Hrant Dink said once that Turkey has always viewed Armenians as threat to its safety

PanARMENIAN.Net - On January 30, 2007, Deborah K. Jones, U.S. Consul General Istanbul, sent details of the November 14, 2006, meeting with Editor-in-Chief of Agos paper Hrant Dink to the U.S Department of State.

The message read that “Dink’s tragic death is a great loss for Turkey. Employees of the U.S. embassy and consulate had regular meetings with Dink. The last one was on November 14, 2006, when Dink met with representatives of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. Dink made a very interesting statement during the meeting, saying that negative historical memories are basically caused by nationalism rather than religion,” Taraf paper wrote with reference to WikiLeaks.

“Turkey has never viewed representatives of national minorities as citizens. 60,000 Armenians are continuously treated as second-class citizens. The Turkish state has always considered Armenians to be a threat to security; however, currently their number is so small that they are no longer viewed as a threat. Turkey is trying to use the current situation for its purposes. Even the community is deprived of rights today,” Dink was quoted by the U.S. Consul General as saying.