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Cihan News Agency (CNA) - Turkey
January 20, 2013 Sunday
Lawyer Çetin: MIT knows about Dink murder but does not release facts
ISTANBUL (CIHAN)- 'Are MIT officials sitting and reading newspapers
despite all the salaries that they get from us? Or are they lying? The
prosecutor said that MIT would not share much information with the
courts. I believe that MIT has quite a lot of information with regards
to the murder of Dink but they don't provide it. This is actually the
fate of all political murders in Turkey'
A number of state institutions had information about the plans to
murder Hrant Dink, the late chief editor of the Turkish-Armenian
weekly Agos, and among them is the National Intelligence Organization
(MIT), which has been withholding valuable information from the
courts, the chief lawyer for the Dink family has said to Monday Talk.
"We [the plaintiff lawyers] had a letter from the court to MIT asking
them to submit all the relevant information regarding the murder of
Dink. The response we received was that MIT had no information other
than what the daily newspapers had reported! After what recent new
reports have revealed, I asked the prosecutor to file a case against
MIT in regards to that response. Are MIT officials sitting and reading
newspapers despite all the salaries they are receiving from us? Or are
they lying?" asked Fethiye Çetin, a lawyer representing the family of
Dink, who was assassinated on Jan. 19, 2007 by a young man under the
influence of ultra-nationalism.
Although a local court said in its final verdict last year that a few
individuals were acting alone to kill Dink, many segments of society,
including the prosecutor in the case, the president, the prime
minister and several ministers, have expressed dismay because they
felt that the ruling was unjust and there was an organized network
involving officials behind the murder. The Dink family's lawyers
appealed the ruling and all eyes are on the Supreme Court for its
decision.
Çetin has said that MIT probably has quite a lot of information about
Dink's assassination but did not provide it. According to recent news
reports, a number of letters sent anonymously to MIT reveal the
illegal activities of structures -- such as the Tactical Mobilization
Group (STK) -- within the Turkish military. The letters say that the
STK was behind a number of assassinations that rocked the country in
the past, including an armed attack on the Council of State in 2006,
the killings of three Christian missionaries at the Zirve publishing
house in Malatya in 2007 and the murder of Dink.
Çetin elaborated on these issues and more, answering our questions.
*** Although the chief prosecutor has expressed an opinion that is
favorable to the argument of the Dink family's lawyers, from what I
see from the family members of Dink to Dink's friends, a number of
people have been feeling pessimistic about obtaining justice from the
Dink case. Do you share the same feelings?
The Istanbul court's verdict was so bad that people from every level
of society, including ministers, the prime minister and the president,
have not been able to digest it. It seems like there was a glimmer of
hope when the chief prosecutor of the top court said that this is an
organized crime. However, six years have passed and we feel like we
are starting all over again because that's what we have been saying
>From the beginning. The prosecutor's notice says that the suspects are
not just limited to the ones who have been punished by the local court
in Istanbul and there is an organized structure which needs to be
exposed. This gives us some hope. Therefore, the prosecutor's notice
is positive for us because it says that there is an organized
structure which was established specifically to fight against
non-Muslim minorities. The chief prosecutor also questioned the role
of police informant Erhan Tuncel in the murder and questions Tuncel's
release.
*** Would you remind us of his role?
Although Tuncel is suspected of having incited Dink's murderer, he is
also probably the one who tipped off the Istanbul police about the
murder plan. Important evidence, including Tuncel's police records,
were hidden from the court. In fact, Tuncel's file with the police was
destroyed since it constitutes a "state secret," according to
officials.
*** What are the negative elements that you see in the prosecutor's
opinion which was presented recently in a formal notification?
The notification from the prosecutor says that this organized
structure was formed in order to attack the unity of the nation; this
argument is based on Article 302 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK),
which was typically used in terrorism cases with regards to the
Kurdish issue in Turkey. While the chief prosecutor argued that an
organized network has been fighting against minorities, he emphasized
the ethnic and national identities of these minorities, therefore
classifying those minorities, who are Turkish citizens, as "others."
What does he mean by saying that these minorities are from another
nation? This is the language that is often used in Turkey for
minorities, considering them as "foreign." However, the language of
the judiciary should not be the same; it should be neutral. In
addition, the top prosecutor argues that this organized crime network
aimed to put Turkey in a difficult position internationally! There are
so many other explanations that could have been found to explain what
this crime network has been doing, like disturbing public order, going
against basic freedoms and human rights, disturbing public peace,
etc., and all of these could have been based on several articles of
the TCK. Additionally, we pointed out several -- more than 30 --
irregularities and deficiencies in the investigation. The top
prosecutor's notice mentions only four of those.
'Court holds information about public officials' role'
*** One important thing which the chief prosecution mentioned is with
regards to the lost camera footage and phone records, right?
In 2008, we demanded the records of phone calls made around the time
of the assassination on the day of the murder. We were only able to
have those records in court recently, a week before the case was
closed. Moreover the police provided misleading information to the
court about the phone records. Contrary to police investigations,
which found no phone conversations between the suspects on the day of
the murder, we found at least five cell phone numbers belonging to
people who were present at the crime scene on the day of the murder
that were directly connected to two suspects in the investigation. The
Telecommunications Directorate (TIB) gave the court some information
about conversations that took place around the time of the murder, but
said their records showed no link to any of the cell phones. TIB's
statement is not true because one of the numbers assigned to a cell
phone present in the area at the time of the murder was used in 19
calls to a suspect between Oct. 22, 2005 and Jan. 27, 2007. In
addition, footage from active security cameras at shops and banks
located close to the crime scene were mysteriously lost!
*** Has the top prosecutor's notification been sent to you yet? What
is your next step going to be?
We don't have it yet. Journalists got a hold of it. When we receive it
officially, we will add our opinion and demand that the Criminal
Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals look at it immediately. There
is an investigation opened by an Istanbul court following the ruling
of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) against Turkey with
regards to the Dink case. We expect that this "secret" investigation
to move forward and become public.
*** Why is it still "secret"?
The prosecution may decide to have a secret investigation in order to
protect evidence and prevent the suspects from escaping but this
secrecy is related to the suspects; we, the co-plaintiffs, should have
had access to the case file. It is ridiculous that we don't have
access to the file. We could have been helpful in this case.
Therefore, we applied to the Constitutional Court through the new
application mechanism voicing our criticism in that regard about two
months ago after exhausting all other judicial processes.
*** When do you expect the Istanbul court to make its findings public
or at least let you know the details of its investigation?
The prosecutor might have been waiting for the fourth judicial reform
package to be implemented. According to the fourth judicial package,
investigations can be opened against public personnel involved in
crimes such as murder or injuries without requiring authorized
permission from the affiliated institutions. This is quite important
for our case.
'Court ignores clues, testimonies, evidence'
*** Media reports last year revealed that the undisclosed sections of
a report prepared by the State Audit Institution (DDK) accuse police
and intelligence officials of negligence in the murder of Dink and
call for the investigation of certain individuals.
The DDK had recommended that Dink's murder should be handled as a
whole, taking into account developments before and after his murder.
In addition, it pointed out the need to investigate the role of public
officials in not preventing the murder and not submitting evidence
related to the murder after he was killed. Additionally, as we did,
the DDK's report emphasized the need to combine all investigations and
cases related to the Dink murder for a full evaluation of the whole
picture. When there are several ongoing cases, the complexity of the
case was ignored and it has been reduced to individual acts with no
ties of individuals to some institutions.
*** What does it all tell you? After all those years, what is the
conclusion that you've reached?
We have realized that there is an internal fight among and between
various institutions in Turkey and they are trying to accuse each
other over the Dink case. Unfortunately, the Dink case has been
instrumentalized in this ongoing fight. If we genuinely want
democratization in Turkey, we should move beyond this and reveal the
roles of the police, the gendarmerie, MIT, civilian bureaucracy and
individual civilians in society.
*** Would you elaborate on civilian individuals' roles?
We all complain about the deep state structure in Turkey but why has
it been continuing for so long? Regular citizens are the ones who are
paying the salaries of many of those people nested in the state. There
is now a well-established mentality in the country which is
discriminatory, aggressive, ultranationalist, against foreigners and
racist. This mentality has been persistent and its dissemination has
been conducted through the media and education. When the Justice and
Development Party (AK Party) came to power, it decided to fight
against this.
*** And some people who targeted Dink are now on trial in the case of
Ergenekon.
Despite our demands, they have not been allowed to testify about their
role in the murder of Dink. Those people, including ultranationalist
lawyers, the heads of some associations and some people from the
media, used the judiciary; they made Dink an object and target of
hate. Without investigating those people's role, we will not be able
to find their links to an organized network. We tried to have it
investigated but to no avail. We listed their names one by one but our
demands have not been met. Besides, Dink had written two articles
right before his death naming those who had been threatening his life.
Even in an ordinary murder case, the prosecution first looks at clues,
like letters and notes, left behind after someone's murder. Plus,
Dink's family went to the prosecutor's office and named the people
whom they suspected. In the case of Dink, all of this has been
ignored.
*** As you know, there are news reports about a number of anonymous
letters sent to MIT which revealed the illegal activities of
structures formed within the Turkish military. The letters contain
information on the illegal activities of some groups set up within the
General Staff, such as the STK. What are your thoughts on this?
We had sent a letter from the court to MIT asking them to submit all
the relevant information regarding the murder of Dink. The answer we
received was that MIT had no information other than what the daily
newspapers had reported! After what recent new reports have revealed,
I asked the prosecutor to file a case against MIT in regards to that
response. Are MIT officials sitting and reading newspapers despite all
the salaries that they get from us? Or are they lying? The prosecutor
said that MIT would not share much information with the courts. I
believe that MIT has quite a lot of information with regards to the
murder of Dink but they didn't provide it. This is actually the fate
of all political murders in Turkey. The STK's role has been discussed
in Turkey because of its role in an alleged assassinated plot against
[Deputy Prime Minister] Bülent Arinç. After the revelation of
Ergenekon, I have always said that the Dink murder was the work of
something even greater than Ergenekon. After the Dink, [priest Andrea]
Santoro and Zirve murders, and after looking all the evidence, the
clues lead me to something like the STK. The plan talks about three
"sensitive" cities to concentrate on: Trabzon, Malatya and Hatay,
cities where conflicts related to Turkish minorities have been
arising.
'People are saying "enough," that's why Dink not forgotten'
*** On Jan. 19 this year, six years after the murder of Dink, hundreds
of thousands of people held a demonstration demanding once again for
justice. There have been political murders before in Turkey but it
seems like the Dink case has not faded away. Why do you think that is
so?
It's because people who care have said "Enough is enough!" It has been
obvious that Dink was unjustly criminalized for insulting Turkishness,
he was targeted and he was threatened. At the end he was murdered.
Society has been feeling hurt because all of this was done so openly
and so carelessly. On top of that, the court ruled last year that the
murder was the work of a few individuals, like it was an ordinary
killing. Society has said "Enough!"
*** But you say that there is still not enough political will to
expose the real criminals.
We need political will to resolve such murders because the links are
in the deep structures of the state. It is impossible to reveal those
ties without the support of the government. No prosecutor can do this
without the government's support. When Dink was killed, Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that this murder was indeed targeting the AK
Party government and he promised on his honor to find the murderers.
Last year, after the Istanbul court's final verdict, Erdogan said that
he would not allow this case to be forgotten in the labyrinths of
Ankara. Since then, we have not yet seen an improvement.
*** Your last comments?
We have to be careful, especially as 2015 (the centennial of the
events of 1915) is approaching. We should avoid all acts that will
make the Armenian citizens of Turkey feel like foreigners.
Additionally, like all regular citizens in this country, I really
don't like to live in a country where criminals remain unpunished. On
the contrary, like in the case of Dink, some officials who had roles
in murders have been promoted. I won't renounce my rights in the case
unless the criminals are exposed and punished.
From: Baghdasarian
January 20, 2013 Sunday
Lawyer Çetin: MIT knows about Dink murder but does not release facts
ISTANBUL (CIHAN)- 'Are MIT officials sitting and reading newspapers
despite all the salaries that they get from us? Or are they lying? The
prosecutor said that MIT would not share much information with the
courts. I believe that MIT has quite a lot of information with regards
to the murder of Dink but they don't provide it. This is actually the
fate of all political murders in Turkey'
A number of state institutions had information about the plans to
murder Hrant Dink, the late chief editor of the Turkish-Armenian
weekly Agos, and among them is the National Intelligence Organization
(MIT), which has been withholding valuable information from the
courts, the chief lawyer for the Dink family has said to Monday Talk.
"We [the plaintiff lawyers] had a letter from the court to MIT asking
them to submit all the relevant information regarding the murder of
Dink. The response we received was that MIT had no information other
than what the daily newspapers had reported! After what recent new
reports have revealed, I asked the prosecutor to file a case against
MIT in regards to that response. Are MIT officials sitting and reading
newspapers despite all the salaries they are receiving from us? Or are
they lying?" asked Fethiye Çetin, a lawyer representing the family of
Dink, who was assassinated on Jan. 19, 2007 by a young man under the
influence of ultra-nationalism.
Although a local court said in its final verdict last year that a few
individuals were acting alone to kill Dink, many segments of society,
including the prosecutor in the case, the president, the prime
minister and several ministers, have expressed dismay because they
felt that the ruling was unjust and there was an organized network
involving officials behind the murder. The Dink family's lawyers
appealed the ruling and all eyes are on the Supreme Court for its
decision.
Çetin has said that MIT probably has quite a lot of information about
Dink's assassination but did not provide it. According to recent news
reports, a number of letters sent anonymously to MIT reveal the
illegal activities of structures -- such as the Tactical Mobilization
Group (STK) -- within the Turkish military. The letters say that the
STK was behind a number of assassinations that rocked the country in
the past, including an armed attack on the Council of State in 2006,
the killings of three Christian missionaries at the Zirve publishing
house in Malatya in 2007 and the murder of Dink.
Çetin elaborated on these issues and more, answering our questions.
*** Although the chief prosecutor has expressed an opinion that is
favorable to the argument of the Dink family's lawyers, from what I
see from the family members of Dink to Dink's friends, a number of
people have been feeling pessimistic about obtaining justice from the
Dink case. Do you share the same feelings?
The Istanbul court's verdict was so bad that people from every level
of society, including ministers, the prime minister and the president,
have not been able to digest it. It seems like there was a glimmer of
hope when the chief prosecutor of the top court said that this is an
organized crime. However, six years have passed and we feel like we
are starting all over again because that's what we have been saying
>From the beginning. The prosecutor's notice says that the suspects are
not just limited to the ones who have been punished by the local court
in Istanbul and there is an organized structure which needs to be
exposed. This gives us some hope. Therefore, the prosecutor's notice
is positive for us because it says that there is an organized
structure which was established specifically to fight against
non-Muslim minorities. The chief prosecutor also questioned the role
of police informant Erhan Tuncel in the murder and questions Tuncel's
release.
*** Would you remind us of his role?
Although Tuncel is suspected of having incited Dink's murderer, he is
also probably the one who tipped off the Istanbul police about the
murder plan. Important evidence, including Tuncel's police records,
were hidden from the court. In fact, Tuncel's file with the police was
destroyed since it constitutes a "state secret," according to
officials.
*** What are the negative elements that you see in the prosecutor's
opinion which was presented recently in a formal notification?
The notification from the prosecutor says that this organized
structure was formed in order to attack the unity of the nation; this
argument is based on Article 302 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK),
which was typically used in terrorism cases with regards to the
Kurdish issue in Turkey. While the chief prosecutor argued that an
organized network has been fighting against minorities, he emphasized
the ethnic and national identities of these minorities, therefore
classifying those minorities, who are Turkish citizens, as "others."
What does he mean by saying that these minorities are from another
nation? This is the language that is often used in Turkey for
minorities, considering them as "foreign." However, the language of
the judiciary should not be the same; it should be neutral. In
addition, the top prosecutor argues that this organized crime network
aimed to put Turkey in a difficult position internationally! There are
so many other explanations that could have been found to explain what
this crime network has been doing, like disturbing public order, going
against basic freedoms and human rights, disturbing public peace,
etc., and all of these could have been based on several articles of
the TCK. Additionally, we pointed out several -- more than 30 --
irregularities and deficiencies in the investigation. The top
prosecutor's notice mentions only four of those.
'Court holds information about public officials' role'
*** One important thing which the chief prosecution mentioned is with
regards to the lost camera footage and phone records, right?
In 2008, we demanded the records of phone calls made around the time
of the assassination on the day of the murder. We were only able to
have those records in court recently, a week before the case was
closed. Moreover the police provided misleading information to the
court about the phone records. Contrary to police investigations,
which found no phone conversations between the suspects on the day of
the murder, we found at least five cell phone numbers belonging to
people who were present at the crime scene on the day of the murder
that were directly connected to two suspects in the investigation. The
Telecommunications Directorate (TIB) gave the court some information
about conversations that took place around the time of the murder, but
said their records showed no link to any of the cell phones. TIB's
statement is not true because one of the numbers assigned to a cell
phone present in the area at the time of the murder was used in 19
calls to a suspect between Oct. 22, 2005 and Jan. 27, 2007. In
addition, footage from active security cameras at shops and banks
located close to the crime scene were mysteriously lost!
*** Has the top prosecutor's notification been sent to you yet? What
is your next step going to be?
We don't have it yet. Journalists got a hold of it. When we receive it
officially, we will add our opinion and demand that the Criminal
Chamber of the Supreme Court of Appeals look at it immediately. There
is an investigation opened by an Istanbul court following the ruling
of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) against Turkey with
regards to the Dink case. We expect that this "secret" investigation
to move forward and become public.
*** Why is it still "secret"?
The prosecution may decide to have a secret investigation in order to
protect evidence and prevent the suspects from escaping but this
secrecy is related to the suspects; we, the co-plaintiffs, should have
had access to the case file. It is ridiculous that we don't have
access to the file. We could have been helpful in this case.
Therefore, we applied to the Constitutional Court through the new
application mechanism voicing our criticism in that regard about two
months ago after exhausting all other judicial processes.
*** When do you expect the Istanbul court to make its findings public
or at least let you know the details of its investigation?
The prosecutor might have been waiting for the fourth judicial reform
package to be implemented. According to the fourth judicial package,
investigations can be opened against public personnel involved in
crimes such as murder or injuries without requiring authorized
permission from the affiliated institutions. This is quite important
for our case.
'Court ignores clues, testimonies, evidence'
*** Media reports last year revealed that the undisclosed sections of
a report prepared by the State Audit Institution (DDK) accuse police
and intelligence officials of negligence in the murder of Dink and
call for the investigation of certain individuals.
The DDK had recommended that Dink's murder should be handled as a
whole, taking into account developments before and after his murder.
In addition, it pointed out the need to investigate the role of public
officials in not preventing the murder and not submitting evidence
related to the murder after he was killed. Additionally, as we did,
the DDK's report emphasized the need to combine all investigations and
cases related to the Dink murder for a full evaluation of the whole
picture. When there are several ongoing cases, the complexity of the
case was ignored and it has been reduced to individual acts with no
ties of individuals to some institutions.
*** What does it all tell you? After all those years, what is the
conclusion that you've reached?
We have realized that there is an internal fight among and between
various institutions in Turkey and they are trying to accuse each
other over the Dink case. Unfortunately, the Dink case has been
instrumentalized in this ongoing fight. If we genuinely want
democratization in Turkey, we should move beyond this and reveal the
roles of the police, the gendarmerie, MIT, civilian bureaucracy and
individual civilians in society.
*** Would you elaborate on civilian individuals' roles?
We all complain about the deep state structure in Turkey but why has
it been continuing for so long? Regular citizens are the ones who are
paying the salaries of many of those people nested in the state. There
is now a well-established mentality in the country which is
discriminatory, aggressive, ultranationalist, against foreigners and
racist. This mentality has been persistent and its dissemination has
been conducted through the media and education. When the Justice and
Development Party (AK Party) came to power, it decided to fight
against this.
*** And some people who targeted Dink are now on trial in the case of
Ergenekon.
Despite our demands, they have not been allowed to testify about their
role in the murder of Dink. Those people, including ultranationalist
lawyers, the heads of some associations and some people from the
media, used the judiciary; they made Dink an object and target of
hate. Without investigating those people's role, we will not be able
to find their links to an organized network. We tried to have it
investigated but to no avail. We listed their names one by one but our
demands have not been met. Besides, Dink had written two articles
right before his death naming those who had been threatening his life.
Even in an ordinary murder case, the prosecution first looks at clues,
like letters and notes, left behind after someone's murder. Plus,
Dink's family went to the prosecutor's office and named the people
whom they suspected. In the case of Dink, all of this has been
ignored.
*** As you know, there are news reports about a number of anonymous
letters sent to MIT which revealed the illegal activities of
structures formed within the Turkish military. The letters contain
information on the illegal activities of some groups set up within the
General Staff, such as the STK. What are your thoughts on this?
We had sent a letter from the court to MIT asking them to submit all
the relevant information regarding the murder of Dink. The answer we
received was that MIT had no information other than what the daily
newspapers had reported! After what recent new reports have revealed,
I asked the prosecutor to file a case against MIT in regards to that
response. Are MIT officials sitting and reading newspapers despite all
the salaries that they get from us? Or are they lying? The prosecutor
said that MIT would not share much information with the courts. I
believe that MIT has quite a lot of information with regards to the
murder of Dink but they didn't provide it. This is actually the fate
of all political murders in Turkey. The STK's role has been discussed
in Turkey because of its role in an alleged assassinated plot against
[Deputy Prime Minister] Bülent Arinç. After the revelation of
Ergenekon, I have always said that the Dink murder was the work of
something even greater than Ergenekon. After the Dink, [priest Andrea]
Santoro and Zirve murders, and after looking all the evidence, the
clues lead me to something like the STK. The plan talks about three
"sensitive" cities to concentrate on: Trabzon, Malatya and Hatay,
cities where conflicts related to Turkish minorities have been
arising.
'People are saying "enough," that's why Dink not forgotten'
*** On Jan. 19 this year, six years after the murder of Dink, hundreds
of thousands of people held a demonstration demanding once again for
justice. There have been political murders before in Turkey but it
seems like the Dink case has not faded away. Why do you think that is
so?
It's because people who care have said "Enough is enough!" It has been
obvious that Dink was unjustly criminalized for insulting Turkishness,
he was targeted and he was threatened. At the end he was murdered.
Society has been feeling hurt because all of this was done so openly
and so carelessly. On top of that, the court ruled last year that the
murder was the work of a few individuals, like it was an ordinary
killing. Society has said "Enough!"
*** But you say that there is still not enough political will to
expose the real criminals.
We need political will to resolve such murders because the links are
in the deep structures of the state. It is impossible to reveal those
ties without the support of the government. No prosecutor can do this
without the government's support. When Dink was killed, Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that this murder was indeed targeting the AK
Party government and he promised on his honor to find the murderers.
Last year, after the Istanbul court's final verdict, Erdogan said that
he would not allow this case to be forgotten in the labyrinths of
Ankara. Since then, we have not yet seen an improvement.
*** Your last comments?
We have to be careful, especially as 2015 (the centennial of the
events of 1915) is approaching. We should avoid all acts that will
make the Armenian citizens of Turkey feel like foreigners.
Additionally, like all regular citizens in this country, I really
don't like to live in a country where criminals remain unpunished. On
the contrary, like in the case of Dink, some officials who had roles
in murders have been promoted. I won't renounce my rights in the case
unless the criminals are exposed and punished.
From: Baghdasarian