The widow of a martyred Istanbul journalist will make a harvest season
visit to the Great Central Valley of the Golden State.
Rakel Y. Dink, surviving spouse of AGOS Weekly co-founder
Hrant Dink, will speak in Fresno on Friday, October 2, and Saturday,
October 3, 2009.
Each of her talks will take place at 7 p.m. in the Sanctuary of the
First Armenian Presbyterian Church, 430 South First Street at
Huntington Boulevard in Fresno. Admission is free and open to the
public and each evening will conclude with a fellowship reception in
the adjacent Church Hall.
The October 2 presentation will primarily be in the Armenian language
and the October 3 presentation will primarily be in the English
language. Each of the talks will be preceded by a screening of the
acclaimed European documentary, `Hrant Dink: Mercy and Truth Have Met
Together.’ The October 2008 motion picture is a production of Net for
God, part of the Chemin Neuf Community of Lyon, France. -more-
A native of Malatya, Hrant Dink grew up in the GedikpaÅ=9Fa Armenian
Orphanage of Istanbul and the Tuzla Armenian Children’s Camp of
Marmara. At the camp, Dink first met Rakel YaÄ=9Fbasan, a Kurdish
Armenian of the Varto clan. The couple married at the Camp some eight
years after their first meeting and eventually had three children.
After Dink studied zoology at Istanbul University and completed his
military service obligation, he opened the Beyaz Adam Bookstore with
his two brothers. He and Rakel later assumed management of the Tuzla
Camp when the longtime administrator, Hrant Guzelian, was imprisoned.
In the Lenten Season of 1996, Dink and others started AGOS Weekly, the
only newspaper in the Republic of Turkey to be published in both
Armenian and Turkish. As the founding editor-in-chief, Dink focused
on Turkish-Armenian relations, the need for democratization of the
nation, and the rights and roles of minority communities in Anatolia.
Prosecuted three times for allegedly denigrating Turkishness under the
Penal Code, Dink was featured in Carla Garapedian’s 2006 genocide
documentary, `Screamers.’ On January 19, 2007, he was assassinated as
he returned to the AGOS editorial offices. Four days later, more than
one hundred thousand citizens marched in his funeral procession, with
many carrying signs reading, `We are all Armenians, We are all Hrant
Dink.’
Since his passing, Rakel Dink has spoken at home and abroad about her
husband’s ideals and aims, her enduring Christian faith, and the
pressing need for greater justice in the land of her birth. Appearing
before Turkish judicial authorities, she prayed for mercy for her
husband’s killers `with the love and justice of Jesus Christ,
one who knows and sees all.’
Founded on July 25, 1897 by 40 immigrants from Marsovan and Trebizond,
FAPC today is a multigenerational congregation of 400 drawn from the
Old and New Worlds. The theme of the congregation for 2009 is
`Nothing is impossible with God.’ Mrs. Dink’s visit is part of the
congregation’ s Thanksgiving Season focus on the persecuted church
worldwide.
Reverend Mgrdich Melkonian is Senior Pastor of the host church;
Reverend Aren Balabanian is the Associate Pastor; Shant Barsoumian,
M.Div. is the pastoral intern; and Elder Thomas Bulger is Chair of the
Committee on Missions. The boyhood church of authors William Saroyan
and A.I. Bezzerides, FAPC is a member congregation of the Presbyterian
Church (U.S.A.) and the Armenian Evangelical Union of North America.
More information about Rakel Dink’s Fresno visit is available by
calling (559) 237-6638 or visiting www.fapc.net.
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