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Today's Zaman, Turkey
June 8 2014
Dink family lawyers say more officials should be prosecuted
Former Ä°stanbul Police Chief Celalettin Cerrah (Photo: DHA)
June 08, 2014, Sunday/ 17:50:38/ TODAY'S ZAMAN / Ankara
A recent decision by the Bakırköy 8th High Criminal Court to allow
trials of key officials for their possible roles in the 2007 murder of
Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink is a belated but significant
development, according to Dink family lawyers, who also say more
officials should be prosecuted to shed light on the murder.
Engin Cinmen, one of the Dink family's lawyers, told Today's Zaman:
"The Trabzon Provincial Gendarmerie Command, the Trabzon Police
Department and the Ä°stanbul Police Department received intelligence
about the murder one week before it happened. A report sent by the
Trabzon Police Department to the Ä°stanbul Police Department clearly
stated that Ogün Samast [the gunman] and Yasin Hayal [who allegedly
incited Samast to commit the murder] would kill Dink. The probe, which
should have been launched immediately after the murder, is now being
opened. ... There are many people like Yasin Hayal and Ogün Samast in
Turkey; that's not the issue. Those who are responsible for the murder
should be prosecuted."
Key officials at the time of the murder, including former Ä°stanbul
Deputy Governor Ergun Güngör, former Ä°stanbul Police Chief Celalettin
Cerrah and Ä°stanbul Police Department Intelligence Unit chief Ahmet
Ä°lhan Güler, could face an investigation regarding Dink's murder on
charges of negligence since the Bakırköy 8th High Criminal Court
overturned a previous ruling on June 6.
The court reversed a previous ruling which stated there was no need to
prosecute Güngör, Cerrah, Güler and six police officers in connection
to the murder. The court recommended an investigation into the nine
individuals following a previously issued European Court of Human
Rights (ECtHR) decision.
Dink, the editor-in-chief of the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, was
shot dead outside his newspaper's office in Ä°stanbul in broad daylight
on Jan. 19, 2007 by Samast, an ultranationalist teenager. Samast was
sentenced to nearly 23 years in prison and Hayal was given a life
sentence for inciting Samast to commit the murder. The judge at the
time said they had acquitted the suspects of organized crime charges,
but that does not mean there was no organization involved, just that
there was not enough evidence to prove that the actions were conducted
entirely by the organization.
Since the murder, mounting evidence has indicated that security
officials had been tipped off about the murder plot before the attack.
The former Ä°stanbul police chief also acknowledged that they had
received a tip-off about a possible attack on Dink, but said its
priority level was too low for his department to take seriously. Erhan
Tuncel, another key figure in the murder, claimed in December 2013
that he had informed the police of the plan but that his warnings went
unheeded.
The ECtHR ruled in September 2010 that Turkey had failed to
investigate and prosecute those responsible for Dink's murder, which
constitutes a violation of Dink's right to life.
Güngör's responsibility for the murder has often been brought forward
by the Dink family's lawyers. Güngör summoned Dink to his office on
Feb. 24, 2004, where two National Intelligence Organization (MÄ°T)
agents warned him to be `more careful' about what he wrote. The
meeting came a week after Dink had suggested that Sabiha Gökçen,
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's adopted daughter, was in fact an Armenian
orphan. During the conversation, the deputy governor and the two MÄ°T
officials threatened Dink by saying things like `We know who you are,
but society may not' and `We are concerned that society might not be
able to understand things like this.'
Hakan BakırcıoÄ?lu, one of the Dink family lawyers, said the court had
ruled that there was no need to prosecute the two MÄ°T officials who
had threatened Dink. "They should also be prosecuted. But their
actions do not represent MÄ°T's only misdeed. It's impossible that MÄ°T
was not informed about the threats Dink had been receiving. MÄ°T also
has responsibility for the murder," BakırcıoÄ?lu said.
Another lawyer for the Dink family, Bahri Belen, said that a captain
and a major in the gendarmerie who were serving at the Trabzon
Gendarmerie Command should also be prosecuted, along with Col. Ali Ã-z,
the head of the Trabzon Gendarmerie Command at the time. "Ã-z was put
on trial at the Bursa High Criminal Court, and the court ruled to
combine it with Dink's murder case at the Ä°stanbul [Bakırköy] Court.
However, the Ä°stanbul court refused to combine the cases. I think they
will re-evaluate this [decision] soon," he said.
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-349870-dink-family-lawyers-say-more-officials-should-be-prosecuted.html
June 8 2014
Dink family lawyers say more officials should be prosecuted
Former Ä°stanbul Police Chief Celalettin Cerrah (Photo: DHA)
June 08, 2014, Sunday/ 17:50:38/ TODAY'S ZAMAN / Ankara
A recent decision by the Bakırköy 8th High Criminal Court to allow
trials of key officials for their possible roles in the 2007 murder of
Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink is a belated but significant
development, according to Dink family lawyers, who also say more
officials should be prosecuted to shed light on the murder.
Engin Cinmen, one of the Dink family's lawyers, told Today's Zaman:
"The Trabzon Provincial Gendarmerie Command, the Trabzon Police
Department and the Ä°stanbul Police Department received intelligence
about the murder one week before it happened. A report sent by the
Trabzon Police Department to the Ä°stanbul Police Department clearly
stated that Ogün Samast [the gunman] and Yasin Hayal [who allegedly
incited Samast to commit the murder] would kill Dink. The probe, which
should have been launched immediately after the murder, is now being
opened. ... There are many people like Yasin Hayal and Ogün Samast in
Turkey; that's not the issue. Those who are responsible for the murder
should be prosecuted."
Key officials at the time of the murder, including former Ä°stanbul
Deputy Governor Ergun Güngör, former Ä°stanbul Police Chief Celalettin
Cerrah and Ä°stanbul Police Department Intelligence Unit chief Ahmet
Ä°lhan Güler, could face an investigation regarding Dink's murder on
charges of negligence since the Bakırköy 8th High Criminal Court
overturned a previous ruling on June 6.
The court reversed a previous ruling which stated there was no need to
prosecute Güngör, Cerrah, Güler and six police officers in connection
to the murder. The court recommended an investigation into the nine
individuals following a previously issued European Court of Human
Rights (ECtHR) decision.
Dink, the editor-in-chief of the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, was
shot dead outside his newspaper's office in Ä°stanbul in broad daylight
on Jan. 19, 2007 by Samast, an ultranationalist teenager. Samast was
sentenced to nearly 23 years in prison and Hayal was given a life
sentence for inciting Samast to commit the murder. The judge at the
time said they had acquitted the suspects of organized crime charges,
but that does not mean there was no organization involved, just that
there was not enough evidence to prove that the actions were conducted
entirely by the organization.
Since the murder, mounting evidence has indicated that security
officials had been tipped off about the murder plot before the attack.
The former Ä°stanbul police chief also acknowledged that they had
received a tip-off about a possible attack on Dink, but said its
priority level was too low for his department to take seriously. Erhan
Tuncel, another key figure in the murder, claimed in December 2013
that he had informed the police of the plan but that his warnings went
unheeded.
The ECtHR ruled in September 2010 that Turkey had failed to
investigate and prosecute those responsible for Dink's murder, which
constitutes a violation of Dink's right to life.
Güngör's responsibility for the murder has often been brought forward
by the Dink family's lawyers. Güngör summoned Dink to his office on
Feb. 24, 2004, where two National Intelligence Organization (MÄ°T)
agents warned him to be `more careful' about what he wrote. The
meeting came a week after Dink had suggested that Sabiha Gökçen,
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's adopted daughter, was in fact an Armenian
orphan. During the conversation, the deputy governor and the two MÄ°T
officials threatened Dink by saying things like `We know who you are,
but society may not' and `We are concerned that society might not be
able to understand things like this.'
Hakan BakırcıoÄ?lu, one of the Dink family lawyers, said the court had
ruled that there was no need to prosecute the two MÄ°T officials who
had threatened Dink. "They should also be prosecuted. But their
actions do not represent MÄ°T's only misdeed. It's impossible that MÄ°T
was not informed about the threats Dink had been receiving. MÄ°T also
has responsibility for the murder," BakırcıoÄ?lu said.
Another lawyer for the Dink family, Bahri Belen, said that a captain
and a major in the gendarmerie who were serving at the Trabzon
Gendarmerie Command should also be prosecuted, along with Col. Ali Ã-z,
the head of the Trabzon Gendarmerie Command at the time. "Ã-z was put
on trial at the Bursa High Criminal Court, and the court ruled to
combine it with Dink's murder case at the Ä°stanbul [Bakırköy] Court.
However, the Ä°stanbul court refused to combine the cases. I think they
will re-evaluate this [decision] soon," he said.
http://www.todayszaman.com/news-349870-dink-family-lawyers-say-more-officials-should-be-prosecuted.html