IN TURKOLOGIST’S OPINION, MURDER OF HRANT DINK RELATED TO ITENSIFIED
POLITICAL STRUGGLE IN TURKEY
YEREVAN, JANUARY 20, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Hrant Dink’s
murder is related to the intensified political struggle in
Turkey. Ruben Safrastian, Director of the RA NAS Institute of Oriental
Studies, Turkologist, expressed this opinion at the January 20 press
conference.
According to him, quite a complex political situation has formed in
Turkey on the threshold of presidential elections. The current prime
minister Recep Erdogan, who heads the pro-Islamic "Justice and
Development Party" has a great opportunity to win these elections. He
may replace the current president Ahmad Necdet Sezer, who is the last
Kemalist in the highest echelons of the Turkish leadership. Hrant
Dink’s assassination was committed at the time when there are open
talks about a military coup in Turkey. Safrastian noted that it can
be assumed that this murder was specially prepared for this political
moment in order to strain the home political situation even more, at
the same time increasing the pressure on Turkey from European circles.
R. Safrastian noted that a "deep state" or a state within the state
exists in Turkey. This is a group of high-ranking state officials
whose name are unknown but they make important state decisions and
have the opportunities for their implementation. According to some
press reports on the day of the murder, although those who committed
it are probably representatives of the Grey Wolves nationalist
organization, the decision was taken by this deep state which does
everything possible to maintain the Kemalist state in the country.