Turkish Daily News
Jan 22 2007
Profile of Hrant Dink’s Juvenile Murder Suspect
Monday, January 22, 2007
ÞAFAK TÝMUR
ISTANBUL – Turkish Daily News
A 17-year-old described by friends as combative and by his family as
impressionable was arrested Saturday in the Black Sea city of Samsun
for the murder a day earlier of journalist Hrant Dink.
Ogun Samast, a resident of Trabzon, reportedly confessed to the
killing shortly after his arrest, allegedly on his way home by bus
after gunning down the famed Armenian-Turkish newspaper editor on an
Istanbul street mid-day Friday.
"I don’t regret it. I would do it again," the youth was quoted as
saying during his preliminary interrogation in Samsun, according
Chief Prosecutor Ahmet Gokcinar.
As Samast was transported to Istanbul over the weekend, a round-up of
other suspects continued in the country amid widespread condemnation,
protests from Istanbul to the southern province of Hatay. As of
Sunday evening, a total 12 others suspected of complicity had been
arrested in Istanbul and Trabzon. The youth’s ties to Trabzon also
focused attention on the city’s reputation as center for anti-western
feeling. Catholic priest Andrea Santoro was slain there in February
of last year, also by a juvenile.
The Internet was an influence in his decision to attack Dink, Samast
told police during his first interrogation in Istanbul, according to
the Anatolian News Agency and other reports.
"I read on the Internet that [Dink] said ‘I am from Turkey but Turkish
blood is dirty’ and I decided to kill him …I do not regret this,"
CNN Turk quoted Samast as saying.
Samast’s jailhouse talk of the Internet turned attention to various
nationalist web sites, many containing expressions of joy in various
forums. One post read: "Thanks to whoever has given the order and
thanks to whoever has pulled the trigger." Another statement from
the forum said, "The best news ever."
"Why is terrorist training free on the internet?" asked journalist
Mustafa Mutlu in a Sunday column in the mass daily Vatan. He
described how much information is on the internet which can be used
for terrorist attacks.
In the aftermath of the killing which topped the news of every
newspaper and television broadcast over the weekend, many decried
the Internet as a source of dissemination of the hatred behind the
killing of Dink, a native of Malatya who was 53.
Much television commentary and debate also turned on the fact no
protection was provided for Dink, despite a barrage of death threats
before and after his suspended conviction last year for "insulting
Turkishness" under the infamous Article 301 of the Turkish penal
code. Security officials, including Istanbul Governor Muammer Guler,
responded that Dink rejected offers of security.Owners of the series of
small shops that surround Dink’s newspaper, Agos, quarreled with that
account, however. One shop owner told the TDN that a plainclothes
surveillance policeman generally kept an eye on the door of the
newspaper but was absent on Friday. His absence may have let other
regulars in the neighborhood to dismiss Samast’s loitering presence
in front of the newspaper Friday as a change in the guard.
The quick arrested was credited in the media to the aid of the
youngster’s father, Ahmet Samast, who reportedly identified his son
from the broadcast of CCTV footage capturing the fleeing gunman and
alerted policec
Among suspects under continued questioning in Istanbul, one, Yasin
Hayal, served 11 months in jail for bombing a McDonald’s restaurant
in Trabzon in 2004, Vatan reported. Investigators drew a think line
between Trabzon and Istanbul in their early reconstruction of the
killing and its planning.
"The murder was planned in Trabzon and carried out in Istanbul.
Everybody who helped with this has been identified," Trabzon Governor
Huseyin Yavuzdemir said.Various description of Samast emerged over the
weekend, family described him as a boy who was calm and withdrawn but
friends said he could be aggressive and contentious. Samast family
neighbors in the town of Peletli neighboring Trabzon said the youth
was a combative teenager and was kicked off the town football team
because of his aggression. Having left high school, the unemployed
teenager spent a great amount of time on the Internet. "It is a
disaster to have a son in Trabzon," said Nihat Genc, a journalist
and a native of Trabzon in a phone interview with the Turkish Daily
News. The combination of high unemployment and a large and energetic
young population is a lethal brew, he said. Frustrated youth become
hard to control and "they will leave Trabzon sooner or later, like a
destiny."While neighbors told the NTV news network that Samast was
not overtly political, no more or less nationalist than his peers,
the profile of others arrested pointed to ultra-nationlist ties. His
suspected co-conspirator Hayal, convicted the McDonald’s bomb attack,
is accused, according to reports of Samast’s statements to police,
of enlisting him kill Dink. Hayal had managed a tea house of the
Nationalist Movement Party’s (MHP) Peletli branch. MHP is known for its
ultra-nationalist leanings.The party’s deputy president, Ali Iþýklar,
accused foreign powers of the murder of Dink: "There are foreign powers
behind this murder;" said Iþýklar in his statement about the murder,
the Anatolia agency reported. Iþýklar argued that changing Turkey’s
political agenda was the motive behind Dink’s murder.
Media reports also speculated that Samast was a member of the
youth wing of the radical nationalist Great Union Party (BBP). The
party’s chief, however, rejected the allegation: "Our colleagues
said that they do not know such a person and he does not have any
connections with the organization," said Muhsin Yazýcýoðlu the Doðan
New Agency reported. People that knew Samast stressed that he was an
impressionable and easily influenced young man. Hayri Kuk, coach of
the local football team from which Samast was dismissed, said that
Samast’s character was vulnerable to persuasion. He added that Samast
could not have acted alone and done something so critical.Samast’s
uncle Faik Samast also claimed that people could have exploited
his nephew. Samast was a brave teenager, his uncle said in a phone
interview with CNNTurk. He also said that Samast was having quarrels
at home recently because of money. Faik Samast argued that his nephew
could be deceived for money. Drugs may have played a role. Þevket
Arz, a Trabzon parliamentarian told the TDN, that allegations that
Samast was a narcotics abuser were confirmed by the Trabzon governor’s
office.The surname Samast takes its roots from a branch of Oðuz tribe
that is believed to be the ancestors of Central Asian Turks. The
clan Cepniler known by their roles in the Turkish transformation of
eastern Black Sea region in north Anatolia that families carrying the
surname Samast generally live in Tarbzon, Istanbul, Bursa, Tekirdað
and Ankara, reported the private news agency ANKA. Sunday morning at
the Armenian Patriarchy, Armenian Patriarch Mesrob II, was hoped to
preside and speak about the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist
Hrant Dink. The Patriarch did not attend the Mass. No explanation
for his absence was given. Around 400 Armenians attended the Mass. At
the Mass, a representative of Hrant Dink’s newspaper Agos said that
no Agos employee would give a statement until Tuesday. Also present
at the Mass were representatives from Armenian TV.
There was no mention of Hrant Dink during the Mass, though passages
from the Bible were read, that evoked the idea of an innocent victim
dying for others benefit. BOXEven the clues were on him
The alleged murderer of journalist Hrant Dink, Ogun Samast, was
caught by police on the way back to his hometown, Trabzon. Samast,
a 17-year old youth, carried the gun and wore the infamous white beret
ISTANBUL – with wire dispatchesPrime Minister Tayyip Erdoðan announced
late Saturday that the suspected murderer of journalist Hrant Dink
was captured in Samsun, a city at the Black Sea region, at 11 p.m.
Ogun Samast, a 17-year old who later confessed to the murder, was
brought to Istanbul by a private plane at 4.50 a.m. After being
medically examined, he was taken to the Ýstanbul Police Department,
reported the Anatolia news agency.
A shortwhile after the capture, PM Erdoðan made an announcement,
broadcasted live on television channels. "The suspect of the Hrant
Dink murder, Ogun Samast, is captured in Samsun," he said. "The gun
used at the murder was also found with him. The white beret, claimed
to be worn by the suspect at the time of the murder was on his head
… The suspect’s being snatched before Tuesday (the day of Dink’s
funeral) is a cause for delight. The investigation will be carried
on with the same firmness."
10 suspects under custody: Four of the ten people who were held
in custody in Trabzon were also brought to Ýstanbul by a scheduled
flight yesterday morning, while Samast’s father, mother and sister
were released. Another 3 were taken under police custody in Trabzon
yesterday. While the TDN was going to print, there were a total of
10 suspects under custody related to the murder.
As the suspect had not reached lawful age, Governor of Istanbul,
Muammer Guler, said that police are following questioning techniques
for the underaged.
Attorney General of Istanbul, Cengiz Engin, told journalists that the
investigation will be carried forward by a police unit specialized
in organized crimes.
According to CNN Turk news channel, Ogun Samast said "I shot him
after Friday prayers and I am not regretful," right after he was taken
under custody by the Samsun Police Department. "I have read about him
on the internet. I decided to kill him because he had said he was a
Turkish citizen, but that Turkish blood was dirty," Samast continued.
The young suspect was turned in by his father. According to news
reports, the father, Ahmet Samast, saw the CCTV images on television
and immediately called the Trabzon Police Department, saying "This
is my son." Samast said his son left for Ýstanbul three days ago and
no news had arrived from him since then.
–Boundary_(ID_RlSnx4gMFKvqDcTwOvezsQ)–
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress