Turkey remembers slain journalist

Thousands of people gathered in Istanbul, Turkey, Thursday to commemorate the five-year anniversary of the death of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink. Dink was gunned down outside of the Armenian language Agos newspaper's office Jan. 19, 2007. A 17-year-old Turkish ultra nationalist soccer player, Ogun Samast, was found with the murder weapon, and later convicted of the killing, CNN reported. An estimated 40,000 people marched from Taksim Square to Agos' office, the Today's Zaman reported. The Dink family and human rights activists have spoken out against a Tuesday acquittal of 19 suspected accomplices in the murder. The suspected accomplices were charged with being members of a terrorist organization that plotted the assassination. "We want an end to this shame," Karin Karakasli, a writer and journalist in Turkey's Armenian community, said Thursday. "They are telling us that the [case] file has been closed. The Dink case is not a file that can be closed. The Dink case is a wound." However, the trial's presiding judge, Rustem Eryilmaz, said there was not sufficient evidence to link an illegal organization to the murder. "We acquitted the suspects of organized crime charges. This ruling does not mean that there was no organization involved. This means that there was not enough evidence to prove the actions of this organization," Eryilmaz said Thursday.