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LAWYER SAYS FUGITIVE DINK MURDER SUSPECT 'INNOCENT'
October 10, 2013 - 14:27 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - The lawyer of a key suspect in Armenian-Turkish
journalist Hrank Dink's murder has revealed that his missing client,
Erhan Tuncel, is in Turkey working on his defense and that it was
the latter's decision whether or not to surrender, Hurriyet Daily
News reports.
Erdogan Soruklu, the lawyer of Tuncel, for whom an arrest warrant was
issued after he was ordered to stand in a retrial, told the HDN that
his client was innocent and was working on his defense somewhere in
an unknown location in Turkey.
"[Tuncel] is in Turkey working on his defense; he will go more into
details in his defense. He calls me [on the phone]; I cannot call him,
as I do not know where he is. It is his decision whether or not to
surrender," said Soruklu.
Dink, the editor-in-chief of Armenian-Turkish newspaper Agos, was
shot dead in broad daylight in Istanbul on Jan 19, 2007.
Soruklu said they did not expect Tuncel to receive a long-term sentence
but if that was the case, they would appeal to the European Court of
Human Rights (ECHR), as "his client's rights that derived from the
European Convention of Human Rights were being violated."
"The ECHR is not going to judge Tuncel; it will evaluate whether his
rights have been breached. The ECHR had previously punished Turkey
for Turkish authorities' insufficient acts to protect Dink's right to
life. Therefore, this decision also vindicates Tuncel," said Soruklu.
Tuncel, the suspected instigator of the murder, was an informant in
the Black Sea province of Trabzon before the murder of Dink.
Soruklu also said Tuncel was not a stooge in Dink's murder. "Erhan
is not a person that was used by others. He was a university student
in Trabzon, who was delivering intelligence about illegal groups. He
was brought to this position in 2004 and was discharged from it one
month before the Dink murder but it was not communicated to him. It
is still a mystery why he was discharged from this post," said Soruklu.
Soruklu said he did not believe that Tuncel was the "key person"
in the trial and thus his life was not in danger.
"Even though some media outlets and the public opinion are trying to
depict Erhan [as the key person], he is not the black box in the case.
The public opinion that has been created against Tuncel does not rest
on concrete evidence. Punishing Erhan will not make a difference in
shedding light on the case. If all the evidence had pointed Tuncel,
he would not have been acquitted. Tuncel is being set up as the 'Big
Brother' but he is the person who reported the murder [to authorities
before it took place]," said Soruklu.
Commenting on the accusations of the convicted Yasin Hayal, Soruklu
said there was an attempt to cast his client as an instigator. "There
is someone who looks like Osman Hayal [the brother of Yasin Hayal] at
the crime scene. Yasin Hayal accused Tuncel of being the instigator of
the murder just to prevent the truths from coming out," said Soruklu.
Yasin Hayal was convicted of being the instigator of the assassination
and the "leader of a terrorist organization." Hayal is also among
the suspects who are being retried as part of the murder case.
Stating that he was not hopeful about the trial process, Soruklu
said that though the court had good intentions, some of the public
institutions had not provided the necessary support for the case to
proceed. Soruklu said he felt for the Dink family and their loss and
that he was not against the Dink family's struggle but was merely
defending his client's rights.
"My position is not against the Dink family; I share the same
intentions as them. I respect their sorrow. I wish with all my heart
that the truth will be revealed, but I defend the rights of Erhan
Tuncel as a lawyer and believe that he is innocent," Soruklu said.
October 10, 2013 - 14:27 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net - The lawyer of a key suspect in Armenian-Turkish
journalist Hrank Dink's murder has revealed that his missing client,
Erhan Tuncel, is in Turkey working on his defense and that it was
the latter's decision whether or not to surrender, Hurriyet Daily
News reports.
Erdogan Soruklu, the lawyer of Tuncel, for whom an arrest warrant was
issued after he was ordered to stand in a retrial, told the HDN that
his client was innocent and was working on his defense somewhere in
an unknown location in Turkey.
"[Tuncel] is in Turkey working on his defense; he will go more into
details in his defense. He calls me [on the phone]; I cannot call him,
as I do not know where he is. It is his decision whether or not to
surrender," said Soruklu.
Dink, the editor-in-chief of Armenian-Turkish newspaper Agos, was
shot dead in broad daylight in Istanbul on Jan 19, 2007.
Soruklu said they did not expect Tuncel to receive a long-term sentence
but if that was the case, they would appeal to the European Court of
Human Rights (ECHR), as "his client's rights that derived from the
European Convention of Human Rights were being violated."
"The ECHR is not going to judge Tuncel; it will evaluate whether his
rights have been breached. The ECHR had previously punished Turkey
for Turkish authorities' insufficient acts to protect Dink's right to
life. Therefore, this decision also vindicates Tuncel," said Soruklu.
Tuncel, the suspected instigator of the murder, was an informant in
the Black Sea province of Trabzon before the murder of Dink.
Soruklu also said Tuncel was not a stooge in Dink's murder. "Erhan
is not a person that was used by others. He was a university student
in Trabzon, who was delivering intelligence about illegal groups. He
was brought to this position in 2004 and was discharged from it one
month before the Dink murder but it was not communicated to him. It
is still a mystery why he was discharged from this post," said Soruklu.
Soruklu said he did not believe that Tuncel was the "key person"
in the trial and thus his life was not in danger.
"Even though some media outlets and the public opinion are trying to
depict Erhan [as the key person], he is not the black box in the case.
The public opinion that has been created against Tuncel does not rest
on concrete evidence. Punishing Erhan will not make a difference in
shedding light on the case. If all the evidence had pointed Tuncel,
he would not have been acquitted. Tuncel is being set up as the 'Big
Brother' but he is the person who reported the murder [to authorities
before it took place]," said Soruklu.
Commenting on the accusations of the convicted Yasin Hayal, Soruklu
said there was an attempt to cast his client as an instigator. "There
is someone who looks like Osman Hayal [the brother of Yasin Hayal] at
the crime scene. Yasin Hayal accused Tuncel of being the instigator of
the murder just to prevent the truths from coming out," said Soruklu.
Yasin Hayal was convicted of being the instigator of the assassination
and the "leader of a terrorist organization." Hayal is also among
the suspects who are being retried as part of the murder case.
Stating that he was not hopeful about the trial process, Soruklu
said that though the court had good intentions, some of the public
institutions had not provided the necessary support for the case to
proceed. Soruklu said he felt for the Dink family and their loss and
that he was not against the Dink family's struggle but was merely
defending his client's rights.
"My position is not against the Dink family; I share the same
intentions as them. I respect their sorrow. I wish with all my heart
that the truth will be revealed, but I defend the rights of Erhan
Tuncel as a lawyer and believe that he is innocent," Soruklu said.