Dear friends of the Hrant Dink Foundation,

On the 18th anniversary of Hrant Dink’s assassination, as we approach the commemoration on January 19th, we will convene at the 23.5 Hrant Dink Site of Memory between January 13-18 for a series of events titled “Conversations for Truth.” These conversations will center on the themes of truth, justice, and confrontation that he courageously advocated.

This year, we will first have a conversation with Tûba Çandar and Karin Karakaşlı about Çandar's book, Hrant. We will then view and discuss the film “Memory Too Low For Words,” created and edited by Ümit Kıvanç, which conveys Hrant Dink’s words through color, shape, and sound.Together with Jülide Aral, Pakrat Estukyan, Fethiye Çetin and Ayşe Gül Altınay, we will listen to the stories of those searching for their roots and identities. We will discuss the social and political climate leading up to Hrant Dink’s assassination andthe “spirit of the time”, featuring insights from Ali Bayramoğlu, Hülya Deveci and İbrahim Kaboğlu.

On the evening of January 18th, at 19:00, a video mapping created by artist Memed Erdener will be projected on the facade of the Sebat Building. We invite you all to watch the projection, which follows our conversation with Erdener at 15:30. The mapping may also be viewed on the evening of January 19th from 19:00 onwards.

On Sunday, January 19th, at 15:00, we will gather in front of the Sebat Building, the former office of the Agos Newspaper where Hrant Dink was assassinated and where we will commemorate him.
We would like to end this special call with an excerpt from Hrant Dink’s article “Can We Have a Little Talk?” written in February 2005.

“The taste of being a member of a minority is directly related to the ability of the majority to contribute flavour, rather than people’s capacity to appreciate taste.
In truth, the problem lies not with the minorities, but with the multitude.
That is why the struggle of those in my position is a struggle that carries on in spite of you, the majority.
This is not only the case for me, but also for a Kurd, and for others whose identity has been forced into a corner.
And of course, our task under such pressure is not easy.
We must both defend our identity, and simultaneously resist becoming prisoners of that identity.
It is difficult, but we have no other option, and we will succeed.
Yet, if we carried out this struggle not in spite of you, but with your support, with you alongside us, wouldn’t it become much easier?
If only you would give it some thought, just once! If only you would give it a little thought.”

Hrant Dink will be commemorated on Sunday, January 19 at 15.00 in front of the Sebat Building, where the former office of Agos Newspaper was located and where he was assassinated 18 years ago.

Since 2019, Sebat Building has been accompanied by video mappings produced in memory of Hrant Dink on the evenings of January 18 and 19. This year, Memed Erdener's video will be added to the videos produced by Ümit Kıvanç between 2019-2023 and Hale Tenger in 2024.

Author of Hrant Dink’s biography Tuba Çandar and Hrant Dink’s colleague from the Agos Newspaper, Karin Karakaşlı will discuss Hrant Dink’s life and struggle. This discussion will also touch upon the memorialisation work undertaken during the book preparation phase. 

Following screening of the film ‘Memory Too Low For Words’, which transforms Hrant Dink’s words to color, shape and sound, together with Ümit Kıvanç we will discuss the values for which Hrant Dink struggled, the issues he championed, the film and the film production process.

Based on the section in the Agos Newspaper titled “I am Looking for My Relative”, during this conversation we will discuss the ads placed in the Agos Newspaper by people searching for relatives, Hrant Dink’s articles on and contribution to this issue and the stories of those looking for their roots and identities.

Understanding and interpreting the events and phenomena of a particular period requires grasping the "spirit of the time" of that era. During this conversation, we will discuss the period before Hrant Dink's assassination on January 19, 2007, the social developments during the time he was being targeted, the social and political climate, and the spirit of that time

This workshop, which aims to shed light on Armenian culture and history based on the correlation between the images in Hrant Dink’s room, will be held at the 23.5 Hrant Dink Site of Memory. With the workshop participants, we will be focusing on human stories and narratives about Armenian culture through the portraits, paintings and objects on the walls.

On the 18th anniversary of Hrant Dink's assassination, we are meeting  at the 23.5 Hrant Dink Memory Site with artist Memed Erdener, who created the video mapping to be projected on the facade of the Sebat Building on January 18 and 19 from 19:00 to 23:00.

You can read Hrant Dink's life story, the values he advocated, his struggle and he was targeted from here. 

The film ‘Memory Too Low For Words’ devised and produced by Ümit Kıvanç, which transforms Hrant Dink’s words to color, shape and sound, lays before us the ‘errors’ in the ‘system’ which did not allow space for Hrant Dink and his words. You can watch the film from this link.

This text was first published in two parts in the January 12 and 19, 2007 issues of Agos. You can read Hrant Dink's article “Why Was I Targeted?”, written one week before he was assasinated on January 19, 2007, in which he describes being targeted, here.

You can read Hrant Dink's February 24, 2005 article on being a minority in Turkey.

We are pleased to share the selection of Hrant Dink's writings, articles which are compiled from various journals, books and newspapers that are made accessible on webpage for our readers.

In this section you can find We are All Hrant Dink photo album; Two Close Peoples, Two Distant Neighbours and Bu Köşedeki Adam composed of the articles by Hrant Dink and their translation in English and Western Armenian.