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The streets of Istanbul were jammed with mourners yesterday for the funeral of Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink.  His murder last Friday prompted a rare display of unity between Armenians and Turks who paid their respects to the courageous writer.   Authorities had repeatedly hauled him into court for speaking about the Armenian Genocide in defiance of Article 301, the law prohibiting insults to Turkish identity.

More than 100,000 mourners choked the streets of Istanbul for the funeral Tuesday of an Armenian journalist whose slaying sparked debate about freedom of expression and whether Turks of different ethnic groups can live together.

"We are all Armenians!'' chanted mourners in an extraordinary outpouring of affection for editor Hrant Dink, who had made enemies among nationalist Turks by labelling as genocide the mass killings of Armenians toward the end of the Ottoman Empire.
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The throngs virtually shut down central Istanbul as they marched eight kilometres from the Agos offices to an Armenian Orthodox church for the funeral. Many participants carried placards that read: "We are all Hrant Dinks.''

Although Turkey has no diplomatic relations with Armenia, it invited senior Armenian government officials and religious leaders to the funeral.  Two Turkish cabinet ministers also attended.

The Armenian patriarch in Istanbul, Archbishop Mesrob Mutafyan, spoke out during Mr. Dink’s funeral against curbs on freedom of expression and encouraged the thaw in relations between Armenia and Turkey that has become evident since the slaying.

“It is unacceptable to judge and imprison someone because of his thoughts, let alone to kill him,” the archbishop said during the hourlong service at the Holy Mother of God Armenian Patriarchal Church. “It is mystical that his funeral turned into an occasion where Armenian and Turkish officials gathered together.”

Shortly after the shooting, police arrested Ogün Samast who has confessed to being the triggerman.  Another man, Yasin Hayal, has since been apprehended and confessed to supplying the gun and inciting the killing.  As he was being brought into an Istanbul courtroom in handcuffs, Mr Hayal threatened Nobel Prize-winning Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk, who has incited the ire of militant nationalists by speaking out about the Armenian Genocide.

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