Hrant Dink's Final Article

HRANT DINK'S FINAL ARTICLE

Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, about a week and a half ago, a courageous journalist by the name of Hrant Dink was murdered outside of his newspaper office in Istanbul. I would like to read today some of the comments that he made in his last newspaper article Agos on January 19, the day that he was shot dead.

He wrote, ``At first, when an investigation was launched against me for insulting Turkishness, I did not feel troubled. This was not the first time .....

``I had complete trust in what I'd written and what had been my intentions.

``Once the prosecutor had the chance to evaluate the text of my editorial as a whole, not that single sentence, which made no sense by itself, he would understand that I had no intention of insulting Turkishness and this comedy would come to an end. I was sure of myself. But, surprise! A lawsuit was filed.

``In covering every hearing, the newspapers, editorials and television programs all referred to how I had said that the blood of the Turk is poisonous.

``Each time they were adding to my fame as the enemy of the Turk.

``In the corridors of the courthouse, the fascists physically attacked me with racist curses.

``They bombarded me with insults. Hundreds of threats hailed down for months by phone, e-mail and post, increasing all the time.

``I persevered through all of this with patience, awaiting the decision that would acquit me.

``Then the truth would prevail and all those people would be ashamed of what they had done.

``My only weapon was my sincerity. But when the decision came out, my hopes were crushed. From then on, I was in the most distressed situation a person can possibly be in.

``The judge had made a decision in the name of the Turkish nation and it had legally registered that I had denigrated Turkishness. I could have coped with anything but this.

``In my understanding, the denigration of a person on the basis of any difference, ethnic or religious, is racism, and there was no way this could ever be forgiven .....

``Those who tried to single me out and weaken me have succeeded. With the false information they oozed into society, they created a significant segment of the population who saw Hrant Dink as someone who insults Turkishness.

``The memory of my computer is filled with angry, threatening lines sent by citizens from this sector.

``How real are these threats? To be honest, it is impossible for me to know for sure.

``What is truly threatening and unbearable for me is the psychological torture I placed myself in. The question that really gets to me is: What are these people thinking about me?

``Unfortunately, I am now better known than before and I feel people looking at me, thinking: Oh, look, isn't he that Armenian guy?

``I am just like a pigeon, equally obsessed by what goes on on my left and right, front and back. My head is just as mobile and fast.

``What did foreign Minister Gul say? Or Justice Minister Cicek? There is no need to exaggerate about Article 301 on insulting Turkishness. Has anyone been actually put in prison?

``As if going to prison was the only price to pay. This is the price. This is the price.

``Do you ministers know the price of making someone as scared as a pigeon?

``What my family and I have been through has not been easy. I have considered leaving this country at times .....

``But leaving a boiling hell to run to a heaven is not for me. I wanted to turn this hell into heaven.

``We stayed in Turkey because that was what we wanted, out of respect for the thousands of people here who supported me in my fight for democracy .....

``I am now applying to the European Court of Human Rights. I don't know how long the case will take, but I do know that I will continue living here in Turkey until the case is finalized.

``And if the Court rules in my favor, I will be very happy and will never have to leave my country.

``2007 will probably be an even harder year for me. The Court cases will continue. New ones will be initiated and God knows what kind of additional injustices I will have to face.

``I may see myself as frightened as a pigeon, but I know that in this country people do not touch pigeons.

``Pigeons can live in cities, even in crowds. A little scared perhaps, but free.'

Well, Mr. Dink, unfortunately, found otherwise when he was gunned down outside of his office by young men no doubt inflamed by the passions that the government did so little to quell. Hrant Dink, who had the courage to talk about some of the darkest periods of Ottoman history, of the genocide of the Armenian people, the first genocide of last century that claimed a million and a half lives, paid for that courage with his life.

Well, we will have the courage here soon to take up a resolution on the Armenian genocide. All we have to do is vote. That is very little compared to what Hrant Dink did and the price that he paid.

I had a chance to meet him in Istanbul a couple of years ago. He was optimistic about the future. He was optimistic about Turkey's future, about its willingness to examine its past. Regrettably, that optimism was misplaced.

Today we remember a courageous journalist, Hrant Dink. And his legacy lives on.

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