Remembering Hrant Dink

What was a last minute event organised by Amnesty International UK, English PEN, Index on Censorship and the Armenian Institute at the Amnesty International UK building in London turned out to be an overwhelmingly moving event in which I believe who Hrant was and what he represented were portrayed accurately and vividly. I was touched to be able to participate - even if it was with poetry rather than song and I must say a special thank you to Nouritza Matossian who organised the event and invited me to recite.

We had music by Levon Chilingirian, vocalist Sonia Vartoukian, and duduk player Tigran Alexanyan, different personal accounts from those who knew Hrant, photos of his life and the day of his funeral, a reading of his wife Rakel's eulogy, and what I think was most moving was the ipromptu footage that Nouritza had videoed while visiting him in Turkey.

Hrant Dink was truly a great man. He was a man who was not afraid to love and to speak the truth. He upheld some of the most important values of human life and achieved a great amount in his lifetime which was brutally cut short. As I watched him on film I wanted to run up and throw my arms around him and tell him how I loved him. I am grateful to all the Turks who realise what he stood for and who realise that the past should be dealt with so that we can come together with tolerance once and for all. I am grateful to the Armenians who will carry on his legacy and to all the other organisations who struggle for truth and justice to prevail through the dark veil of politics. It is not a just world but we do well to follow those who seek to make it so, those who shine like a great beacon of light on humankind, whose love and honesty is more powerful than any weapon. They may have put out his light but we as human beings can carry on shining for everything that Hrant Dink stood for.