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THOUSANDS PROTEST TURKISH VERDICT OVER JOURNALIST MURDER
Agence France Presse
January 19, 2012 Thursday 3:58 PM GMT
Thousands of people gathered in Istanbul Thursday to pay tribute to
ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant Dink and to protest a court ruling
that his murder was not planned as part of a wider conspiracy.
"Murderer state will account for this," and "Shoulder to shoulder
against fascism," chanted the crowd near the central Taksim Square
before marching to the offices of Dink's newspaper for a silent vigil
on the fifth anniversary of his murder.
Television reports said around 20,000 people joined the demonstration.
A leading member of Turkey's tiny Armenian community, Dink, 52, was
shot dead in broad daylight on January 19, 2007, outside the offices
of his bilingual weekly newspaper Agos.
Dink had campaigned for reconciliation between Turks and Armenians
and his assassination sent shockwaves through Turkey, growing into a
wider scandal following reports that state security forces had known
of a plot to kill him but failed to act.
The crowd, including Dink's widow Rakel and his children, carried
two large black banners declaring "We will not forget" and "We will
not forgive."
Many demonstrators also carried placards saying "We are all Hrant Dink,
we are all Armenians," in Turkish and Armenian.
Dink's self-confessed murderer Ogun Samast, who shot the journalist in
the back of the head, was a jobless high-school dropout and 17 years
old at the time. He was sentenced to nearly 23 years in jail in July.
On Tuesday an Istanbul court sentenced Yasin Hayal, 31, to life in
prison for inciting the murder.
But the court acquitted more than a dozen other suspects, ruling that
there was no wider plot to kill Dink -- who had angered nationalists
with his views on Turkish-Armenian history -- as alleged by his
supporters.
"They surrounded us with lies. It has been like this for five years
and they finally gave us two people and asked us to be content with
them," journalist Karin Karakasli told the crowd.
Dink's family is seeking a deeper investigation to uncover state
officials who were allegedly involved the murder.
Demonstrators on Thursday left red carnations and lit candles at the
spot where Dink was shot, while the words "Hrant Dink was murdered
here" were written on the pavement.
President Abdullah Gul described the trial as a test for Turkey.
"It is an important test for us that this trial process should be
concluded in the most transparent way and in harmony with our laws,"
Gul told the media.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the government did its best
to help solve the murder.
"I see that public consciousness is not satisfied," he said in a TV
interview broadcast Wednesday. "There have been various expectations
(about the case). It is possible to share some of them but I cannot
join them in general."
The chief judge in the case, Rustem Eryilmaz, also expressed doubts
about his own verdict, saying that any "connections" between the
culprits and the state could not be clearly established before
the trial.
"However, this is the only decision we could take, according to the
available evidence," Eryilmaz told private news channel NTV.
Agence France Presse
January 19, 2012 Thursday 3:58 PM GMT
Thousands of people gathered in Istanbul Thursday to pay tribute to
ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant Dink and to protest a court ruling
that his murder was not planned as part of a wider conspiracy.
"Murderer state will account for this," and "Shoulder to shoulder
against fascism," chanted the crowd near the central Taksim Square
before marching to the offices of Dink's newspaper for a silent vigil
on the fifth anniversary of his murder.
Television reports said around 20,000 people joined the demonstration.
A leading member of Turkey's tiny Armenian community, Dink, 52, was
shot dead in broad daylight on January 19, 2007, outside the offices
of his bilingual weekly newspaper Agos.
Dink had campaigned for reconciliation between Turks and Armenians
and his assassination sent shockwaves through Turkey, growing into a
wider scandal following reports that state security forces had known
of a plot to kill him but failed to act.
The crowd, including Dink's widow Rakel and his children, carried
two large black banners declaring "We will not forget" and "We will
not forgive."
Many demonstrators also carried placards saying "We are all Hrant Dink,
we are all Armenians," in Turkish and Armenian.
Dink's self-confessed murderer Ogun Samast, who shot the journalist in
the back of the head, was a jobless high-school dropout and 17 years
old at the time. He was sentenced to nearly 23 years in jail in July.
On Tuesday an Istanbul court sentenced Yasin Hayal, 31, to life in
prison for inciting the murder.
But the court acquitted more than a dozen other suspects, ruling that
there was no wider plot to kill Dink -- who had angered nationalists
with his views on Turkish-Armenian history -- as alleged by his
supporters.
"They surrounded us with lies. It has been like this for five years
and they finally gave us two people and asked us to be content with
them," journalist Karin Karakasli told the crowd.
Dink's family is seeking a deeper investigation to uncover state
officials who were allegedly involved the murder.
Demonstrators on Thursday left red carnations and lit candles at the
spot where Dink was shot, while the words "Hrant Dink was murdered
here" were written on the pavement.
President Abdullah Gul described the trial as a test for Turkey.
"It is an important test for us that this trial process should be
concluded in the most transparent way and in harmony with our laws,"
Gul told the media.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the government did its best
to help solve the murder.
"I see that public consciousness is not satisfied," he said in a TV
interview broadcast Wednesday. "There have been various expectations
(about the case). It is possible to share some of them but I cannot
join them in general."
The chief judge in the case, Rustem Eryilmaz, also expressed doubts
about his own verdict, saying that any "connections" between the
culprits and the state could not be clearly established before
the trial.
"However, this is the only decision we could take, according to the
available evidence," Eryilmaz told private news channel NTV.