Istanbul Municipality to turn slain journalist Hrant Dink's orphanage into youth camp

Istanbul Municipality will be transforming an Armenian orphanage where slain journalist Hrant Dink lived as a child into a youth camp, Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu said on Jan. 19, the anniversary of Dink's murder.

Tuesday January 19 2021 01:48 pm

Dink (R) is seen with his friends as a child in Kamp Armen.

Duvar English

A proposal to build a youth camp on the grounds of the Armenian orphanage where slain journalist Hrant Dink grew up passed unanimously in the municipal council, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu said on Jan. 19 to commemorate Dink on the anniversary of his death.

Dink was shot and killed in front of the weekly Agos where he worked on Jan. 19, 2007, solidifying tensions that had been rising between Turkey's Armenian community and Ankara.

Located in Istanbul's Tuzla district, the property of the orphanage dubbed "Kamp Armen" was taken over by the state for a brief period during Dink's lifetime, but was returned to the Armenian community in 2015.

"With respect to his memory... There are no barriers left to start Kamp Armen Youth Center. I remember him with god's mercy and grace," İmamoğlu said.

Anısına saygıla...

Gazeteci #HrantDink’in büyüdüğü Tuzla Ermeni Yetimhanesi’nin alanıyla ilgili plan değişikliği İBB Meclisimizden oy birliğiyle geçti. Böylece, kurulacak Kamp Armen Gençlik Merkezi'nin önünde herhangi bir engel kalmadı. Vefat yıl dönümünde rahmetle anıyorum. pic.twitter.com/ryXT3zOmT4
— Ekrem İmamoğlu (@ekrem_imamoglu) January 19, 2021

Dink participated in the construction of the orphanage in the '60s as the number of students increased while he grew up there.