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ARREST WARRANT ISSUED FOR KEY SUSPECT IN RESTARTED DINK CASE
Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Sept 17 2013
ISTANBUL
One of the most controversial cases of recent Turkish history,
murder of Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink, restarts. Dink
family denies to attend trials of 'crime coalition's game' as court
issues an arrest warrant for the key suspect Erhan Tuncel
An Istanbul court has issued an arrest warrant for Erhan Tuncel,
a former police informant and suspect in the resumed murder case of
Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink.
Tuncel had been released with the first verdict, which has now been
overturned. Dink's family protested the trial and refused to attend,
saying "they are not a part of this game."
"As the Dink family, we will no more be tools to the state mechanisms
that have been mocking us and we will not attend the hearings of the
retrial," Dink's family said in a letter published on the website of
the Armenian-Turkish daily Agos.
"The crime coalition that is called the state recommitted the murder
in every hearing, every day while it presented itself as if seeking
justice. That coalition is the crime gang itself that planned the
murder and then covered it up."
Tuncel is a key suspect
Tuncel is seen as a key in linking the murder to the state institutions
as members of the Police Department in the Black Sea province of
Trabzon, the suspects' hometown, have been accused of failing to relay
intelligence provided by Tuncel to the Trabzon Gendarmerie Command
in a report prepared by Turkey's State Supervisory Council (DDK).
Dink, the renowned editor-in-chief of Agos, was shot in front of his
office in Istanbul on Jan. 19, 2007, after being repeatedly prosecuted
for "insulting Turkishness."
The triggerman, Ogun Samast, who was 17 years old at the time of the
murder, and Yasin Hayal, who was charged with being the instigator
of the assassination, were convicted of the murder.
However, a high criminal court dismissed charges related to "armed
terrorist organization." The Supreme Court of Appeals verdict defined
the acts of all suspects in the case under "an organization formed to
commit crime" according to the Turkish Penal Code Article 220. Hayal
yesterday denied that he was involved in any criminal organization
involved in the murder.
Around 200 demonstrators gathered outside the Istanbul court where
eight defendants were being retried after an appeals court deemed
they were part of a criminal conspiracy. Crowds accused authorities
of covering up a conspiracy by nationalist elements in the state
apparatus.
The crowd chanted "the murderer state will give account" and "we are
all Hrant, we are all Armenians," holding up banners in Turkish,
Armenian and Kurdish. They see Dink as the victim of a shadowy
"deep state" network of nationalist militants accused of killings of
prominent liberals and Kurdish nationalists.
"This show must end, the real perpetrators must be brought to justice,"
Gulten Kaya, the widow of well-known Kurdish singer Ahmet Kaya,
told reporters outside the court.
Dink's family and his supporters reject the premise of the retrial
that the defendants were part of a criminal conspiracy and argue that
the state was involved in what amounted to a terrorist conspiracy.
The case was adjourned to December 3.
September/17/2013
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/arrest-warrant-issued-for-key-suspect-in-restarted-dink-case.aspx?pageID=238&nID=54593&NewsCatID=339
From: A. Papazian
Hurriyet Daily News, Turkey
Sept 17 2013
ISTANBUL
One of the most controversial cases of recent Turkish history,
murder of Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink, restarts. Dink
family denies to attend trials of 'crime coalition's game' as court
issues an arrest warrant for the key suspect Erhan Tuncel
An Istanbul court has issued an arrest warrant for Erhan Tuncel,
a former police informant and suspect in the resumed murder case of
Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink.
Tuncel had been released with the first verdict, which has now been
overturned. Dink's family protested the trial and refused to attend,
saying "they are not a part of this game."
"As the Dink family, we will no more be tools to the state mechanisms
that have been mocking us and we will not attend the hearings of the
retrial," Dink's family said in a letter published on the website of
the Armenian-Turkish daily Agos.
"The crime coalition that is called the state recommitted the murder
in every hearing, every day while it presented itself as if seeking
justice. That coalition is the crime gang itself that planned the
murder and then covered it up."
Tuncel is a key suspect
Tuncel is seen as a key in linking the murder to the state institutions
as members of the Police Department in the Black Sea province of
Trabzon, the suspects' hometown, have been accused of failing to relay
intelligence provided by Tuncel to the Trabzon Gendarmerie Command
in a report prepared by Turkey's State Supervisory Council (DDK).
Dink, the renowned editor-in-chief of Agos, was shot in front of his
office in Istanbul on Jan. 19, 2007, after being repeatedly prosecuted
for "insulting Turkishness."
The triggerman, Ogun Samast, who was 17 years old at the time of the
murder, and Yasin Hayal, who was charged with being the instigator
of the assassination, were convicted of the murder.
However, a high criminal court dismissed charges related to "armed
terrorist organization." The Supreme Court of Appeals verdict defined
the acts of all suspects in the case under "an organization formed to
commit crime" according to the Turkish Penal Code Article 220. Hayal
yesterday denied that he was involved in any criminal organization
involved in the murder.
Around 200 demonstrators gathered outside the Istanbul court where
eight defendants were being retried after an appeals court deemed
they were part of a criminal conspiracy. Crowds accused authorities
of covering up a conspiracy by nationalist elements in the state
apparatus.
The crowd chanted "the murderer state will give account" and "we are
all Hrant, we are all Armenians," holding up banners in Turkish,
Armenian and Kurdish. They see Dink as the victim of a shadowy
"deep state" network of nationalist militants accused of killings of
prominent liberals and Kurdish nationalists.
"This show must end, the real perpetrators must be brought to justice,"
Gulten Kaya, the widow of well-known Kurdish singer Ahmet Kaya,
told reporters outside the court.
Dink's family and his supporters reject the premise of the retrial
that the defendants were part of a criminal conspiracy and argue that
the state was involved in what amounted to a terrorist conspiracy.
The case was adjourned to December 3.
September/17/2013
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/arrest-warrant-issued-for-key-suspect-in-restarted-dink-case.aspx?pageID=238&nID=54593&NewsCatID=339
From: A. Papazian