Editor-in-chief of Agos newspaper,

Rakel’s çutak [violin in Armenian],

Father of Delal, Arat and Sera,

Grandfather of Nora and Nare…

Brother of Yervant and Hosrof,

It’s been exactly one year since we lost Hrant Dink…

January 19^th marks one of the most painful days for the conscientious people of this country.

January 19^th is a date that shall not be forgotten, even after a hundred years.

It is not possible to get used to his absence…

Hrant belonged to all of us…

He was a revolutionary spirit who spoke to our mind, to our conscience.

His brave heart, his righteous voice were strong enough to shake the established order.

This country loved him…

He would hug people wholeheartedly, he would give them confidence…

Hrant was as an influential member of our dissident family, who defied injustice, who did not refrain from calling a spade a spade, who demanded equality, who refreshed our memory.

He symbolized the revival of a lost history and the faded colours of Anatolia…

He was a friend, a brother, a truth-teller at heart…

Hrant was an Armenian…

He was the outspoken son of a silent community…

He used to tell us all that lost communities failed to speak up for themselves…

It was thanks to him that we came to realize the existence of Armenians, Syriacs and those who could not be vocal…

Being one of us, he lent his hand to all of us so that we can face our history.

Even as he said “After all, how many of us could survive?”, he was making his point that he represented an essential part of us.

He represented all our peoples, including Turks, Kurds, Armenians, Greeks, Jews, Alevis, Sunnis, Arabs, Syriacs, Chaldeans, Laz, Circassians.

He was announcing to the world our shared voice, feelings and longings…

Without him, we have felt so lonely in this past year…

Without him, we are full of sorrow…

Hrant was assassinated in a murder that was plotted collaboratively…

We came to realize that they had decided to kill him well ahead of time…

They plotted the murder collectively… 

They made him a target in newspapers…

They attempted to lynch him at courthouses…

We now know who put guns in the hands of these kids…

We also know who masterminded…

Who incited…

We need a courage that is strong enough to hold the murderers, the organised groups within the state accountable…

We need Hrant’s courage…

As a legacy, Hrant left us the vision of a country that is polyphonic and multicultural…

He left us a utopia of Turkey that will enrich and flourish thanks to its differences and diversity…

He left us his strong voice….

His confident, frank words…

His true friendship that genuinely worried about our own troubles…

Without him, we will always be incomplete…

Without him, we will be so broken…

ANOR  PATZAGAYUTYAN  BAGAS  GIZKANK  MENK MEZ….

*Without him, we will always be incomplete…

When he was alive, my husband said 'Come, let us first share our lyrical loneliness. This will be the first ceremony where you come over not to bury me, but to let me live. Stop weeping and listen to your hearts. Don’t you hear the heartbeats that you thought had gone away with me as I departed?'

After one year, we are here once again in order to live him.

We are here at this very spot, on this pavement, where they tried to wash his blood with water and soap. Can this pavement be possibly cleansed this way? Can they possibly make it forgotten?

Dear brothers and sisters,

This may only be possible if, and only if, those that had shed the blood confess, ask for repentance and offer an apology. Otherwise, just like the blood of Abel in the Holy Book, no blood that had been shed - including this one - will ever keep quiet. This blood has not kept quiet for the last year, my brothers and sisters. For the voice of the blood can only be quieted with justice. And that’s why you are all here today, for justice. In your silence, one can hear the outcry for justice.

But then, how will we find justice? How much justice have we seen in this past year?

What has my country’s justice system done so far about those who put my country’s flag in the hands of the assassin and took photos of themselves with the suspect?

Only those who gave these photos to the media faced prosecution. What has my country’s justice system done so far about those who shouted in stadiums, ‘We are all Ogün’ [referring to the assassin], about the state officials who had called him a traitor?

What has my country’s justice system done so far about those police officers who evidently knew of the murder plan as well as the identity of the murderer, as they said on the phone ‘The only difference is that he wasn’t supposed to run away, but he did’?

What has my country’s justice system done so far about the gendarmerie officers who knew about everything, up to the type of the gun that was used in the murder, even before the assassin was captured?

What has my country’s justice system done so far about the ocaks [youth organisations of ultranationalist parties] where the murder was plotted?

What has my country’s justice system done so far about the deputy governor who attempted to put my husband in his place?

They say, ‘who has been imprisoned under Article 301?’ I say, I wish they had let him live and put him in prison; because if they had let him live, this would have been his third month in prison now.

Yes, my dear brothers and sisters, today we are here because we want justice.  How many more people have been stabbed, kidnapped and killed? It cannot be counted. Neither can the number of grief-stricken, broken hearts and lives. Yet, who will find the courage to challenge ‘the power of terror and the terror of power’, as my husband put it in his words? Who will stand against it?

Just as he put it, unless we can turn the causes to die for into causes to live for, we will obviously witness more of such ferocity. 

They have made us relatives in pain and suffering. Sadly, even mourning in solidarity takes courage today. However, it is actually life, hope and justice that take courage, my sisters and brothers."