No great loss without some small gain. Yes, Hrant Dink’s murder was a great tragedy, but it proved to be impetus to the Turkish public, Zafer Yoruk, a Turkish expert in mass media and politics and lecturer of the Economic University of Izmir, told a September 4 press conference. According to him, over 100,000 people attended Dink’s funeral.

“A wave of indignation and protest swept over Turkey, thousands went out into the streets. No pressure from above helped,” Yoruk said. He added that it inaugurated “the awareness of the Turkish public.”

Large-scale actions of protest served as a ground for the action “Armenians, forgive us.” 

The petition “Armenians, forgive us” was out on the Internet on December 15, 2008. Over 8,000 people put their signatures to it in one day. The campaign was organized by Professor Cengiz Aktar, Professor Baskin Oran, another 200 Turkish academics, as well as journalists. “I too put my signature,” Yoruk said.