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Committee to hear Cerrah again on Dink murder
Today's Zaman, Turkey
March 1 2008
A parliamentary committee investigating the murder of Agos weekly
Editor-in-Chief Hrant Dink announced on Thursday that it would call
Ýstanbul Police Chief Celalettin Cerrah to the stand once more.
The decision came after two senior police officers from Trabzon
accused Cerrah of having ignored a tip-off about the murder plot.
An ultra-nationalist teenager shot Dink dead in broad daylight
outside his newspaper's Ýstanbul office on Jan. 19, 2007. The ensuing
investigation revealed that the police had been informed of plans to
murder the journalist. Nineteen suspects, 17 of them currently under
arrest, are facing trial on charges of having established a crime gang
to plan the assassination of the ethnic-Armenian editor. A majority
of the suspects, including the hit man, are from Trabzon, where the
local police say they had informed the Ýstanbul police about the plot
to kill Dink on more than one occasion.
Prosecuting lawyers say the police, in addition to having ignored the
warnings, destroyed crucial evidence to protect some of the suspects,
among them a one-time police informant.
A parliamentary subcommittee to Parliament's Human Rights Commission
was set up to investigate the Dink murder last year. This past
Wednesday the subcommittee heard testimony from Trabzon Police
Intelligence Department Chief Ramazan Akyurek and the former chief
of the same unit, Engin Dinc, who both said they believed Cerrah had
not done enough to prevent the murder.
Akyurek reiterated to the subcommittee that Trabzon police had warned
the Ýstanbul police about the assassination plans. "I am not blaming
anyone for anything. Everybody has to do their job. But if it was
me, I would have ensured that Dink was safe," he said. Ýstanbul
Police Chief Cerrah, who also testified earlier, had said that his
department dismissed the information from Trabzon because it had a
"low" emergency coding.
Also on Wednesday, Dinc told the committee that: "There is no such
thing as 'low' or 'high' coding. The information given was important.
We did our job and sent the intelligence information." Dinc also
claimed he had called the chief of the Ýstanbul Police Department's
intelligence unit and "informed them." Dinc said this was reason
enough for them to take measures to protect the slain journalist.
He also told the subcommittee that he had kept Erhan Tuncel under
control. Tuncel, a former police informant from Trabzon, is also a key
suspect in the crime, as is Yasin Hayal, a neo-nationalist suspected
of having groomed the 17-year-old hit man.
The police said Tuncel helped them monitor the activity of
ultra-nationalist groups in Trabzon. Hayal was convicted in the
bombing of a McDonald's restaurant in Trabzon in 2004 that injured
six people. He was released after serving a 10-month prison sentence.
"Yasin Hayal has serious psychological problems. I put a lot effort
into getting him after that McDonald's bomb. We captured him in a joint
operation with the Ýstanbul police. I was there at his interrogation;
I saw that he was the type to stage attacks," said Dinc.
A department director for Trabzon police intelligence, Faruk Sarý,
told the subcommittee that Tuncel was fired for not being available
at all times and "slacking off the job."
Hearing testimonies of the two officers, the subcommittee decided to
call Cerrah to testify again in the next few weeks.
01.03.2008
Today's Zaman with wires Ýstanbul
--Boundary_(ID_sM7qyMm0J8CIt4XhDQBs dw)--
Today's Zaman, Turkey
March 1 2008
A parliamentary committee investigating the murder of Agos weekly
Editor-in-Chief Hrant Dink announced on Thursday that it would call
Ýstanbul Police Chief Celalettin Cerrah to the stand once more.
The decision came after two senior police officers from Trabzon
accused Cerrah of having ignored a tip-off about the murder plot.
An ultra-nationalist teenager shot Dink dead in broad daylight
outside his newspaper's Ýstanbul office on Jan. 19, 2007. The ensuing
investigation revealed that the police had been informed of plans to
murder the journalist. Nineteen suspects, 17 of them currently under
arrest, are facing trial on charges of having established a crime gang
to plan the assassination of the ethnic-Armenian editor. A majority
of the suspects, including the hit man, are from Trabzon, where the
local police say they had informed the Ýstanbul police about the plot
to kill Dink on more than one occasion.
Prosecuting lawyers say the police, in addition to having ignored the
warnings, destroyed crucial evidence to protect some of the suspects,
among them a one-time police informant.
A parliamentary subcommittee to Parliament's Human Rights Commission
was set up to investigate the Dink murder last year. This past
Wednesday the subcommittee heard testimony from Trabzon Police
Intelligence Department Chief Ramazan Akyurek and the former chief
of the same unit, Engin Dinc, who both said they believed Cerrah had
not done enough to prevent the murder.
Akyurek reiterated to the subcommittee that Trabzon police had warned
the Ýstanbul police about the assassination plans. "I am not blaming
anyone for anything. Everybody has to do their job. But if it was
me, I would have ensured that Dink was safe," he said. Ýstanbul
Police Chief Cerrah, who also testified earlier, had said that his
department dismissed the information from Trabzon because it had a
"low" emergency coding.
Also on Wednesday, Dinc told the committee that: "There is no such
thing as 'low' or 'high' coding. The information given was important.
We did our job and sent the intelligence information." Dinc also
claimed he had called the chief of the Ýstanbul Police Department's
intelligence unit and "informed them." Dinc said this was reason
enough for them to take measures to protect the slain journalist.
He also told the subcommittee that he had kept Erhan Tuncel under
control. Tuncel, a former police informant from Trabzon, is also a key
suspect in the crime, as is Yasin Hayal, a neo-nationalist suspected
of having groomed the 17-year-old hit man.
The police said Tuncel helped them monitor the activity of
ultra-nationalist groups in Trabzon. Hayal was convicted in the
bombing of a McDonald's restaurant in Trabzon in 2004 that injured
six people. He was released after serving a 10-month prison sentence.
"Yasin Hayal has serious psychological problems. I put a lot effort
into getting him after that McDonald's bomb. We captured him in a joint
operation with the Ýstanbul police. I was there at his interrogation;
I saw that he was the type to stage attacks," said Dinc.
A department director for Trabzon police intelligence, Faruk Sarý,
told the subcommittee that Tuncel was fired for not being available
at all times and "slacking off the job."
Hearing testimonies of the two officers, the subcommittee decided to
call Cerrah to testify again in the next few weeks.
01.03.2008
Today's Zaman with wires Ýstanbul
--Boundary_(ID_sM7qyMm0J8CIt4XhDQBs dw)--