Tweet
Ergenekon planned to attack Agos office after Dink assassination
September 10, 2011 - 11:48 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - A suspect in an ongoing investigation into a gang
accused of plotting to overthrow the government has said that the
group, known as Ergenekon, had plans to attack the office of the
Armenian language biweekly Agos, shortly after Agos' former
editor-in-chief Hrant Dink was assassinated.
Today's Zaman reported that Ergenekon suspect Bedirhan Å?inal testified
in a cross-examination on Thursday that the Ergenekon gang, including
Å?inal himself, had been planning to attack Agos's offices after
Armenian-Turkish journalist Dink was assassinated in January 2007.
Imprisoned after attacking the Cumhuriyet daily headquarters in
Ä°stanbul's Å?iÅ?li district with Molotov cocktails in 2008, Å?inal
claimed they were preparing to attack other Agos employees in 2008
following Dink's murder. However, Å?inal stressed that they had to give
up the plan because of the extensive security measures that were taken
in the neighborhood after Dink's murder, which was carried out in
front of Agos's building.
In his testimony, Å?inal added that people who allegedly incited him to
murder had not kept their promises. He stated in his former testimony
that there were some the people urging him on who had offered some
money to persuade him to attack Cumhuriyet headquarters and that he
had claimed that the people inciting him had promised to bail him out
of jail in three or four months, but stressed that he was still in
prison after four years. When Å?inal was asked who the people inciting
him were, he said that they were a priest and some businessmen from
Ä°stanbul whose names he said he did not know. Å?inal added that he was
allegedly introduced to these men by policemen.
Dink, the editor-in-chief of Armenian-Turkish newspaper Agos, was
gunned down outside his office in Ä°stanbul in broad daylight on Jan.
19, 2007. The hitman, Ogün Samast, was captured roughly one day after
the murder. Other suspects, including Yasin Hayal and Erhan Tuncel,
were aprehended in the following days on charges of soliciting Samast
for Dink's murder. The murder shocked Turkey, and the ensuing trial
became mired in controversy with Dink's family and human rights
activists arguing that links between suspects in the case and the real
masterminds of the murder, suspected to be in the military and police
force, were not sufficiently investigated.
September 10, 2011 - 11:48 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - A suspect in an ongoing investigation into a gang
accused of plotting to overthrow the government has said that the
group, known as Ergenekon, had plans to attack the office of the
Armenian language biweekly Agos, shortly after Agos' former
editor-in-chief Hrant Dink was assassinated.
Today's Zaman reported that Ergenekon suspect Bedirhan Å?inal testified
in a cross-examination on Thursday that the Ergenekon gang, including
Å?inal himself, had been planning to attack Agos's offices after
Armenian-Turkish journalist Dink was assassinated in January 2007.
Imprisoned after attacking the Cumhuriyet daily headquarters in
Ä°stanbul's Å?iÅ?li district with Molotov cocktails in 2008, Å?inal
claimed they were preparing to attack other Agos employees in 2008
following Dink's murder. However, Å?inal stressed that they had to give
up the plan because of the extensive security measures that were taken
in the neighborhood after Dink's murder, which was carried out in
front of Agos's building.
In his testimony, Å?inal added that people who allegedly incited him to
murder had not kept their promises. He stated in his former testimony
that there were some the people urging him on who had offered some
money to persuade him to attack Cumhuriyet headquarters and that he
had claimed that the people inciting him had promised to bail him out
of jail in three or four months, but stressed that he was still in
prison after four years. When Å?inal was asked who the people inciting
him were, he said that they were a priest and some businessmen from
Ä°stanbul whose names he said he did not know. Å?inal added that he was
allegedly introduced to these men by policemen.
Dink, the editor-in-chief of Armenian-Turkish newspaper Agos, was
gunned down outside his office in Ä°stanbul in broad daylight on Jan.
19, 2007. The hitman, Ogün Samast, was captured roughly one day after
the murder. Other suspects, including Yasin Hayal and Erhan Tuncel,
were aprehended in the following days on charges of soliciting Samast
for Dink's murder. The murder shocked Turkey, and the ensuing trial
became mired in controversy with Dink's family and human rights
activists arguing that links between suspects in the case and the real
masterminds of the murder, suspected to be in the military and police
force, were not sufficiently investigated.