A group of Islamists at Ankara University have clashed with another group of students who were commemorating both the victims of the Charlie Hebdo attack and the Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, who was killed eight years ago.
Both groups gathered at Ankara University’s Cebeci campus on Jan. 19. According to the Doğan News Agency, stones and bottles were thrown after one of the groups attempted to release a press statement in favor of the Charlie Hebdo victims and Dink.
Police dispersed the groups by using tear gas.
The students, who had announced the Jan. 19 demonstration earlier through Ankara University’s Facebook page, were threatened by Islamist students on the same platform. Referring to the students who had pinned posters that said “Je Suis Charlie” and “We Are All Hrant,” an Islamist student had written on Facebook that the campus “would see unprecedented violence” if the posters were not taken down.
Thousands of people commemorated Hrant Dink in Istanbul on Jan. 19, the eighth anniversary of his killing.
January/19/2015