Associated Press
Jan 21 2007
Prosecutor: Teen admits killing editor
By BENJAMIN HARVEY, Associated Press Writer
ISTANBUL, Turkey – A teenage boy has confessed to fatally shooting an
ethnic Armenian journalist outside his newspaper office in a brazen
daytime attack, a prosecutor said Sunday.
Ogun Samast, who is either 16 or 17 years old, was caught in the Black
Sea city of Samsun late Saturday, a day after Hrant Dink was gunned
down in Istanbul. Police said the youth was captured following a tip
from his father after his pictures were broadcast on Turkish
television.
The slaying highlighted the precarious state of freedom of expression
in a country that is vying for European Union membership.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan praised the swift work of police,
saying "this is a lesson to those who want to shoot at freedoms …
to those who don’t want calm to reign in Turkey."
Chief prosecutor Ahmet Cokcinar told The Associated Press that the
teenager had confessed to killing Dink during initial questioning in
Samsun. He refused to give any further details.
Most Turks assume Dink, the 52-year-old editor of the Turkish-Armenian
newspaper Agos, was targeted for his columns saying the killing of
ethnic Armenians by Turks in the early 20th century was genocide.
Nationalists consider such statements an insult to Turkey’s honor and
a threat to its unity, and Dink had been showered with insults and
threats.
Turkey’s relationship with its Armenian minority has long been haunted
by a bloody past. Much of its once-influential Armenian population was
killed or driven out beginning around 1915 in what an increasing
number of nations are calling the first genocide of the 20th century.
Turkey acknowledges that large numbers of Armenians died but
vehemently denies it was genocide, saying the overall figure is
inflated and the deaths occurred in the civil unrest during the
collapse of the Ottoman Empire.
Istanbul prosecutor Aykut Cengiz Engin told reporters that authorities
were investigating whether Samast acted alone or had ties to a group.
The suspect’s uncle Faik Samast told private NTV television that he
didn’t think his nephew – a high-school drop out – was capable of
shooting Dink on his own.
"He didn’t even know his way around Istanbul," Samast said. "This kid
was used."
Police detained six other suspects, including Yasin Hayal, who was
convicted in the bombing of a McDonald’s restaurant in the Black Sea
city of Trabzon in 2004, Turkish news reports said.