[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 19 (Wednesday, January 31, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H1117-H1118]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1630
                       HRANT DINK'S FINAL ARTICLE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Scott of Georgia). Under a previous 
order of the House, the gentleman from California (Mr. Schiff) is 
recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Speaker, about a week and a half ago, a courageous 
journalist by the name of Hrant Dink was murdered outside of his 
newspaper office in Istanbul. I would like to read today some of the 
comments that he made in his last newspaper article Agos on January 19, 
the day that he was shot dead.
  He wrote, ``At first, when an investigation was launched against me 
for insulting Turkishness, I did not feel troubled. This was not the 
first time . . .
  ``I had complete trust in what I'd written and what had been my 
intentions.
  ``Once the prosecutor had the chance to evaluate the text of my 
editorial as a whole, not that single sentence, which made no sense by 
itself, he would understand that I had no intention of insulting 
Turkishness and this comedy would come to an end. I was sure of myself. 
But, surprise! A lawsuit was filed.
  ``In covering every hearing, the newspapers, editorials and 
television programs all referred to how I had said that the blood of 
the Turk is poisonous.

[[Page H1118]]

  ``Each time they were adding to my fame as the enemy of the Turk.
  ``In the corridors of the courthouse, the fascists physically 
attacked me with racist curses.
  ``They bombarded me with insults. Hundreds of threats hailed down for 
months by phone, e-mail and post, increasing all the time.
  ``I persevered through all of this with patience, awaiting the 
decision that would acquit me.
  ``Then the truth would prevail and all those people would be ashamed 
of what they had done.
  ``My only weapon was my sincerity. But when the decision came out, my 
hopes were crushed. From then on, I was in the most distressed 
situation a person can possibly be in.
  ``The judge had made a decision in the name of the Turkish nation and 
it had legally registered that I had denigrated Turkishness. I could 
have coped with anything but this.
  ``In my understanding, the denigration of a person on the basis of 
any difference, ethnic or religious, is racism, and there was no way 
this could ever be forgiven . . .
  ``Those who tried to single me out and weaken me have succeeded. With 
the false information they oozed into society, they created a 
significant segment of the population who saw Hrant Dink as someone who 
insults Turkishness.
  ``The memory of my computer is filled with angry, threatening lines 
sent by citizens from this sector.
  ``How real are these threats? To be honest, it is impossible for me 
to know for sure.
  ``What is truly threatening and unbearable for me is the 
psychological torture I placed myself in. The question that really gets 
to me is: What are these people thinking about me?
  ``Unfortunately, I am now better known than before and I feel people 
looking at me, thinking: Oh, look, isn't he that Armenian guy?
  ``I am just like a pigeon, equally obsessed by what goes on on my 
left and right, front and back. My head is just as mobile and fast.
  ``What did foreign Minister Gul say? Or Justice Minister Cicek? There 
is no need to exaggerate about Article 301 on insulting Turkishness. 
Has anyone been actually put in prison?
  ``As if going to prison was the only price to pay. This is the price. 
This is the price.
  ``Do you ministers know the price of making someone as scared as a 
pigeon?
  ``What my family and I have been through has not been easy. I have 
considered leaving this country at times . . .
  ``But leaving a boiling hell to run to a heaven is not for me. I 
wanted to turn this hell into heaven.
  ``We stayed in Turkey because that was what we wanted, out of respect 
for the thousands of people here who supported me in my fight for 
democracy . . .
  ``I am now applying to the European Court of Human Rights. I don't 
know how long the case will take, but I do know that I will continue 
living here in Turkey until the case is finalized.
  ``And if the Court rules in my favor, I will be very happy and will 
never have to leave my country.
  ``2007 will probably be an even harder year for me. The Court cases 
will continue. New ones will be initiated and God knows what kind of 
additional injustices I will have to face.
  ``I may see myself as frightened as a pigeon, but I know that in this 
country people do not touch pigeons.
  ``Pigeons can live in cities, even in crowds. A little scared 
perhaps, but free.''
  Well, Mr. Dink, unfortunately, found otherwise when he was gunned 
down outside of his office by young men no doubt inflamed by the 
passions that the government did so little to quell. Hrant Dink, who 
had the courage to talk about some of the darkest periods of Ottoman 
history, of the genocide of the Armenian people, the first genocide of 
last century that claimed a million and a half lives, paid for that 
courage with his life.
  Well, we will have the courage here soon to take up a resolution on 
the Armenian genocide. All we have to do is vote. That is very little 
compared to what Hrant Dink did and the price that he paid.
  I had a chance to meet him in Istanbul a couple of years ago. He was 
optimistic about the future. He was optimistic about Turkey's future, 
about its willingness to examine its past. Regrettably, that optimism 
was misplaced.
  Today we remember a courageous journalist, Hrant Dink. And his legacy 
lives on.

                          ____________________