Thousands Attend Hrant Dinks Funeral

Tens of thousands of people gathered in Şişli this morning for Hrant Dink, ethnic Armenian writer who was assassinated last Friday.

The first ceremony took place in front of the offices of Agos,the newspaper Dink founded and where he was murdered by a young extremist.

"You're torn apart from your loved ones, from your children, from me but not from your country" said his wife Rakel Dink addressing to the crowd.

"How ever old he's now, I know that his murderer was also a baby once. There's nothing to do without depicting the conditions that turned a baby into a murderer", she added.

Dink's colleague Aydın Engin said "He'd have left this country but he decided to stay" and led the march begin.

Mourners, dressed in black and carrying signs reading "We are all Armenians", crammed the square outside the offices.

Many roads have been shut to allow the mourners to proceed.

Silent march

The funeral then left for the Armenian Orthodox Church Santa Maria, where Patriarch of the Anatolian Armenians, Mesrob II conducts the religious ceremony.

On the other hand, the funeral march reached to the Balıklı Armenian Cemetery where Dink will be laid to rest. Thousands walked the 8 km. road chanting "We're all Hrant".

Ministry of Interior Abdülkadir Aksu and religious leader of the American Armenians Patriarch Barsamiyan joined the funeral as well as some other politicians and bureaucrats.

Suspect under interrogation

NGO's organized today's march in accordance with the family's requests. Thousand march silently behind Dink's casket, carrying signs.

Dink's murderer was identified and taken under custody Saturday evening. Interrogation still continues.(EÜ)