Argentine journalist honored with Dink award

The Armenian National Committee of South America has honored the well-known Argentine journalist Reynaldo Siekas with the Hrant Dink Honor Certificate.

Upon receiving the prize, Siekas said it was a big honor for him to deserve the award named after the well-known Turkish-Armenian journalist and public figure, reports Prensaarmena.com.

The Argentinean journalist said at the ceremony that he, as a champion of human rights and humanistic ideas, could not be indifferent to the Armenian Cause.

“When collecting facts - records about the Armenian Genocide – I would see pain in the eyes of people who bore absolutely no relationship to the horrific events. But the sense of pain has a significance and importance. Such a pain symbolizes the presence of conscience,” the state news agency Armenpress quotes Siekas as saying.

The award ceremony was attended by public and political figures and top media representatives.

Hrant Dink, the former editor-in-chief of the Istanbul-based Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, was gunned down in front of his office on January 19, 2007.

The award was launched by Argentine-Armenians in 2001. Following Dink’s tragic death, the honor certificate was named in his honor.