MINISTER OSKANIAN SENDS MESSAGE OF SORROW TO HRANT DINK’S FAMILY

Hrant Dink, noted editor who was shot before his office on Friday, was laid to rest in Istanbul today. Armenia was represented at the funeral by Deputy Foreign Minister Arman Kirakossian, and by Armenia’s Permanent Representative to the Black Sea Economic Cooperation, in Istanbul, Karen Mirzoyan.
Minister Oskanian, who was in Moscow for the regular meeting of the foreign ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan, on the Nagorno Karabakh conflict, sent a personal condolence letter to Hrant Dink’s widow Raqel and the family.
“It is with deep sorrow that I write this letter,” he said. “We all join you in mourning this cruel, unnecessary, unimaginable, immeasurable loss. Hrant was more than the editor of a newspaper. He embodied the dreams of an entire nation. And he dreamt big. He believed in the goodness of mankind and its ability to bring change. He fought vigorously for individual freedom and liberty as instruments for change and progress.
Minister Oskanian’s letter continued. “And because he believed, he spoke and wrote with passion, thus converting many, near and far, into believers. Today, it is these believers who will carry forward his dream to be able to freely speak the truth, remember a shared, if painful, history, to recount the horrors of genocide in order to reject and condemn it once and for all, and to make new history together. Armenians and Turks together can ensure Hrant’s desire for peace across borders, dialogue among peoples and understanding between individuals.”
The Minister stressed that, “Indeed, we have a responsibility to do this so that his death takes on meaning, just as his life was so meaningful and significant for so many. We have a further responsibility to make sure that the life we live together, in the same region, is a life of peace and understanding.”
The Minister’s letter and a floral wreath were delivered to the family immediately preceding the funeral.
From Moscow, the Minister commented, “We were conducting dialogue to reach peace with Azerbaijan in Moscow, while an advocate of dialogue and peace, shot dead, was being laid to rest in Turkey. I couldn’t help but think that violence, war, extremism are not the answers to any of the region’s problems. I wonder if we will look back to this day and see Hrant’s death as the catalyst for a new hope for the region.”

From Moscow, the Minister commented, “I couldn’t help but think that a man of peace was being nt that as this man of peace was being laid to rest, we were negotiating a peace for Nagorno Karabakh, that, if it is to be meaningful, will also require Turkey’s positive and active engagement.

Violence and war is not the answer to the problems in the region.
Perhaps we will look back to this day and see Hrant’s death as the catalyst for a new hope for the region.

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