Featured Appeal: Hrant Dink Memorial Forest
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Dear Friend,

On January 19 when I was at my desk working on my new novel, I took a break to scroll through the headlines on the Guardian's web site and saw that Hrant Dink, the journalist and founding editor of AGOS, Istanbul's bilingual Armenian newspaper, had been brutally murdered. I started calling friends and colleagues. Everyone I spoke with had the same response: shock which then moved into a deep sorrow.

Dink had been tried for and convicted of "insulting Turkishness" under Turkey's Penal Code 301, the same law used to prosecute Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk, among others. Hrant Dink's six-month jail sentence was suspended, but his appeal of the conviction was denied. His crime? He spoke and wrote openly about the Armenian Genocide. The irony, of course, was that he argued that Turkey should be allowed to join the European Union without acknowledgement of the Genocide as a precondition.

Hrant Dink was a brave and principled man. He was killed by people who hated him for what he was and what he said. His death was a loss to the Armenian community in Istanbul and around the world. Perhaps this tragedy will serve as a catalyst for change in Turkey. Over one hundred thousand people marched in his funeral procession in Istanbul, many of them carrying signs saying, "We are all Hrant."

All the Armenians I know are talking about how to pay tribute to Hrant. A group of donors called Jeff Masarjian at ATP last week and suggested that we plant a memorial forest of 53,000 trees--1,000 trees for each of Hrant's fifty-three years. Because that's what we do--plant trees in Armenia--we thought this was something we could offer in Hrant Dink's memory. I am hoping that you will join us in creating this living tribute to a courageous and exemplary man.

Nancy Kricorian
Executive Committee
Armenia Tree Project

Click here to make a donation to support the Hrant Dink Memorial Forest