Editor’s funeral shuts down Istanbul centre

Tens of thousands of people joined a funeral procession yesterday for Hrant Dink, the Turkish editor of Armenian descent who was shot to death in an attack most Turks assume was motivated by his unpopular views.

The mourners marched from the offices of Mr Dink’s weekly Agos newspaper — where he was killed on Friday — to an Armenian Orthodox church, carrying signs that said: “We are all Hrant Dinks” in Turkish and Armenian.

His daughter, Sera, wept as she walked in front of his sunflower-lined coffin, carrying a picture of her father. Onlookers clapped in tribute as the hearse passed and tossed flowers from windows overhead. The funeral shut down the centre of Istanbul, forcing thousands to walk to work.

Most Turks assume Mr Dink, 52, was targeted for his columns saying the killing of ethnic Armenians by Turks in the early 20th century was genocide. Nationalists consider such statements an insult to Turkey’s honour and a threat to its unity, and Mr Dink had been showered with threats. Police are questioning seven suspects, including a teenager who has confessed to fatally shooting Mr Dink.