“We are the ‘deep’ family of Hrant Dink,” said Filiz Ali, daughter of the great Turkish poet Sabahattin Ali, who was murdered in 1948 while trying to flee the country after serving time in prison for insulting Atatürk.“Hrant’s friends gave us permission today. We will speak instead of them,” she continued. By calling themselves the “deep family,” the Dink family’s supporters were making reference to the “deep state,” which is believed to have played a role in Dink’s murder. Family members of other victims of political murders have signed a statement in support of the Dink family, including relatives of journalists Uğur Mumcu, Çetin Emeç, Metin Göktepe and Abdi İpekçi; prosecutor Doğan Öz; Kurdish writers Ümit Kaftancıoğlu, Turan Dursun, Onat Kutlar and Musa Anter; Confederation of Revolutionary Workers’ Unions (DİSK) President Kemal Türkler; folk singer Hasret Gültekin; poets Behçet Aysan, Nesimi Çimen and Metin Altıok; terror victims Yasemin Cebenoyan and Sevinç Özgüner; publisher İlhan Erdost; academic Cavit Orhan Tütengil; and Adana Police Chief Cevat Yurdakul.
The relatives of the victims demanded that no secrets remain, saying: “We came here to say that we are following you. We do not believe that any secret can be so important as to carry the burden of this dishonor, this humiliation. We came here to express our hope that this court, which will start the hearing in a few minutes, is powerful enough to bring out all the secrets.”
“We came to share and bear witness to the injustice we have been enduring for many years. We came to remind people how organized political murders are covered up, which we have held in our memory since the murder of Sabahattin Ali,” Filiz Ali said.
