During Friday’s a talk at Bosphorus University in Istanbul, Turkey, American left-wing philosopher, Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor, and linguist Noam Chomsky evoked Hrant Dink—the founder and chief editor of Istanbul’s Agos Armenian bilingual weekly, who was gunned down in 2007 in front of his office building—calling him a “brave martyr of freedom.”   

Also, Chomsky urged the Turkish government to end its war against the Kurds, saying the recent peace efforts have offered a real chance of a settlement, Reuters reports.

“Turkey must find its place if, of course, it can heal its internal sores, and none is more malignant than the perennial Kurdish issue. There do appear to be some real prospects with recent negotiations despite criminal efforts to disrupt them,” Chomsky said, referring to the assassination of three Kurdish female activists in Paris last week.

Chomsky also criticized Turkey's practice of jailing journalists, especially those from Kurdish media.