Hrant Dink, known for his journalistic endeavours to build a bridge between Armenians and Turks, made an appearance on Turkish private television at the end of 2006. The subject of the political talk show hosted by Can Dündar, who would have to flee Turkey himself later in the face of increasing repression, was Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code, which criminalised »insulting Turkishness« (this wording was used until 2008). Having already been threatened by the Turkish »deep state« various times, Dink expressed his anguish about being sentenced under this code. A few months later, on 19/January 2007, he was assassinated in front of the office of AGOS newspaper, which he founded.
In the short production Spiegelungen (Reflections), director Miraz Bezar stages a fictional conversation between victim and murderer. Incorporating quotes from the interrogation with Dink’s murderer Ogün Samast, who was only 16 years old at the time, Bezar turns this text into an intense performance. An absurd contortion of the perpetrator’s and victim’s perspectives unfolds. The distortion of reality reverberates in violent echoes. The inconsistent and endless legal proceedings that did not shed light on who was behind the murder were met with controversy; their impact will become another part of the production.
produced by Kultursprünge e.V. at Ballhaus Naunynstraße in context of § 301 – Die beleidigte Nation (the offended nation)
