Remembrance Hrant Dink  Istanbul, 2012

Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was shot dead by an ultra-nationalist teenager in broad daylight. The hit-man, Ogun Samast, and eighteen others were brought to trial. During the process, the lawyers for the Dink family and the co-plaintiffs in the case presented evidence indicating that Samast was not acting alone. Another suspect, Yasin Hayal, was given life in prison for inciting Samast to murder. However, Erhan Tuncel, who worked as an informant for the Trabzon Police Department, was not found guilty of the murder. The prosecution believes the killers are affiliated with the Ergenekon network; whose suspected members currently stand trial on charges of plotting to overthrow the government. The lawyers have documented that the police force in Trabzon, where most of the suspects are from and where the assassination plot was hatched, and the Istanbul Police Department knew about the murder. In a separate trial, two gendarmerie officers were convicted on charges of "dereliction of duty" in the run-up to the Dink murder. There have also been other instances hinting at a cover-up and even protection of the suspects, but the court decided that a group of teenagers plotted to kill the journalist because he was an Armenian. The verdict was met with outrage by civil society gruops, politicians and others. About 10,000 people were out on the streets on Thursday in various provinces across Turkey to commemorate Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink, who was shot dead outside his newspaper's office in Sisli on Jan. 19, 2007, two days after a court verdict that established.

Vedat Turkali, the master of Turkish literature, who passed away at the age of 97 in 2016, also attended this commemoration ceremony with his wheelchair.