondent. We are here together full of hope, faith and enthusiasm. I call on the beautiful people of Turkey, dear youngsters, mothers, fathers, siblings!

Dearest people of Turkey!

We are here without disturbing the people standing to our right and left, without othering them. We are here to recall our duty to justice. We are here to remember our love and hope. We are here to honour the memories of those who were deprived of their right to depart from this world lying in their bed next to their loved ones, holding their hands. We are here with our pain and our dignity. We are here for truth and for justice. We are here to tell our stories to each other and understand one another. We shall always be here, we shall always be together.

You are most welcome, I thank you all for your support.