Hrant Dink, who had clashed with authorities over recognition of the Armenian genocide, was shot on a busy street.
ISTANBUL, TURKEY — An outspoken journalist who repeatedly clashed with Turkish authorities here over recognition of the early 20th century slaughter of Armenians was shot to death Friday afternoon on a busy downtown street.
Hrant Dink, who as editor of a Turkish Armenian newspaper was the leading voice for his ethnic community, was killed a week after he wrote about threats from unknown forces who he said regarded him as “an enemy of the Turks.”
Hundreds of people marched Friday evening from Istanbul’s central Taksim Square to the offices of Dink’s Agos weekly newspaper, near the spot on a sidewalk where he was shot in the head. They held candles and posters with his picture; a somber silence was interrupted periodically with applause and chants for “the brotherhood of peoples.”
Istanbul Gov. Muammer Guler said late Friday that three people had been detained in connection with the shooting, but no additional details were released.
The slaying is likely to further darken Turkey’s reputation for repressing critics of the government and for tightly controlling how its turbulent past is portrayed.
Dink, 52, was part of an elite group of writers and thinkers, including Nobel literature laureate Orhan Pamuk and novelist Elif Shafak, who have bee
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