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PROSECUTOR SAYS ERGENEKON'S TRABZON CELL COMMITTED DINK MURDER
Today's Zaman
Sept 19 2011
Turkey
A Turkish prosecutor conducting the investigation into the
assassination of Turkish- Armenian journalist Hrant Dink said on
Monday that the murder was committed by Ergenekon's cell in the Black
Sea province of Trabzon.
Prosecutor Hikmet Usta announced his opinion as to who masterminded the
assassination and as to the accusations directed at suspects during
the 20th hearing of the 20-suspect Dink trial at the İstanbul 14th
High Criminal Court. The prosecutor said the murder was the work of
Ergenekon's Trabzon cell and demanded life imprisonment for seven
suspects, including key suspects Yasin Hayal and Erhan Tuncel, on
charges of attempting to destroy the constitutional order.
"The Dink assassination was the latest assassination of the deep
structures. The suspects acted on ideological motives. The target
was the Turkish Republic and public order. There is suspicion that
the murder is linked to the Ergenekon network. We have reached the
conclusion that the Dink murder was committed by the Trabzon cell of
the Ergenekon terrorist organization," Prosecutor Usta said.
Tuncel, a former police informant, is believed to have supplied the
hit man with a gun and Hayal is accused of having acted with Tuncel in
masterminding the Dink murder. Among other key suspects is Ogun Samast,
the ultranationalist teenager who gunned Dink down outside his office
in 2007. He was standing trial at the İstanbul 2nd Juvenile Court
since he was a minor at the time of the murder. Samast has recently
been sentenced to 22 years, 10 months in prison by the court.
Meanwhile, during Monday's hearing, lawyers representing the Dink
family said they had reached new and crucial evidence about the murder
and requested the prosecutor delay announcing his opinion for further
investigation into the newly emerged evidence. However, the prosecutor
denied their request and the lawyers left the courtroom in protest.
Dink, the late editor-in-chief of Agos, was shot dead by an
ultranationalist teenager outside the offices of his newspaper in
broad daylight in İstanbul on Jan. 19, 2007. The investigation into
his murder stalled when the suspected perpetrator and his accomplices
were put on trial, but those who masterminded the plot to kill him
have yet to be exposed and punished.
The investigation that followed Dink's death revealed that the police
had been tipped off about plans to murder the journalist. Nineteen
suspects are currently facing trial in the murder case. A majority
of the suspects, including the hitman, are from Trabzon, where the
police say they had informed the İstanbul police about the plot to
kill Dink on more than one occasion.
In addition to having ignored the tip-off about the plot, lawyers
representing the plaintiff are accusing the police of destroying
crucial evidence to protect some of the suspects, among who is an
ex-police informant. Lawyers representing the Dink family have long
alleged that the murder was the doing of Ergenekon, a clandestine gang
with members nested within the state hierarchy who are currently on
trial for attempting to overthrow the government by force.
Ergenekon is accused of being behind many atrocious crimes and plots
that sought to create chaos in Turkey, with the intent of triggering a
military takeover. The Dink family's lawyers earlier demanded that the
court investigate whether Dink's killing was part of the Cage plan, an
alleged military plot of Ergenekon exposed by the Taraf daily in 2009.
The plan mostly focused on killing non-Muslims and other religious
targets to create turmoil that would eventually help the plotters
take over the government. The Cage plan calls the killings of Dink,
Catholic priest Father Andrea Santoro and three Christians in Malatya
an "operation."
In June, the Trabzon 2nd Criminal Court of Peace convicted six of eight
suspects in a negligence case over the prevention of Dink's murder,
a rare positive development since the start of the trial four years
ago. The court handed down prison sentences of six months each for
Trabzon army commander Col. Ali Oz and army intelligence unit director
Capt. Metin Yıldız.
In this regard, the Dink family's lawyers say that although the
decision was welcome, it was unlikely to be a groundbreaking ruling
in the course of the main trial in İstanbul. They had demanded the
prison sentences be based on accomplice charges and that the military
men be tried in the İstanbul court as primary suspects.
Today's Zaman
Sept 19 2011
Turkey
A Turkish prosecutor conducting the investigation into the
assassination of Turkish- Armenian journalist Hrant Dink said on
Monday that the murder was committed by Ergenekon's cell in the Black
Sea province of Trabzon.
Prosecutor Hikmet Usta announced his opinion as to who masterminded the
assassination and as to the accusations directed at suspects during
the 20th hearing of the 20-suspect Dink trial at the İstanbul 14th
High Criminal Court. The prosecutor said the murder was the work of
Ergenekon's Trabzon cell and demanded life imprisonment for seven
suspects, including key suspects Yasin Hayal and Erhan Tuncel, on
charges of attempting to destroy the constitutional order.
"The Dink assassination was the latest assassination of the deep
structures. The suspects acted on ideological motives. The target
was the Turkish Republic and public order. There is suspicion that
the murder is linked to the Ergenekon network. We have reached the
conclusion that the Dink murder was committed by the Trabzon cell of
the Ergenekon terrorist organization," Prosecutor Usta said.
Tuncel, a former police informant, is believed to have supplied the
hit man with a gun and Hayal is accused of having acted with Tuncel in
masterminding the Dink murder. Among other key suspects is Ogun Samast,
the ultranationalist teenager who gunned Dink down outside his office
in 2007. He was standing trial at the İstanbul 2nd Juvenile Court
since he was a minor at the time of the murder. Samast has recently
been sentenced to 22 years, 10 months in prison by the court.
Meanwhile, during Monday's hearing, lawyers representing the Dink
family said they had reached new and crucial evidence about the murder
and requested the prosecutor delay announcing his opinion for further
investigation into the newly emerged evidence. However, the prosecutor
denied their request and the lawyers left the courtroom in protest.
Dink, the late editor-in-chief of Agos, was shot dead by an
ultranationalist teenager outside the offices of his newspaper in
broad daylight in İstanbul on Jan. 19, 2007. The investigation into
his murder stalled when the suspected perpetrator and his accomplices
were put on trial, but those who masterminded the plot to kill him
have yet to be exposed and punished.
The investigation that followed Dink's death revealed that the police
had been tipped off about plans to murder the journalist. Nineteen
suspects are currently facing trial in the murder case. A majority
of the suspects, including the hitman, are from Trabzon, where the
police say they had informed the İstanbul police about the plot to
kill Dink on more than one occasion.
In addition to having ignored the tip-off about the plot, lawyers
representing the plaintiff are accusing the police of destroying
crucial evidence to protect some of the suspects, among who is an
ex-police informant. Lawyers representing the Dink family have long
alleged that the murder was the doing of Ergenekon, a clandestine gang
with members nested within the state hierarchy who are currently on
trial for attempting to overthrow the government by force.
Ergenekon is accused of being behind many atrocious crimes and plots
that sought to create chaos in Turkey, with the intent of triggering a
military takeover. The Dink family's lawyers earlier demanded that the
court investigate whether Dink's killing was part of the Cage plan, an
alleged military plot of Ergenekon exposed by the Taraf daily in 2009.
The plan mostly focused on killing non-Muslims and other religious
targets to create turmoil that would eventually help the plotters
take over the government. The Cage plan calls the killings of Dink,
Catholic priest Father Andrea Santoro and three Christians in Malatya
an "operation."
In June, the Trabzon 2nd Criminal Court of Peace convicted six of eight
suspects in a negligence case over the prevention of Dink's murder,
a rare positive development since the start of the trial four years
ago. The court handed down prison sentences of six months each for
Trabzon army commander Col. Ali Oz and army intelligence unit director
Capt. Metin Yıldız.
In this regard, the Dink family's lawyers say that although the
decision was welcome, it was unlikely to be a groundbreaking ruling
in the course of the main trial in İstanbul. They had demanded the
prison sentences be based on accomplice charges and that the military
men be tried in the İstanbul court as primary suspects.