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DEFENDANTS ADMIT THEY KNEW OF PLOT TO KILL HRANT DINK
Agence France Presse
March 20, 2008 Thursday
Two Turkish soldiers admitted in court Thursday they knew of a plot
to kill ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant Dink months before the murder
happened, Anatolia news agency reported.
The two are the first members of the security forces to stand trial
in the Black Sea city of Trabzon, where the murder was planned,
amid widespread allegations that some officials condoned the killing.
The investigation is seen as a test for Ankara's resolve to eliminate
the "deep state" -- a term used to describe security forces acting
outside the law to preserve what they consider Turkey's best interests.
The 52-year-old Dink, whom Turkish nationalists hated for calling
the World War I massacres of Armenians genocide, was shot dead in
central Istanbul on January 19, 2007, outside the offices of Agos,
the weekly newspaper he ran.
One of the defendants told the judge Thursday he had been informed
of the plot in August 2006 by a relative of its alleged mastermind
Yasin Hayal, Anatolia reported.
He passed the tip-off to his superiors at the local paramilitary
force policing rural areas, but no action was taken, he said.
"We did not do anything afterwards because we were given no
instructions or orders," said the defendant, identified only as O.S.
His superiors fabricated documents after the murder to create the
impression they had no prior knowledge of the plot, he alleged.
He had come under "psychological" pressure to collude and lie to
government inspectors who probed the conduct of the security forces,
he added.
The other defendant, identified as V.S., agreed with the statement
of his colleague.
The two soldiers risk between six months and two years in jail for
"abuse of power."
The judge decided to ask prosecutors to launch an investigation into
the officials the defendants had implicated at Thursday's hearing.
Hayal's uncle has already testified that he informed the two defendants
of his nephew's plans to kill Dink, but the pair sought to cover up
the issue.
The self-confessed hitman, 17-year-old Ogun Samast, went on trial in
Istanbul last year, along with Hayal and 17 suspected associates. The
trial is still going on.
Lawyers for Dink's family say the police also withheld and destroyed
evidence to cover up the murder, including footage from a bank security
camera near where Dink was killed.
In September, two policemen went on trial in the northern city of
Samsun for their role in a scandal that saw security forces posing
for pictures with the gunman after he was captured there a day after
the murder. This trial is also still in progress.
Dink had impressed many in Turkey with his efforts for Turkish-Armenian
reconciliation and more than 100,000 people marched at his funeral.
Also Thursday, a court in Istanbul sentenced a man to three years in
jail for sending hate mail and death threats to the Agos newspaper
after Dink's murder, Anatolia reported.
The man reportedly used racist insults and wrote that "we have many
other Samasts and Catlis," referring to Dink's assassin and Abdullah
Catli, a shadowy figure known as a hitman of the "deep state" who
died in a 1996 car accident.
Agence France Presse
March 20, 2008 Thursday
Two Turkish soldiers admitted in court Thursday they knew of a plot
to kill ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant Dink months before the murder
happened, Anatolia news agency reported.
The two are the first members of the security forces to stand trial
in the Black Sea city of Trabzon, where the murder was planned,
amid widespread allegations that some officials condoned the killing.
The investigation is seen as a test for Ankara's resolve to eliminate
the "deep state" -- a term used to describe security forces acting
outside the law to preserve what they consider Turkey's best interests.
The 52-year-old Dink, whom Turkish nationalists hated for calling
the World War I massacres of Armenians genocide, was shot dead in
central Istanbul on January 19, 2007, outside the offices of Agos,
the weekly newspaper he ran.
One of the defendants told the judge Thursday he had been informed
of the plot in August 2006 by a relative of its alleged mastermind
Yasin Hayal, Anatolia reported.
He passed the tip-off to his superiors at the local paramilitary
force policing rural areas, but no action was taken, he said.
"We did not do anything afterwards because we were given no
instructions or orders," said the defendant, identified only as O.S.
His superiors fabricated documents after the murder to create the
impression they had no prior knowledge of the plot, he alleged.
He had come under "psychological" pressure to collude and lie to
government inspectors who probed the conduct of the security forces,
he added.
The other defendant, identified as V.S., agreed with the statement
of his colleague.
The two soldiers risk between six months and two years in jail for
"abuse of power."
The judge decided to ask prosecutors to launch an investigation into
the officials the defendants had implicated at Thursday's hearing.
Hayal's uncle has already testified that he informed the two defendants
of his nephew's plans to kill Dink, but the pair sought to cover up
the issue.
The self-confessed hitman, 17-year-old Ogun Samast, went on trial in
Istanbul last year, along with Hayal and 17 suspected associates. The
trial is still going on.
Lawyers for Dink's family say the police also withheld and destroyed
evidence to cover up the murder, including footage from a bank security
camera near where Dink was killed.
In September, two policemen went on trial in the northern city of
Samsun for their role in a scandal that saw security forces posing
for pictures with the gunman after he was captured there a day after
the murder. This trial is also still in progress.
Dink had impressed many in Turkey with his efforts for Turkish-Armenian
reconciliation and more than 100,000 people marched at his funeral.
Also Thursday, a court in Istanbul sentenced a man to three years in
jail for sending hate mail and death threats to the Agos newspaper
after Dink's murder, Anatolia reported.
The man reportedly used racist insults and wrote that "we have many
other Samasts and Catlis," referring to Dink's assassin and Abdullah
Catli, a shadowy figure known as a hitman of the "deep state" who
died in a 1996 car accident.