Police used pepper spray to disperse protest in Ankara on Dink’s murder anniversary

Turkish police used pepper spray and water cannons to disperse a protest in Ankara calling for justice over the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, who was shot dead in broad daylight outside his office eight years ago. Middle East Eye writes about this. 

According to the source, thousands of people marched though central Istanbul earlier on Monday in a peaceful demonstration to remember the killing, which sent shockwaves around the country.

Holding signs in Turkish, Armenian and English reading “Justice for Hrant”, protesters in Istanbul had earlier rallied around the offices of the Agos newspaper, a bilingual Turkish and Armenian weekly, which he edited.

Twenty people were arrested as police used pepper spray and water cannons to disperse the protest in central Ankara Monday evening, CNN-Turk and Radikal news website reported.

One of the most prominent Armenian voices in Turkey, Dink, 52, was shot dead with two bullets to the head in broad daylight outside the Agos offices on 19 January 2007.

Ogun Samast, then a 17-year-old jobless high-school dropout, confessed to the murder and was sentenced to almost 23 years in jail in 2011. He said he killed Dink for insulting “Turkishness”.

Dink’s family believes the murder was organized by higher frames of the Turkish authorities.