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DINK MURDER CASE SHOULD BE REOPENED
Hurriyet Daily News
Feb 21 2012
Turkey
The State Supervisory Council (DDK) of the Turkish Presidency
released the findings of its 649-page report of the murder case of
Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink. The DDK has started a separate
audit on the case with the directive of President Abdullah Gul upon
reactions from the Dink family and general public opinion regarding
the fairness of the trial.
The case was closed by the Istanbul 14th Specially Authorized Court
last month, Jan. 17, sentencing hit man Ogun Samast and his instigator
Yasin Hayal to life imprisonment; Samast's sentence was reduced to
23 years because of being under 18 years old when he killed Dink
in Istanbul on Jan. 19, 2007. The reactions are based on the claims
the court - which decided the crime was not committed by an illegal
organization - did not properly examine the evidence showing links
and causalities between the murderer and some public servants within
the police force, gendarmerie and intelligence.
The statements of Judge Rustem Eryılmaz following the ruling that
he did not examine the evidence well despite believing in his heart
there might be an organization having links within the state security
system caused a probe to be opened against him later on.
The findings of the DDK are not legally binding. But the highly
credible institution's suggestions could be used as a legal ground
for both the Supreme Court of Appeals (Yargıtay), where the case is
waiting to be approved by the prosecutors to open the case anew.
Metin Feyzioglu, the chairman of the Ankara Bar, said yesterday on the
phone that one of the most important parts of the DDK report was the
paragraph underlining the negligence of the court in considering the
accusations against the government officers as separate cases; instead
they should be considered as a part of the main case, i.e. the murder
trial. "The report says that negligence caused lack of investigation
to understand whether there is a causality link between the murder and
the evidences on the links to public servants," Feyzioglu explained.
"This could and should be considered as new evidence, and the case
has to be opened again."
It is not possible to read all parts of the report, so we cannot
share them with you. But it is clear at least some parts of those
censored paragraphs are related to the links in the eastern Black Sea
port city of Trabzon where both Samast and Haya and also the released
police informant Erhan Tuncel are from.
The importance of the DDK report, thanks to the common sense of Gul,
is high. This could be a chance to consider the Dink case once again,
which turned into a symbolic case regarding the Christian minorities in
Turkey, as well as the human rights situation and the murder cases not
properly solved, and even examined by the courts. If the case is going
to be opened again, which should be the case, and end up revealing the
illegal structures within the state apparatus, it would be considered
an important step in improving the level of democracy in Turkey.
Hurriyet Daily News
Feb 21 2012
Turkey
The State Supervisory Council (DDK) of the Turkish Presidency
released the findings of its 649-page report of the murder case of
Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink. The DDK has started a separate
audit on the case with the directive of President Abdullah Gul upon
reactions from the Dink family and general public opinion regarding
the fairness of the trial.
The case was closed by the Istanbul 14th Specially Authorized Court
last month, Jan. 17, sentencing hit man Ogun Samast and his instigator
Yasin Hayal to life imprisonment; Samast's sentence was reduced to
23 years because of being under 18 years old when he killed Dink
in Istanbul on Jan. 19, 2007. The reactions are based on the claims
the court - which decided the crime was not committed by an illegal
organization - did not properly examine the evidence showing links
and causalities between the murderer and some public servants within
the police force, gendarmerie and intelligence.
The statements of Judge Rustem Eryılmaz following the ruling that
he did not examine the evidence well despite believing in his heart
there might be an organization having links within the state security
system caused a probe to be opened against him later on.
The findings of the DDK are not legally binding. But the highly
credible institution's suggestions could be used as a legal ground
for both the Supreme Court of Appeals (Yargıtay), where the case is
waiting to be approved by the prosecutors to open the case anew.
Metin Feyzioglu, the chairman of the Ankara Bar, said yesterday on the
phone that one of the most important parts of the DDK report was the
paragraph underlining the negligence of the court in considering the
accusations against the government officers as separate cases; instead
they should be considered as a part of the main case, i.e. the murder
trial. "The report says that negligence caused lack of investigation
to understand whether there is a causality link between the murder and
the evidences on the links to public servants," Feyzioglu explained.
"This could and should be considered as new evidence, and the case
has to be opened again."
It is not possible to read all parts of the report, so we cannot
share them with you. But it is clear at least some parts of those
censored paragraphs are related to the links in the eastern Black Sea
port city of Trabzon where both Samast and Haya and also the released
police informant Erhan Tuncel are from.
The importance of the DDK report, thanks to the common sense of Gul,
is high. This could be a chance to consider the Dink case once again,
which turned into a symbolic case regarding the Christian minorities in
Turkey, as well as the human rights situation and the murder cases not
properly solved, and even examined by the courts. If the case is going
to be opened again, which should be the case, and end up revealing the
illegal structures within the state apparatus, it would be considered
an important step in improving the level of democracy in Turkey.