Prominent Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink, who was shot dead outside the Agos newspaper's office in Istanbul in 2007, was commemorated in a ceremony on Thursday.

During the commemoration outside the newspaper's former building in the Şişli district, red carnations, candles and pomegranates, as well as Turkish, Kurdish and Armenian banners and an Agos newspaper were left at the site where Dink was gunned down on Jan. 19, 2007.

"Your faith, hope and courage are with us. We are with you Ahparig (my brother). We have been here for 16 years," read a poster on the building.

Participants chanted slogans in Turkish, Kurdish and Armenian and carried placards while listening to Dink's voice from the balcony. Some came wearing scarves with Dink's photo.

Film director Emin Alper said the majority wanted to make the minority invisible, to silence and destroy it.

Alper said Dink, then editor-in-chief of Agos, was a brave person who could speak honestly without being provocative and a socialist who fought not only for the Armenians but for all the oppressed and silenced.

Dink's family, relatives and friends, as well as Turkish politicians, attended the ceremony. The Halaskargazi Street was closed to traffic during the ceremony where intense security measures were in place.