Suspect Arrested In Hrant Dink Murder
By MediaChannel.

Media Channel, NY
Jan 22 2007

A Turkish teenager named Ogun Samast was arrested for the murder of
Armenian-Turkish journalist Hrant Dink. We’ve been following this story
since Dink was shot to death on Friday in front of his newspaper’s
offices. Global Voices Online has the reaction from Turkey’s streets
and blogs:

To much surprise (which I will show in a few more paragraphs) citizens
of Turkey took to the streets chanting "We are all Armenians, We are
all Hrant Dink". Erkan’s Field Diary reports of widespread Turkish
condemnation of the murder and also points out that Dink is the 62nd
Turkish journalist that has been assassinated since the founding of the
Republic of Turkey. Metroblogging Istanbul has photos of the protests.

The Infidel writes:

Hrant Dink was murdered in a heinous and cowardly way, most likely, by
some brainless and lost ultra-nationalist Turkish young man, who I hope
will be brought to justice as soon as possible. I am deeply saddened
by Hrant’s death because I believe that he had good intentions for
Turkey and the Turkish people. Although I don’t agree with everything
he said and wrote, it is clear that he was a peaceful activist voicing
his norm-opposing views to raise awareness, which is the bread and
butter of any democracy. No human being should be persecuted for
his/her opinions in any country, but especially in Turkey.

James in Turkey expresses surprise and anger over the shooting:

I am angry. I am angry because there are people out there who seem
to think it is perfectly justified to kill a man who speaks contrary
views. I have a perfectly clear idea of who I think is responsible,
but there is little use in churning out conspiracy theories now.
Suffice to point out that it was in a crowded street, on a busy
morning. This was no impulsive killing.

Spooky Sense by Garfucious writes a letter to Dink stating: "sorry,
hrant dink. not only have they killed you, they’ve also choked
your voice."

Talk Turkey urges Turkey to use this assassination as a beginning
point for real discussion to take place about the Armenian Genocide
to better Turkey’s chances of getting in the EU:

I am sick and tired of the ‘business as usual’ attitude shown by Turks
and the Turkish government up to now and extending even beyond this
latest assassination to silence the voices of reason. Wake up Turks
in Turkey and abroad! And prepare to not only ‘debate’ this issue
(but act on it as well,) of Turkey’s greatest taboo, unilaterally if
need be. But settle this once and for all.

Most Turkish blogs choose to show they shock and remorse by placing
simple messages of solidarity and obituaries on their sites, such as
Mavi Boncuk, the White Path, and Amerikan Turk.

The arrest of a suspect has done little to quell rumors of a wider
conspiracy, which the boy’s family seems to support:

Why he would want to kill Hrant Dink, an internationally respected
intellectual, remains unclear, since Samast had no obvious ties to
militant organizations. People who know him have speculated that he
was put up to the assassination by others who took advantage of his
young age.

Named after the Turkish soccer star Ogun Temizkanoglu, the young
Samast aspired to become a soccer player but failed after managers
of the Yenipelitlispor club, listed in the second amateurs’ league,
expelled him from the team in 2005 because of his undisciplined
behavior, newspapers wrote.

"His father hoped that soccer could make his son more disciplined,"
Hayri Kuk, a team official told NTV. "He refused to accept defeat,
but at the same was totally open to manipulation. He couldn’t have
done this alone."

Faik Samast, speaking in an interview on NTV Saturday night, said:
"He was a very quiet boy. Some people must have exploited him."

Both Samast’s age and origins in Trabzon revived memories about
the killing last year of Andrea Santaro, a Catholic priest, also in
Trabzon, by a 16- year-old.

Kazim Kolcuoglu, head of the Istanbul Bar Association, said that
young people are sometimes used as assassins because they face lower
penalties than adults convicted of the same crime.

In addition to Samast, six other men have been detained as suspected
collaborators in the killing, and the police are working to decipher
the links between them.

One of the suspects, Yasin Hayal, who served 11 months in jail for the
bombing of a McDonald’s restaurant in Trabzon in 2004, is suspected
of masterminding the attacks on both Dink and Santaro, according to
the police.