(Image source: HrantDink.biz)

BY KEVIN DUBOUIS

ANCHOR LAUREN GORES

Thousands marched Thursday downtown Istanbul to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the assassination of a well-known Turkish-Armenian journalist. That -- Al Jazeera reports -- under the backdrop of recent court verdicts.

“Hrant Dink’s family and supporters finally have a verdict but they’ve waited five years for it and they’ve hoped for more.”

In 2007, Agos editor-in-chief Hrant Dink was gunned down outside the offices of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian newspaper by a young Turkish ultra nationalist. Last summer a juvenile court handed, Ogün Samast, who was 17 years old at the time of the assassination, a 23-year prison sentence. As TIME reports, Dink’s supporters have pushed the investigation.

“He was deliberately targeted, they say, as part of a well-orchestrated plan to provoke violence. In 2010, the European Court of Human Rights concurred. The question of a larger conspiracy became a test of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government's self-professed desire to finally purge nationalist elements within the police and bureaucracy who believe themselves beyond the reach of the law.”

On Tuesday, after five years of trial, the court sentenced Yasin Hayal to life as the only accomplice in the murder. But he and 18 other suspects were cleared of claims of conspiracy by the court, which eventually denied a wider plot.

As euronews reports, the move infuriated Dink’s supporters.

“This case is a disaster.Those who committed this organised crime were dealt with as if it was just an ordinary murder.”

Thousands have since called for justice in the Dink trial, carrying portraits of the murdered journalist and banners that read: “We are all Hrant, we are all Armenians.” (Source: Today's Zaman)

According to CNN, Dink was well-known as an outspoken advocate for peace and tried to open dialogue between Armenians and Turks.

“Before his murder Dink was on trial for ‘insulting Turkishness’ because he referred to the [1915-1916] massacre of hundreds of thousands of ethnic Armenian as genocide. He also said in multiple interviews he received death threats in the months leading to his killing.”

Todays Zaman reports -- Turkey’s president is defending the court’s verdicts, calling the case quote “in line with our laws.”