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Turkey shocked by killing of journalist

Erdogan promises swift probe

ISTANBUL (Turkey): Turkey's press conveyed the nation's sense of shock, shame and self-reflection on Saturday at the assassination of journalist and Armenian community leader Hrant Dink at the entrance to his bilingual Turkish-Armenian newspaper.

Dink (52), who gained prominence after he was put on trial for saying that the mass killing of Armenians at the beginning of the 20th century was genocide, was shot dead on Friday afternoon.

He had received numerous threats, and wrote in his last newspaper column he was worried about attacks.

Turkey's press was unanimous in claiming as their own a man whose life in Turkey was largely defined by his being labelled a traitor and an enemy to his country.

Turkish officials promised to expose the details of the killing, and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan went on national television at least three times to speak about the slaying and promised speedy investigation.

Most Turks assumed the shooting was a reaction to Dink's public statements that the mass killings of Armenians around the time of World War I constituted genocide. Nationalists see such statements as insults to the honour of Turks and as threats to national unity.

Turkey's relationship with its minority Armenian community has long been fraught with tension, controversy and painful memories of a brutal past.

Much of Turkey's once-sizeable Armenian population was killed or driven out beginning around 1915 in what is recognised as the first genocide of the 20th century.

Dink's funeral is scheduled for Tuesday at the Meryem Ana Church, after which he will be buried at the Armenian graveyard in Istanbul, Patriarch Mesrob II, the leader of Turkey's Armenian Orthodox community said. — AP

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