EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn condemned the assassination of journalist Hrant Dink in Turkey Friday. "I am shocked and saddened by this brutal act of violence," he said in a statement. Dink was shot dead Friday at the entrance to his newspaper's offices, police said
"Hrant Dink was a respected intellectual who defended his views with conviction and contributed to an open public debate. He was a campaigner for freedom of expression in Turkey," he said.
Rehn called on the Turkish authorities to fully "investigate this crime and will bring the perpetrators to justice."
Dink, 53, faced many threats and legal proceedings as one of the most prominent voices of Turkey's Armenian community. He had gone on trial numerous times for speaking out about the mass killings of Armenians by Turks at the beginning of the 20th century.
In October 2005, Dink was convicted of trying to influence the judiciary after his newspaper Agos ran stories criticizing a law making it a crime to insult Turkey, the Turkish government or the Turkish national character. He was given a six-month suspended sentence.
