Police urged to probe deeper after 17-year-old arrested for editor’s murder

Reporters without borders (press release), France
Jan 22 2007

Following the arrest of a 17-year-old youth who has reportedly
confessed to the 19 January murder of newspaper editor and columnist
Hrant Dink, Reporters Without Borders today joined the executives and
staff of Dink’s newspaper, the bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos,
in urging the police to probe further with a view to identifying those
who may have been behind the murder or in any other way responsible.

"It would be inconceivable for the police to content themselves with
just arresting the man who pulled the trigger," the press freedom
organisation said. "The Turkish authorities must make it clear they
are determined to find and punish any instigators, and to identify all
those who may have had a role in this tragedy. This is an essential
condition for preventing any recurrence and for healing the wounds
left by this awful murder."

Ogun Samast, 17, was arrested on the evening of 20 January in the
city of Samsun, on the Black Sea, as he was returning from Istanbul to
Tabzron, his home town. He is said to have admitted to firing several
shots at Dink at around 2 p.m. on 19 January outside the offices of the
privately-owned Agos in Istanbul. He reportedly said he did not regret
shooting Dink and did it because Dink "insulted the Turkish people."

The Istanbul state prosecutor yesterday said the police were trying to
determine whether Samast acted alone. Samast was arrested after his
father recognised him when video footage recorded by a neighbouring
shop’s surveillance camera was broadcast on television. The police
have also detained seven other people.

Dink had been the target of several prosecutions for referring to the
1915 massacres of Armenians and had received a six-month suspended
sentence in 2005. At the time of his death, he had been facing a
possible three-year prison sentence because of an interview he gave
to Reuters in which he referred to the 1915 massacres as "genocide."

Around 10,000 people gathered outside the offices of Agos in Sisli,
a district on the European side of Istanbul, on the evening of 19
January in homage to Dink.