LOCAL ARMENIANS MOURN ASSASSINATED JOURNALIST.

Byline: EUGENE TONG Staff Writer

A journalist who faced constant threats and legal proceedings as one of the most prominent voices of Turkey's shrinking Armenian community was assassinated Friday at the entrance to his newspaper's offices in Istanbul.

Hrant Dink, a 53-year-old Turkish citizen of Armenian descent, had gone on trial numerous times for speaking out about the mass killings of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians by Turks at the beginning of the 20th century. He had also received threats from Turkish nationalists, who viewed him as a traitor.

The reaction to Dink's slaying was strong in Glendale, where more than 40 percent of the population is of Armenian descent and where he was viewed as a hero.

``I would compare it to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.,'' said Glendale City Councilman Ara Najarian, who met Dink when he visited Southern California last year.

``With respect to the hopes he held for blacks in America, Hrant Dink held that same importance to Armenians worldwide.''

For Istanbul's 65,000 ethnic Armenians -- the only substantial community left in Turkey -- Dink filled a similar role as the African-American civil-rights icon, said Edvin Minasian, vice president of the Organization of Istanbul Armenians, based in Winnetka.

Besides arguing for official recognition of what is known by many as the Armenian Genocide, Dink pressed authorities to return property seized from his community during World War II through the 1950s and criticized government interference in the affairs of the Armenian Orthodox Church, Minasian said.

Last column

Dink, who edited the bilingual Turkish-Armenian newspaper Agos, said in his last column Jan. 10 that he had become famous as an enemy of Turks and had received no protection from authorities despite his numerous complaints.

``My computer's memory is loaded with sentences full of hatred and threats. I am just like a pigeon. ... I look around to my left and right, in front and behind me as much as it does. My head is just as active.''

He ended the column by predicting this would be a difficult year, but he would survive it.

``For me, 2007 is likely to be a hard year,'' he wrote. ``The trials will continue, new ones will be started. Who knows what other injustices I will be up against.''

Dink's killing drew condemnation from Europe, Armenia, the United States and media-freedom and human-rights organizations.

Dink visited Los Angeles and Glendale over six days in November during a tour of the U.S.

Lucy Varpetian, a member of the Armenian Bar Association, which organized the tour, said Dink was especially interested in the role of the local Armenian community in civic life.

Varpetian fondly recalled Dink's speech at the Western Diocese of the Armenian Church of North America in Burbank, where he discussed genocide recognition.

``He said thoughts come into you, and unless you're able to empty those thoughts through your mouth, new thoughts will not enter,'' she said. ``Unless you're able to speak about it, you will not see any sort of change.''

Minasian said his mortality always seemed to shadow him.

``He did tell us that he had received multiple death threats, and to a certain degree, he had accepted his fate,'' Varpetian said. ``I told him, `Don't be a martyr,' and he looked at me like, `That's what's in the cards for me.'''

Rep. Adam Schiff, whose 29th Congressional District includes Burbank, Glendale and Pasadena, recalled meeting Dink during a 2003 trip to Turkey to discuss genocide recognition and press freedom.

``From the moment I met Mr. Dink, I could tell that he was an incredibly courageous man who cared deeply about history and freedom of the press,'' said Schiff, who co-chairs the Congressional Caucus for Freedom of the Press.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned Dink's death as an attack against Turkey's unity and promised to catch those responsible. He said he had appointed top officials from the Justice and Security ministries to investigate the killing.

Relations tense

Turkey's relationship with its Armenian community is fraught with tension and painful memories of a brutal past. Much of Turkey's once-sizable Armenian population was killed or driven out of the country from 1915 to 1923 in what an increasing number of countries are recognizing as the first genocide of the 20th century.

Turkey acknowledges that large numbers of Armenians died but vehemently denies it was genocide, saying the overall figure is inflated and the deaths occurred in the civil unrest during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.

Dink is survived by his wife, Rakel, and their three children.

``With the killing this morning, they are living the drama of another Armenian being killed by a Turk,'' said Harout Sassounian, publisher of the Armenian-American newspaper The California Courier, and Dink's friend. ``It's a flashback of another loss of the family.''

Late Friday, Istanbul's governor announced that three people were arrested, but no details were released.

In October 2005, Dink was convicted of trying to influence the judiciary after Agos ran stories criticizing a law making it a crime to insult Turkey. He was given a suspended sentence.

The conviction was rare even in a country where trials of journalists, academics and writers have become common. Most of the cases, including that of Nobel Prize-winning novelist Orhan Pamuk, were either dropped on a technicality or led to acquittals.

A colleague at Dink's newspaper said Dink attributed the threats to elements in the ``deep state,'' a Turkish term for deeply nationalist and powerful elements in the government.

Dink, who found allies in those eager to liberalize Turkey, struggled against these forces and lost his life, said Richard Hrair Dekmejian, professor of political science at USC.

``He was an apostle of nonviolence, of people reaching between boundaries. There are many good Turks who are committed to Western values and human rights, but there are many extremists who have the support of the deep state.

``... I don't know which way it will go, but it doesn't look very hopeful at this point.''

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

eugene.tong(at)dailynews.com

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CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Journalist Hrant Dink, one of the most prominent voices of Turkey's shrinking Armenian community, was killed by a gunman Friday in Istanbul, Turkey.

Murad Sezer/Associated Press

(2) A Turkish man holds a picture of slain journalist Hrant Dink during a protest march in Istanbul, Turkey.

Osman Orsal/Associated Press