REMARKS BY EDVIN MINASSIAN, CHAIRMAN OF OIA AND THE HRANT DINK ORATORIO COMMITTEE AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE EVENT ON APRIL 16, 2016, AMBASSADOR AUDITORIUM, PASADENA ,CALIFORNIA
THANK YOU HAROUT, THANK YOU FOR THE WONDERFUL JOB YOU DID AS THE MC THIS EVENING…..ABOVE ALL WE THANK AND EXTEND OUR DEEP GRATITUDE TO MAJAK TOSHIGIAN AND BERCUHI BERBERIAN THE ARCHITECTS OF THIS MASTERFUL AND MAGICAL WORK …. A SPLENDID LYRICAL, MUSICAL AND POETIC PENETRATION OF OUR SPIRITS ….BRILLIANTLY CAPTURING THE ESSENCE OF HRANT DINK..HIS MESSAGE AND HIS LEGACY….
THANK YOU TO ALL THE PERFORMERS..THE MAESTRO..THE MUSICAL DIRECTOR….AND ALL THOSE WHO WORKED VERY HARD IN MAKING THIS EVENING POSSIBLE..TO ALL THE INVIDUALS AND PAN ARMENIAN ORGANIZATIONS THAT PARTNERED WITH OIA TO BRING THIS NIGHT TOGETHER..
NOT ONLY ON BEHALF OF THE ISTANBUL ARMENIANS, BUT ON BEHALF OF ALL WHO KNEW HRANT DINK WELL, I CAN SAFELY SAY WITH CERTAINTY WHAT WOULD MAKE HRANT REALLY REALLY HAPPY AND PROUD IS UNITY DEMONSTRATED BY THE PRESENCE OF ALL MAJOR ARMENIAN INSTITUTIONS AND ORGANIZATIONS HERE THIS EVENING …ALL OF OUR CHURCHES ARE REPRESENTED TONIGHT, AT THE TOP LEVELS OF CLERGY LED BY HOVNAN SRPAZAN, ..AS WELL AS ALL THREE OF OUR TRADITIONAL PARTIES….THE HUNCHAGSAGAN..TASHNAGSAGAN AND RAMGAVAR PARTIES…THE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE REPUBLIC OF ARMENIA , AS HRANT WAS VERY PROUD ,THE INDEPENDENT, FREE AND SOVEREIGN REPUBLIC AS WELL AS THE LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION PARTY HERITAGE, OUR DEAR RAFFI HOVANNISIAN, ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT…WE ALSO HAVE PRESENT VARIOUS CHARITABLE AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATIONS, THE RELIEF SOCIETY, THE ARMENIAN BAR ASSOCIATION,THE IRAQI HYE AND IRANIAN ARMENIAN ORGANIZATIONS , FROM ABOVE HE IS SMILING AND BEAMING AT THIS SIGHT OF UNITY … ALL GATHERED TO PAY TRIBUTE TO AND TO HONOR HIS LEGACY.
THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF HRANT DINK…OUR MARTYR AND HERO….
THE CRUSADE ; TRUTH TELLER; A RADICAL LEFTIST ACTIVIST IN HIS YOUTH WHO TO THE DAY HE GAVE HIS LAST BREATH ; EVEN IN THE DAYS THAT LED UP TO THAT TRAGIC DAY…..DAYS THAT KEPT TURNING DARKER AND DARKER…. DID NOT GIVE UP ON HIS DREAM/ HIS IDEALS AND HIS FRIENDS WHOM HE COULD NOT ABANDON BY LEAVING…..DID NOT STOP BEING THE RARE IF NOT THE ONLY ARMENIAN WHO CONTINUED TO CARE FOR AND FIGHT FOR THE RIGHTS OF ALL OF HIS FELLOW CITIZENS; ADDRESSING ALL OTHER PROBLEMS OF THE COUNTRY, BREAKING FREE FROM THE CAGE THE SMALL ARMENIAN COMMUNITY WAS TRAPPED IN..
AT THE SAME TIME HE WAS A PRAGMATIST., WHO WHILE FIGHTING FANATICISM EXTERNALLY AND INTERNALLY CRITIQUED TURKISH SOCIETY AS WELL AS HIS OWN …HE TAUGHT THAT THE ROAD TO INTOLERANCE AND PREJUDICE IS THE ROAD TO DESTRUCTION…..WHEREAS CONFRONTING HISTORY///THE CRIMES AND INJUSTICES..RESTORATION OF THE TRUE NATIONAL MEMORY AND DELIVERY OF JUSTICE WAS THE ONLY WAY THE ENTIRE SOCIETY WOULD BE HEALED AND EVOLVE INTO A PEACEFUL AND PROSPEROUS MULTICULTURAL COUNTRY…
12 YEARS AGO ..HE WAS THE FIRST PERSON TO TELL AN UNTIL THEN TOTALLY IGNORANT AND SILENT TURKISH SOCIETY THAT ON APRIL 24TH ONLY THE ARMENIANS OF TURKEY ARE REPRESSED INTO SILENCE….ONLY THEY CANNOT MARCH IN THE STREETS OR BUILD MONUMENTS TO THE MEMORIES OF THEIR ANCESTORS…..’BUT DON’T THINK (HE ADMONISHED HIS READERS) THAT THIS SILENCING MEANS THAT THEY ABANDONED OR FORGOT ABOUT THEIR ANCESTORS IN THOSE DAYS OF THE GENOCIDE…..WHY SHOULD A NATION FORGET ITS SORROW, ITS PAIN..ITS HISTORY..ITS ANCESTORS…? ‘
HRANT DINK SAID THAT THEY ACTUALLY BEAR THE BURDEN TO KEEP THEM ALIVE BY ENGAGING IN THE DAILY FIGHT AND STRUGGLE TO MAINTAIN THEIR LANGUAGE, CULTURE AND HERITAGE….THEY CARRY THAT INTO THE FUTURE TO THE BEST OF THEIR ABILITIES AND STRENGTH…BRAVELY…..
PART OF HIS LEGACY IS THAT JUST LIKE THE REST OF THE WORLD…ARMENIANS IN TURKEY JOINED BY TURKS , KURDS, OTHER NATIONALITIES AND THEIR ARMENIAN BRETHEN AND SISTERS HAVE BEEN COMMEMORATING THE GENOCIDE IN TURKEY YEAR AFTER YEAR…..HIS LEGACY IS A SAYAT TEKIR OF THE NOR ZARTONK MOVEMENT WHO VALIANTLY FOUGHT OVER 175 DAYS OF RESISTANCE ALONG WITH HIS YOUNG COLLEAGUES TO DEFEND AND SAVE KAMP ARMEN…AND IT REMAINS IN ARMENIAN HANDS TODAY….HIS LEGACY IS GARO PAYLAN…WHO DAY IN DAY OUT IS FIGHTING THE FIGHT ..FOR THE IDEALS THAT HRANT DINK GAVE HIS LIFE FOR……DESPITE THE MUCH DARKER TIMES…WHEN JUST LIKE IN THE 90’S NATIONALISM AND ATMOSPHERE OF HATE IS ON THE RISE…..AND THE SUFFOCATING PRESSURE AND NEGATIVE SPOTLIGHT IS ONCE AGAIN ON ARMENIANS ….BUT NEITHER GARO..NOR SAYAT ..NOR MANY OTHER HEROS LIKE THEM.. AND NEITHER I ,NOR YOU WILL GIVE UP ON THE DREAM AND INSPIRATION OF HRANT DINK…AND AT THE SAME TIME WE WILL CONTINUE TO FIGHT AGAINST ATTEMPTS TO SANITIZE HIS LEGACY……AND IN PAYING HOMAGE TO HIS FAMOUS PHRASE….WE WILL MAKE SURE THAT ONE WAY OR ANOTHER… “THE WATER WILL FIND ITS CRACK”..WE WILL NEVER DISCONNECT FROM THE LANDS OF OUR ANCESTORS..
HRANT DINK, THE MARTYR AND THE HERO WAS ALSO A LOVING HUSBAND , A FATHER, , A BROTHER AND AN UNCLE TO HIS CLOSE FAMILY…AND A GREAT FRIEND TO MANY….HE WAS A MAN JUST LIKE THE REST OF US…
AS THE LOVE OF HIS LIFE AND HIS OTHER HALF SAID TO THE TENS OF THOUSANDS GATHERED AT HIS FUNERAL..HIS AFFECTION FOR THE TRUTH….HIS LOVE FOR CLARITY…HIS LOVE FOR HIS FRIENDS BROUGHT HIM TO THIS END….
HIS LOVE THAT CHALLENGED FEAR FOSTERED HIM….SHE SAID….THEY SAY HE WAS A GREAT MAN. I ASK YOU , WAS HE BORN GREAT? NO, HE WAS JUST LIKE US…HE DID NOT DESCEND FROM SKIES …HE WAS ALSO FROM THE SOIL…BUT HIS SOUL, HIS VOCATION, HIS MANNERS, THE LOVE IN HIS HEART MADE HIM GREAT….THERE WERE NO TABOOS OR UNTOUCHABLES FOR HIM…
ADDRESSING HIM SHE SAID…WE WILL FOLLOW MY LOVE…WE WILL COME TO THAT INIMITABLE HEAVEN..ONLY AND ONLY LOVE CAN ENTER THERE…LOVE THAT SURPASSES THE MAN AND THE ANGELS, THE PROPHETS AND THE ULTIMATE WISDOM, FAITH THAT WOULD MOVE THE MOUNTAINS AND SACRIFICING ALL FORTUNE AND GIVING YOURSELF TO FIRE…ONLY LOVE WILL ENTER THERE…WE WILL LIVE TOGETHER , FOREVER AND IN LOVE…
YOU LEFT YOUR LOVED ONES…..YOUR CHILDREN …YOUR GRANDCHILDREN..YOU LEFT THESE PEOPLE WHO SALUTE YOU HERE…..YOU LEFT MY ARMS…
YOU DID NOT LEAVE YOUR HOMELAND!!!
RAKEL DINK…..THE LOVE OF HRANT DINK IS WITH US THIS EVENING….
I WILL NOW CALL ON HER TO JOIN ME AT THE PODIUM AND TO ADDRESS THE AUDIENCE GATHERED HERE THIS EVENING.