The 8th anniversary of the assassination of Turkish Armenian journalist and editor-in-chief of the bilingual Agos newspaper, Hrant Dink, will be commemorated at the European Parliament on Jan 21, according to Asbarez.

Hrant Dink was assassinated on January 19, 2007, in broad daylight on a busy street in front of his newspaper’s office in Istanbul. His assassination triggered an unprecedented surge of solidarity and pro-democracy activism in Turkey after more than 100,000 people attended his funeral.

After his death, Dink’s family and friends established a foundation that has since continued and broadened his work in Turkey for civil liberties, for the rights of minorities and for peaceful relations with neighbors, particularly Armenia.

2015 will mark the 10th anniversary of the start of Turkey’s accession negotiations with the European Union and the centenary of the start of the Armenian Genocide. The commemoration on Jan 21 will provide an opportunity to invoke Hrant Dink’s intellectual and political legacy and to take stock of the situation of the movement for civil rights and tolerance in Turkey that his assassination spurred, Asbarez says.