Turkish-Armenian Journalist Hrant Dink Remembered on 19th Anniversary of His Assassination

January 19, 2026 – Turkey – 

Hundreds of people gathered in Istanbul, Turkey, on January 19, 2026, to mark the 19th anniversary of the assassination of Hrant Dink, the prominent Turkish-Armenian journalist and editor-in-chief of the bilingual newspaper Agos. Dink was shot dead in broad daylight outside the newspaper’s former office in Şişli district on January 19, 2007, an act that provoked widespread national and international outrage and spotlighted threats to press freedom and minority rights in Turkey.

The annual commemoration was held outside the Sebat Apartment building, the site where Agos once operated and where Dink was killed. Participants braved cold weather and snowfall to pay tribute to his legacy, carrying signs and chanting slogans such as “We are all Hrant” and “We do not give up”, reaffirming collective demands for justice and a full reckoning with the circumstances of his murder. Visual tributes, including projected imagery on the Sebat building’s facade, were displayed as part of the ceremony.

Friends, colleagues, civil society representatives, and political figures attended the event along with family members, calling once again for accountability and opposing impunity in the long-running case. Opposition lawmakers renewed accusations that the assassination was not an isolated act but a planned and organised political assassination, arguing that warnings and threats against Dink were known to state institutions but not effectively addressed. Several prominent figures currently imprisoned on politically charged charges sent letters that were read aloud during the memorial.

Dink’s assassination by Ogün Samast, then a 17-year-old nationalist, remains one of the most defining attacks on media freedom in modern Turkish history. Samast was convicted and sentenced to prison, and others involved received lengthy sentences; however, critics argue that broader responsibility and alleged institutional failures have not been fully examined. Dink’s work, which included advocating for reconciliation between Turks and Armenians and confronting historical and social taboos, made him both a seminal voice for dialogue and a target of nationalist hostility.

Each year, the anniversary of Dink’s killing serves not only as a moment of remembrance but also as a reminder of the ongoing struggle for justice, press freedom, and protection of minority rights in Turkey and beyond.

Reference –

https://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/slain-turkish-armenian-journalist-dink-remembered-218004

https://bianet.org/haber/hrant-dink-commemorated-on-19th-anniversary-of-murder-315773

Hrant Dink commemorated in İstanbul 19 years after his murder