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Turks gather to commemorate murder of ethnic Armenian journalist
Jan 19, 2008, 17:20 GMT
Ankara - Thousands of Turks on Saturday took part in a ceremony in Istanbul to mark the first anniversary of the murder of ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant Dink.
The crowds carrying banners with slogans including 'We want justice' and 'For Hrant, for justice' gathered outside the offices of the Agos newspaper where Dink was shot dead on January 19 2007.
Police closed the streets around the office of the newspaper of which Dink was editor when he was murdered, in order to allow for the thousands to take part in the ceremony which included speeches from friends and colleagues of Dink as well as his widow Rakel.
'What has this country's justice system done to those police officers who knew exactly who would be killed,' Rakel Dink asked the crowd after a minute of silence was observed.
Dink was shot dead by a 17-year-old nationalist from the Black Sea city Trabzon. He immediately confessed to the murder and is on trial along with associates.
The murder investigation has also unveiled that security authorities had failed to act on numerous death threats that Dink and his family had received.
Dink was targeted by nationalists angry at his writings in which he called on Turkey to acknowledge responsibility for mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman forces during the First World War.
© 2008 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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