Thursday, January 25, 2007

Thousands of people marched in Dink‘s Funeral to protest his assassination, holding placards that read “We are all Armenian” and “We are Hrant Dink” in Turkish, Kurdish and Armenian.

Later, as reported by Wikinews, these placards were protested by MHP, a fascist Turkish political party, and by CHP, a political party that the mainstream considers leftist.

Now a Turkish militant group, Turkish Revenge Brigade (Türk ?ntikam Tugay?), ‘protested’ these placards by placing a package, which was made to look like a bomb, to the wall of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (TBMM). The package was rendered ineffective by the Turkish security forces, who found a note inside the package. The note ‘criticized’ the placards used in Hrant Dink’s funeral. It also asked Dink’s assassin Ogün Samast and Yasin Hayal, who admitted to incite the assassin, to be freed. The note referred to these two criminals as “brothers”.

There is not much information about the structure of the Turkish Revenge Brigade. It is speculated that this militant organization has ties to the Turkish mafia as well as the Turkish Deep State (derin devlet), an influential, violent, and informal anti-democratic coalition within the Turkish political system.

A panorama from Halaskargazi boulevard. One hundred thousand mourners marched in Dink’s funeral, protesting his assassination. The office of the Agos newspaper, where Dink was gunned down, is near the right edge of the image; it is in the first house to the right from the one with a large black banner hanging down.