Journalist killed by gunman in Istanbul

By Vincent Boland in Istanbul
Published: January 20 2007 02:00 | Last updated: January 20 2007 02:00

A newspaper editor and leading figure in one of Turkey's most painful historical deb-ates - the massacre of Armenians - was shot dead yesterday.

Hrant Dink, 53, was shot three times in the head outside the offices of Agos, a weekly newspaper, in Istanbul. He died almost immediately. His murder brought swift condemnation from Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister, who sent the interior and justice ministers to the city as an investigation started.

Mr Dink, a Turkish citizen of Armenian descent, had played a lead role in breaking the taboo on discussion of the massacre during the collapse of the Ottoman empire. He had been credited with trying to bring Turks and Armenians together but had been given a suspended prison sentence in 2005 for allegedly insulting the state.

Armenians allege that as many as 1.5m of their compatriots in the Ottoman empire fell victim to a campaign of genocide by the empire's rulers, beginning in 1915. Turkey denies genocide and insists that hundreds of thousands of Turks and Arm-enians died as the result of war, famine, ethnic cleansing and disease during that turbulent period.

Mr Dink's murder could have repercussions for Turkey in Washington. Both houses of the US Congress are due to debate a motion in the next few weeks that would recognise the Armenian massacre as genocide.

Turkey is fighting a rearguard diplomatic action to prevent it. The White House has indicated that it would not approve such a motion but the atmosphere in which the debate takes place will be clouded by yesterday's events.

There was a heavy police presence in Istanbul last night as Mr Dink's friends gathered outside the newspaper offices. Mr Erdogan said the murder was ''an attack on all of us'' and appealed for calm. Two men were under arrest last night in connection with the murder.

Most Turks are not aware of the fate of the Armenians because school textbooks make no reference to it.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007