COSTA MESA – A Turkish-Armenian journalist gunned down in Istanbul was remembered at a vigil attracting more than 300 people at St. Mary Armenian Church in Costa Mesa on Sunday.
FLYING FREE: Ara Semercian of Huntington Beach, at right, releases doves at a vigil for Hrant Dink in Costa Mesa. ANA VENEGAS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
Hrant Dink, the 52-year-old editor of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, was called a hero for writing about the mass killings of Armenians upon the breakup of the Ottoman Empire in the early 1900s.
“Until he came along, all of us in Orange County who had moved out of Istanbul, we had given up hope on being able to have the Turkish government accept that our Armenian ancestors had rights and property in Turkey,” said Puzant Zorayan, who immigrated to the United States in 1979 with his family to escape what he said was persecution of Armenians. “He started a whole new movement of Armenian hope.”
Dink, a Christian of Armenian descent, was shot Friday outside his newspaper office. He had received threats for writing columns calling the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks genocide. Turkish nationalists viewed this as a threat to national unity. The government of Turkey denies genocide was committed.
On Sunday, Ogun Samast, who is either 16 or 17, confessed to fatally shooting Dink, according to Ahmet Cokcinar, chief prosecutor, who spoke to the Associated Press. Samast was arrested in the Black Sea Coast city of Samsun late Saturday. Police said Samast was captured following a tip from his father after the youth’s pictures were broadcast on Turkish television.
Dink last visited Orange County in November, when he met with Zorayan’s father, one of the leaders of the local Armenian community. Orange County is home to nearly 11,000 people of Armenian descent, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Armenian groups claim the figure is much higher, in the range of 25,000 to 50,000.
Dink often spoke to Armenian communities and befriended Costa Mesa resident Daphne Saharian and her husband in 1996.
“His personality was the number one thing affecting all people. His loss is a very tragic one. People wonder how such a person so pure of heart could be killed in such a tragic way,” said Saharian.
During the ceremony at the church, more than 50 doves were released – meant to represent the years that Dink lived. Other vigils for Dink are planned around the country, including at churches in Van Nuys and Glendale.
Dink leaves a wife and three children and one grandchild, Saharian said. Dink’s articles can be found at his paper’s Web site at agos.com.tr.
Contact the writer: Staff photographer Ana Venegas and the Associated Press contributed to this report 714-796-4952 or [email protected]