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Today's Zaman, Turkey
Jan 19 2015
Former Cizre police chief arrested as part of Dink murder trial
An Ä°stanbul court arrested former Cizre Police Chief Ercan Demir, who
turned himself in on Monday after an arrest warrant had been issued
against him on Jan. 16, in the ongoing trial into the 2007 murder of
Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink.
Demir had been questioned as a suspect as part of the Dink murder
investigation by prosecutors at the Ä°stanbul Courthouse on Jan. 12,
but a court released him pending trial. Ä°stanbul prosecutors appealed
the court's decision and Ä°stanbul's Penal Court of Peace issued an
arrest warrant for Demir on Jan. 16 on charges of "negligence in
preventing the murder."
Demir, who went to the Ankara Chief Prosecutor's Office to turn
himself in, was brought to Ä°stanbul for his detention early on Monday.
The Radikal daily reported that Demir was dismissed from his post as
police chief on Jan. 16, when the court ordered him to be detained.
Demir was recently reassigned to his former position as the head of
the Information Technologies Office at the Information Technologies
and Communications Authority (BTK).
He had only been assigned to his post as the police chief of Å?ırnak
province's Cizre district on Dec. 30, sparking controversy because he
is among the suspects in the Dink murder case accused of negligence.
Cizre is a southeastern district where tensions have been running
high. Both Interior Minister Efkan Ala and imprisoned leader of the
outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) Abdullah Ã-calan warned against
"provocations" in the district. A total of seven individuals have been
killed in the troubled town since Dec. 27, 2014. The town has been on
edge since deadly clashes erupted between pro-PKK and Islamist Kurds
last month. Those clashes left three people dead and five injured in
Cizre's Nur neighborhood.
Dink, the editor-in-chief of the Agos newspaper, was assassinated in
broad daylight outside his office on Jan. 19, 2007. He was shot and
killed by an ultra-nationalist teenager. The hit man, Ogün Samast, and
18 others were brought to trial. Since then, the lawyers for the Dink
family and the co-plaintiffs in the case have presented evidence
indicating that Samast did not act alone. Another suspect, Yasin
Hayal, was given life in prison for inciting Samast to murder.
After the Supreme Court of Appeals partially reversed a lower court's
verdict, which said there were no criminal rings behind the murder, a
re-trial kicked off in October 2014, in which the suspects are charged
with being members of a criminal ring.
On Jan. 12, the prosecutor of the case issued arrest warrants for
Trabzon Police Department Assistant Commissioner Ã-zkan Mumcu and
another police officer, Mühittin Zenit, on charges of negligence and
misconduct in Dink's murder.
http://www.todayszaman.com/anasayfa_cizre-police-chief-arrested-as-part-of-dink-murder-trial_370238.html
Jan 19 2015
Former Cizre police chief arrested as part of Dink murder trial
An Ä°stanbul court arrested former Cizre Police Chief Ercan Demir, who
turned himself in on Monday after an arrest warrant had been issued
against him on Jan. 16, in the ongoing trial into the 2007 murder of
Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink.
Demir had been questioned as a suspect as part of the Dink murder
investigation by prosecutors at the Ä°stanbul Courthouse on Jan. 12,
but a court released him pending trial. Ä°stanbul prosecutors appealed
the court's decision and Ä°stanbul's Penal Court of Peace issued an
arrest warrant for Demir on Jan. 16 on charges of "negligence in
preventing the murder."
Demir, who went to the Ankara Chief Prosecutor's Office to turn
himself in, was brought to Ä°stanbul for his detention early on Monday.
The Radikal daily reported that Demir was dismissed from his post as
police chief on Jan. 16, when the court ordered him to be detained.
Demir was recently reassigned to his former position as the head of
the Information Technologies Office at the Information Technologies
and Communications Authority (BTK).
He had only been assigned to his post as the police chief of Å?ırnak
province's Cizre district on Dec. 30, sparking controversy because he
is among the suspects in the Dink murder case accused of negligence.
Cizre is a southeastern district where tensions have been running
high. Both Interior Minister Efkan Ala and imprisoned leader of the
outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) Abdullah Ã-calan warned against
"provocations" in the district. A total of seven individuals have been
killed in the troubled town since Dec. 27, 2014. The town has been on
edge since deadly clashes erupted between pro-PKK and Islamist Kurds
last month. Those clashes left three people dead and five injured in
Cizre's Nur neighborhood.
Dink, the editor-in-chief of the Agos newspaper, was assassinated in
broad daylight outside his office on Jan. 19, 2007. He was shot and
killed by an ultra-nationalist teenager. The hit man, Ogün Samast, and
18 others were brought to trial. Since then, the lawyers for the Dink
family and the co-plaintiffs in the case have presented evidence
indicating that Samast did not act alone. Another suspect, Yasin
Hayal, was given life in prison for inciting Samast to murder.
After the Supreme Court of Appeals partially reversed a lower court's
verdict, which said there were no criminal rings behind the murder, a
re-trial kicked off in October 2014, in which the suspects are charged
with being members of a criminal ring.
On Jan. 12, the prosecutor of the case issued arrest warrants for
Trabzon Police Department Assistant Commissioner Ã-zkan Mumcu and
another police officer, Mühittin Zenit, on charges of negligence and
misconduct in Dink's murder.
http://www.todayszaman.com/anasayfa_cizre-police-chief-arrested-as-part-of-dink-murder-trial_370238.html