Hrant Dink message from Can Atalay: He is a symbol of brotherhood for our country

Workers' Party of Turkey (TİP) Hatay MP Can Atalay, who has not been released despite two rulings of rights violations by the Constitutional Court, has written a piece in the name of AGOS Newspaper Editor-in-Chief Hrant Dink on the anniversary of his assassination. Atalay wrote, "Hrant Dink is a symbol of brotherhood for our country!"

Here is the article Can Atalay wrote for Agos Newspaper from Marmara Prison (formerly known as Silivri):

"I never had a conversation with him; I have listened to what he had to say and read what he wrote many times...

Those were the days when courthouses, the fronts and interiors of courtrooms were becoming regular scenes of attacks; when Turkey was being dragged somewhere step by step...

I had just become a lawyer. In those days, a team, whether wearing robes or not, would first ensure that a lawsuit was filed against a journalist or writer, and then the venue where that case was to be heard would be used as a 'stage' for a thousand kinds of curses, insults, and attacks.

It was one of those days again, the day of the first hearing of that famous case filed against him.

Şişli Courthouse is a building converted from an apartment block. The courtroom for that case was on the third floor of that building... I had finished my work and was going down the stairs to return to the office when I saw lawyer Fethiye Çetin; she was also heading up. I said, 'Good morning, sister,' but there was no response; she looked as if she were staring into the void, not the usual Fethiye sister. Thinking, 'There is something strange here,' I went back up to the third floor and we sat in the Bar room with those two magnificent 'robe-wearers.' We still couldn't understand what was happening; then lawyer Hasan Alıcı arrived. Just as he began to explain what was going on, a mob arrived, leaving no room for any explanation...

That is how the first hearing of that famous and ominous case began...

I also had many files in that court; I followed what was happening regularly and tried to stand by those who stood on the right side.

A hand touches the file

A file that was heading toward acquittal with an expert report was touched by a hand much later, and Hrant Dink was convicted... That court decision was perhaps used as the most critical element of the path leading to January 19.

January 19, 2007, is the highest point of an era, a moment when tension was raised step by step, when attacks were gradually increasing and intensifying; it is the moment when the fascist terror that emerged in courthouse corridors and in front of courthouses reached its 'constructed logical'(!) conclusion.

There was nothing hidden or secret about the attacks that took place before the eyes of everyone, yes, everyone. It was the most 'advanced' stage of the campaign that preceded and followed those attacks...

There are a pile of questions in my mind

I read all the books published about the Dink assassination; I sometimes overwhelmed my friend, lawyer Hakan Bakırcıoğlu, with my endless questions with that gentlemanly smile of his, but like many of us, there are still a pile of questions in my mind for which I have not found answers...

Leaving aside the unanswered questions, the murder committed on January 19 has a cause and a target that leaves no room for doubt.

Hrant Dink was considered 'dangerous'(!) not just because he spoke up about an issue that some are ashamed to look at in recent history and others cannot utter a single sentence about; but because he constructed that speech in a local language, not as an inter-state bet, but as a confrontation, and for ordinary people to embrace as a result of this.

What made Hrant Dink 'dangerous'

It was his insistence on establishing a discussion from the bottom up and trying to ensure an embrace in the minds of ordinary people, and furthermore, doing this without leaving the country, persistently continuing with the dedication of 'those who have eyes to be buried in these lands.'

I never had a conversation with him, but I had seen him a few times.

One was in front of the Şişli Courthouse. It was not a day when he had his own hearing. I think he had come to the door of another hearing for solidarity. We always had difficult days, and that day was also a difficult day. But I remember very well that I could not believe my eyes when I noticed him standing upright right on the edge of that chaos...

He had a black beret on his head, the kind you see in French films or on the heads of religious uncles; worn tilted to the side.

Under that black beret, a pair of eyes; a smile so calm, so unpretentious, and so stubborn...

In another instance, I saw him in the corridor of a university on a very quiet day... I remember being surprised when I realized how handsome he was.

He was too handsome to be understood by looking at his photos.

He is too handsome to fit into his photos.

What brings us together in Pangaltı every January 19 at 15:00 is his will and stubbornness for brotherhood.

I remember him with respect and love."

News Source: 12punto