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SYDNEY: Over 500 Sydney-Armenians held a peaceful rally outside the Turkish Consulate on Wednesday, protesting Friday’s racially-motivated murder of Istanbul-based Armenian journalist and internationally-respected human rights activist, Hrant Dink. The Agos newspaper editor, and outspoken critic of Turkey’s continued denial of the Armenian Genocide in 1915, was gunned down outside his office amid a growing tide of official Turkish prosecutions and nationalist pressure to silence his writings. The protest began with the singing of the Australian and Armenian national anthems, and a minute’s silence in memory of the man described as “an inspiration” by Armenian Community spokesperson, Haig Kayserian. “Hrant Dink’s trust in the humanity of Turkish politics was undeserved and ultimately rewarded with his demise via a heinous murder,” Kayserian announced. “We gather here in anger that the Turkish government has created a cloud of racial hate against Armenians in its country; a hate that stems from a simple cry for justice from a minority Christian nation; a hate that led to the death of this martyr of truth, democracy and human rights,” he added, before joining the passionate crowd with chants of ‘WE WANT JUSTICE’ and ‘ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. STOP THE LIES’. Sonia Derderian recited Hrant Dink’s biography, while Toros Boyadjian presented an Armenian-language speech, drawing widespread applause from the crowd. Print, radio and television media were among the gathered, with the latter feeding their networks footage of an emotional crowd, holding dozens of banners bearing messages including; ‘DINK IS THE LATEST VICTIM OF THE ARMENIAN GENOCIDE’, ‘HRANT DINK: RIP’ and ‘DO NOT DARE TO SPEAK THE TRUTH IN TURKEY’. When it was announced during the rally that the Turkish Consulate General had refused to accept the Sydney Armenian Community’s collective letter of demand, the crowd burst into chants of ‘SHAME TURKEY, SHAME’, eventually forcing a Consulate official into picking up the envelope in question from the mailbox. The letter of demand asked for the Turkish government “to remove Article 301 [insulting Turkishness; a law charging anybody speaking against official Turkish policy] of their Penal Code, to accept responsibility of the Armenian Genocide and to bring the conspirators guilty of Hrant Dink’s murder to justice.” Varant Meguerditchian, another spokesperson of the Sydney-Armenian community, advised that Turkey must move away from its denialist politics and admit to its atrocious human rights violations including the Genocide of 1.5million Armenians during World War I, if the country is to step closer towards becoming a true democracy. “It is up to the Turkish government to find the evil that has taken this great man from us,” Meguerditchian declared. “The responsibility falls upon a country claiming to move towards democracy, which is in reality a manipulation designed to one day help Turkey enter the European community.” The mood of the rally turned to one of mourning when members of Sydney’s Armenian youth laid wreaths before the embassy wall and prayed in honour of the fallen champion of freedom and democracy in Turkey as well as justice and true reconciliation for the Armenian Genocide; Hrant Dink. [end] PLEASE NOTE: Images of the protest are available at: [link=http://www.ayfaustralia.com/e107_plugins/autogallery/autogallery.php?show=Hrant%20Dink%20Protest%20%2824-1-07%29]AYF AUSTRALIA GALLERY[/link] Media coverage of protest included: SBS Television CH 31 Television SBS Radio 2GB Radio ABC Radio National Australian Associated Press ABC Online Nine MSN Online News Limited Press Fairfax Press