Jailed PKK leader honors memory of slain Turkish-Armenian journalist Dink

ANKARA

Hrant Dink, the renowned editor-in-chief of Agos, which has been the voice of the small Armenian community in Istanbul for several years, was murdered seven years ago.

Abdullah Öcalan, the jailed leader of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), has honored the memory of Hrant Dink, an Armenian-Turkish journalist killed seven years ago in an ultranationalist plot.

“I greet the memory and the struggle of the precious child of the Armenian people, our brother Hrant,” Öcalan said in a message which was conveyed to the public on Jan. 11 following a visit to İmralı Island by two deputy parliamentary group chairs of the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), İdris Baluken and Pervin Buldan, and People’s Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Sırrı Süreyya Önder.

“I hope to address our Armenian citizens with a comprehensive letter and have it ready for the anniversary of the massacre of Hrant,” Öcalan said.

Dink, the renowned editor-in-chief of Agos, which has been the voice of the small Armenian community in Istanbul for several years, was shot dead by Ogün Samast in front of his office in Istanbul on Jan. 19, 2007. Samast was sentenced to over 22 years in jail for the murder.