Hrant Dink never had a published book. He, too, used to make fun of this and say, "I am a writer without a book." Of course, this joke also points to an important fact: Hrant was a true man of action. However, as the founder and chief editor of Agos, he contributed to the democratization process of Turkey as he developed discourses and actions on the most deeply-rooted problems of Turkey, including, most significantly, Turkish-Armenian relations.
This work, which he wrote for TESEV, is the only book he had the opportunity to finish. Here, with the common future he envisages for Turkey and Armenia, he exhibits a completely new perspective that also declares its desire to repair the past. Although the book was not published when it was first written, Hrant Dink did not care about that… The work had already been done, the labour would not be wasted. After all, there was still a lot of time to make new additions…
His labour was also his cause. Today, it is more important than ever to understand that cause.
So that neither life, nor death, are wasted…
Please click here to read a section from the book.
Please click here for İki Yakın Halk İki Uzak Komşu - Turkish translation of the book.
CREDITS
Name: Two Close Peoples Two Distant Neighbours
Original name: İki Yakın Halk İki Uzak Komşu (2008)
ISBN: 9786056448843
Price: 150 TL
Pages: 128
Width: 150 mm
Height: 200 mm
Weight: 180 gr
Printing 1st edition: November 2014
Language: English
Author: Hrant Dink
Translation: Nazım Hikmet Richard Dikbaş
Edited by Etyen Mahçupyan
Series book design: Rauf Kösemen, Myra
Design consultant: Rauf Kösemen, Myra
Page layout: Sera Dink
Cover ptoho: Ani, 2004
Printing: Mas Matbaacılık
AUTHOR HRANT DİNK
Hrant Dink was born on September 15th, 1954 in Malatya and his family moved to Istanbul in 1961. He was placed in the orphanage of Gedikpaşa Armenian Protestant Church with his two brothers. He attended İncirdibi Armenian School, Bezciyan and Surp Haç Tıbrevank High School in Üsküdar and spent summers in the Tuzla Children’s Camp. Later, he married to Rakel Yağbasan from the Armenian Varto Village, south eastern Turkey, with whom he grew up at the orphanage, and they had three children.
He studied zoology and philosophy at Istanbul University. In 1996, he established Agos, the first weekly Turkish-Armenian newspaper in the history of the Turkish Republic. The main goals of Agos were, to get in touch with the Armenians in Turkey who don’t speak Armenian, to voice the institutionalized problems of Armenians in Turkey and to get support from public, and to share the Armenian culture and history with the rest of the society in Turkey. Agos with its left wing and opponent tendency, criticized the closed structure of the Armenian community, and proposed new social projects.
Hrant Dink also wrote columns in Turkish dailies, Yeni Binyıl and BirGün. He defended the establishment of relations and the opening of the border between Turkey and Armenia, supported the democratization process of Turkey and the facilitation of a mutual, considerate, and empathetic dialogue about 1915 for both nations.
In 2004, based on an article he wrote, he became the subject of a harsh edict by the General Staff, he was sued with the accusations of ‘insulting Turkishness’, he was convicted to six months of imprisonment regardless of the opposing expert opinion and he became the target of negative mass media propaganda. Hrant Dink was assassinated on January 19th, 2007 in front of his newspaper building.
The ongoing murder trial is considered to be the search for justice in Turkey.
