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WHY THE HRANT DINK CASE IS NOT GOING ANYWHERE
Orhan Kemal Cengiz
Today's Zaman
Sept 23 2011
Turkey
Last Monday the prosecutor read out his final opinion in the Hrant
Dink case, meaning the case has approached its final stages.
Basically, the prosecutor said that the Trabzon cell of the Ergenekon
terrorist organization carried out this murder. But he also said
that he is unable to establish concrete links between Ergenekon and
Dink's murderers.
We can interpret his remarks as a confession of a failure to identify
the real perpetrators of this murder. However, in spite of this
failure, he explained his final opinion in the case and requested
the court to proceed to deliver its judgment.
In my view, there are two main factors that render the courts unable
to solve the murders of Christians, which started in 2006 with the
murder of father Santoro in Trabzon, followed by the murder of Hrant
Dink in January 2007 and the Malatya massacre in April that same year,
in which three missionaries were killed.
The first reason is the simple fact that the whole system is involved
in these murders. The gendarmerie's illegal JİTEM unit prepared the
groundwork for these murders. Police intelligence had been following
their every step, but they just turned a blind eye. During this period
there persisted a very intense anti-Christian hysteria throughout
Turkey and I think the police was also influenced by it. The Malatya
massacre, however, became a turning point. After that, the police
caught potential murderers in Samsun, Diyarbakır, Mersin and İzmir
before they could even attempt to kill Christians.
In these cities murderers of exactly the same profile (very young
ultranationalists with connections to youth groups of ultranationalist
parties) as the murderers of Santoro, Dink and the missionaries were
preparing for the assassination of selected Christian targets. But
the police, who somehow could not manage to stop the Malatya and Dink
murders, were this time successful in acting on the intelligence they
had gathered.
If you ask me, they had similar intelligence for the Santoro, Dink
and Malatya murders but somehow decided against acting upon it. This
is a serious obstacle for us to shed light on these murders because
we are unable to get any useful information from the police, whose
hands are dirty as well.
Another reason why we cannot solve these murders is this: The courts
hearing the Malatya and Dink cases do not have the "big picture"
(extensive knowledge about Ergenekon network) whereas the courts and
prosecutors involved in the Ergenekon case -- too obsessed with the
alleged coup attempts -- have not paid any attention to Ergenekon's
anti-Christian activities that may potentially shed light on the
Malatya massacre and the Dink murder case.
Look at Dink's murder from this perspective: Dink himself knew very
well who was after him. He knew the deep state was lobbying in the
high court behind closed doors to make sure he would be convicted for
"insulting Turkishness," which made him a target for ultranationalist
groups in Turkey. He knew that lawyer Kemal Kerincsiz, who brought
this case against him, had very strong connections with the deep
state. Kerincsiz is now behind bars in the Ergenekon case. Dink was
very concerned when he saw retired Gen. Veli Kucuk, one of the main
figures in the Ergenekon network, visit the courtroom where he was
being tried for insulting Turkishness.
Kucuk, Kerincsiz and the many others who carried out campaigns
against Dink and Christians across the country had their meetings
in the Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate, which is very famous for
its long-standing battle with the Ecumenical Patriarchate in
Turkey. Not only Kerincsiz and Kucuk, but also the founders of many
ultranationalist associations that had waged war against Christians in
Turkey had their meetings at the Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate. Sevgi
Erenol, an Ergenekon spokesperson, was also arrested as part of the
Ergenekon probe. None of these activities and connections have been
properly investigated by Ergenekon prosecutors.
I think the Dink murder case and the Malatya massacre case are not
going anywhere because we are looking for answers in the wrong place.
We need to make connections between the real perpetrators and these
murder cases in order to serve justice in the real sense of the word.
We do not need to hear abstract connections between Ergenekon and
the murder cases, like the Dink prosecutor presented.
From: Baghdasarian
Orhan Kemal Cengiz
Today's Zaman
Sept 23 2011
Turkey
Last Monday the prosecutor read out his final opinion in the Hrant
Dink case, meaning the case has approached its final stages.
Basically, the prosecutor said that the Trabzon cell of the Ergenekon
terrorist organization carried out this murder. But he also said
that he is unable to establish concrete links between Ergenekon and
Dink's murderers.
We can interpret his remarks as a confession of a failure to identify
the real perpetrators of this murder. However, in spite of this
failure, he explained his final opinion in the case and requested
the court to proceed to deliver its judgment.
In my view, there are two main factors that render the courts unable
to solve the murders of Christians, which started in 2006 with the
murder of father Santoro in Trabzon, followed by the murder of Hrant
Dink in January 2007 and the Malatya massacre in April that same year,
in which three missionaries were killed.
The first reason is the simple fact that the whole system is involved
in these murders. The gendarmerie's illegal JİTEM unit prepared the
groundwork for these murders. Police intelligence had been following
their every step, but they just turned a blind eye. During this period
there persisted a very intense anti-Christian hysteria throughout
Turkey and I think the police was also influenced by it. The Malatya
massacre, however, became a turning point. After that, the police
caught potential murderers in Samsun, Diyarbakır, Mersin and İzmir
before they could even attempt to kill Christians.
In these cities murderers of exactly the same profile (very young
ultranationalists with connections to youth groups of ultranationalist
parties) as the murderers of Santoro, Dink and the missionaries were
preparing for the assassination of selected Christian targets. But
the police, who somehow could not manage to stop the Malatya and Dink
murders, were this time successful in acting on the intelligence they
had gathered.
If you ask me, they had similar intelligence for the Santoro, Dink
and Malatya murders but somehow decided against acting upon it. This
is a serious obstacle for us to shed light on these murders because
we are unable to get any useful information from the police, whose
hands are dirty as well.
Another reason why we cannot solve these murders is this: The courts
hearing the Malatya and Dink cases do not have the "big picture"
(extensive knowledge about Ergenekon network) whereas the courts and
prosecutors involved in the Ergenekon case -- too obsessed with the
alleged coup attempts -- have not paid any attention to Ergenekon's
anti-Christian activities that may potentially shed light on the
Malatya massacre and the Dink murder case.
Look at Dink's murder from this perspective: Dink himself knew very
well who was after him. He knew the deep state was lobbying in the
high court behind closed doors to make sure he would be convicted for
"insulting Turkishness," which made him a target for ultranationalist
groups in Turkey. He knew that lawyer Kemal Kerincsiz, who brought
this case against him, had very strong connections with the deep
state. Kerincsiz is now behind bars in the Ergenekon case. Dink was
very concerned when he saw retired Gen. Veli Kucuk, one of the main
figures in the Ergenekon network, visit the courtroom where he was
being tried for insulting Turkishness.
Kucuk, Kerincsiz and the many others who carried out campaigns
against Dink and Christians across the country had their meetings
in the Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate, which is very famous for
its long-standing battle with the Ecumenical Patriarchate in
Turkey. Not only Kerincsiz and Kucuk, but also the founders of many
ultranationalist associations that had waged war against Christians in
Turkey had their meetings at the Turkish Orthodox Patriarchate. Sevgi
Erenol, an Ergenekon spokesperson, was also arrested as part of the
Ergenekon probe. None of these activities and connections have been
properly investigated by Ergenekon prosecutors.
I think the Dink murder case and the Malatya massacre case are not
going anywhere because we are looking for answers in the wrong place.
We need to make connections between the real perpetrators and these
murder cases in order to serve justice in the real sense of the word.
We do not need to hear abstract connections between Ergenekon and
the murder cases, like the Dink prosecutor presented.
From: Baghdasarian