Still All Armenian!

This saturday we will commemorate Armenian-Turkish newspaper editor and peace activist Hrant Dink. It will be 1st anniversary of his assassination by the extremist Turkish nationalists. Extremist nationalists? Lets skip the BBC language for a minute, and call them what they are: racist fascists. I bet they did not expect one hundred thousand people gathering at his funeral. No one did. A non muslim, non Turkish, non Ataturkist writer got killed and all of a sudden thousands of people showed up and shouted first time in entire Turkish or Ottoman history with one voice: "We are all Armenians!". That was a sight worth seeing. People cried, shed tears, but at the end of the day we all went home with a sense of hope, and realization of our true power. State rulers, police and their mafia ties, they all got scared out of this scene. Hrant's death was the Turkish "Ya basta" against nationalism inside. First time in Turkish history, the official denial of the Armenian genocide was challenged by the masses.



Of course pessimist leftists (whose title remains an oxymoron by definition), were eager to depict the true impact of the All Armenian! march. For some reason, they suggested that left lost all the momentum after the march and the mass gathering in the funeral was an occasional thing. "Look" they accused "people marched one day and then went straight back home. So we can't talk of any progress can we?" Needless to say, this is an awkward understanding of the historical course. And elitist too, always ready in its corner to blame the masses for being selfish.


History does not lead a linear path my friends. Neither do the masses. You are right, we are selfish, pitiful, small people. We know the world is a scary place. We know how evil the oppressors can get. So did Hrant. Yet, we only get our strength from each other.


When we are together we overcome our fear. When we are millions we overcome those whom we fear. This Saturday we are together once again. This Saturday we are all Hrant. This Saturday we are all Armenian!