AngolaPress, Angola
Jan 21 2007
Turkish: Dink killing suspect `confesses`
INSTANBUL, 01/21 – Turkish prosecutors say the teenager suspected of
murdering Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink has confessed.
Ogun Samast was arrested after he was identified by his father from
CCTV images taken near the scene of Friday`s killing in Istanbul.
Prosecutors say he confessed after being detained in the Black Sea
port of Samsun, before he was returned to Istanbul for further
questioning. Six other suspects are also being questioned over the
murder.
Mr Dink, 53, was shot dead in broad daylight outside his Istanbul
offices.
He wrote many controversial articles about the mass killing of
Armenians by Ottoman Turks during World War I.
Istanbul governor Muammer Guler announced the details of the capture
in a live television broadcast late on Saturday.
He said police captured Ogun Samast, aged 16 or 17, late on Saturday
on a bus in the Black Sea city of Samsun still carrying the gun
allegedly used in the murder.
Hrant Dink was one of Turkey`s most prominent Armenian voices He was
apparently returning to his hometown of Trabzon from Istanbul.
The other six suspects were picked up in Trabzon and four have been
returned to Istanbul. One was named as Yasin Hayal, a friend of Ogun
Samast, who has spent 11 months in jail for a 2004 bomb attack
outside a McDonalds restaurant in Trabzon.
Three other suspects detained in Istanbul on Friday shortly after the
killing have been released.
Mr Samast was identified by his own father when he saw television
images taken by a security camera near the scene of the murder.
Turkish television showed images of a young man apparently running
from the scene, tucking what officials said was a gun into his belt.
Mr Dink`s secretary told investigators Mr Samast had asked to meet Mr
Dink earlier on Friday, before the killing, Mr Guler said.
After the request was turned down, the secretary saw Mr Samast
waiting on the street outside Mr Dink`s office, he said.