("Hrant Dick". Photo by: ucmorlale/Flickr).

"I spent my life in Istanbul on the European side, in homes that looked out on the other side, Asia. One day it was built a bridge connecting the two shores of the Bosphorus. When I got on deck and watched the landscape, I realized it was even nicer to see the two sides together. I realized that it was better to be a bridge between two shores. Addressing the two banks without belonging ". (from "The suitcase of my father", Orhan Pamuk, Nobel Prize for Literature 2006).

The day January 19, 2010 marks the third anniversary of the death of the Armenian Hrant Dink, 52, a writer and journalist, killed in 2007 by an extremist with three gunshot wounds to the throat, under the editorial of the newspaper "Agos" ("the Furrow"), daily bilingual (Armenian and turkish) which he founded. Born in Malatya (Turkey), in Istanbul since the age of seven years: after a degree in zoology, he continued his studies in philosophy, fighting every day for the rights of minorities and the search for a dialogue between Turks and Armenians. Hrant Dick had long been the victim of threats by unknown assailants, following his conviction in 2005 (later suspended) for insulting Turkish identity. His column entitled "The identity of the Armenian", made him famous as the man who for the first time, braving the ire of Turkish nationalists, had described the Armenian massacre (1890-1917) as genocide. The same punishment as provided by Article 301 of the Turkish Criminal Code ("insult to Turkishness") has been also directed to other Turkish intellectuals, including author Orhan Pamuk (Nobel Prize for Literature 2006). Unfortunately the reform of this article, strongly pushed by the European Union seems to have led none of the effects as desired: violence and threats against intellectuals are carried out without restraint. The investigations around the murder revealed a dense network of relationships between institutions, armed forces and extremist groups (ie "gray wolves"). "The death of Hrant Dink - commented on the Council for the Armenian community of Rome proclaimed the mourning - is the result of culture of hatred towards the Armenians who still resist in the extremist fringes of Turkish society. Hatred fueled by the power of Ankara. But the murder of Dink is, unfortunately, also the result of a political opportunism, economical interests, and the indifference to the housing in certain areas of European and Italian society". In 2009 came an appeal by three hundred intellectuals for reconciliation with the Armenian people, in response to which the Prime Minister replied as follows: "Turkey should not apologize to anyone for the genocide of 1915"; in addition to the request for rename the street in Istanbul "Safak Street" in "Hrant Dink Street" was denied by the institutions in Istanbul without a fair reason: clear signs that Turkey is still far from a sincere debate about his past mistakes. The democratization process will be a turkish issues underlying the forthcoming European summit to be held in Strasbourg, 18 to 21 January 2010, with particular reference to the plight of the Kurds (an ethnic minority which represents about 10% of population). The relations between the authorities and pro-Kurdish parties in 2009 were in fact the center of large tensions in the aftermath of armed clashes between the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and Turkish armed forces: they have been created temporary security zones in the provinces East and South, and the clashes continued, further bomb attacks, often against unarmed civilians, have killed hundreds of people. Because of this situation, citizens of Kurdish origin have grown significantly to the violence and threats towards them until the month of September, the fighting lasted into the western province of Altinova. Should undoubtedly pave the way for an honest dialogue with the civilian population, but Turkey continues unabated to persevere with a policy of exclusion and intolerance and a refusal to dialogue together, risks to culminate in a new genocide. European authorities simply can not remain silent in the face of evidence, and this sad occasion can only become a stimulus to a clean and honest dialogue, just as dreamed by Hrant Dink. (view also: http://www.euroalter.com/2009/between-civil-rights-and-denied-rights-to-be-women-in-turkey/)