Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Jan 30 2007

Police detain three more people in Hrant Dink murder

Police have detained three more people in connection with murder of
Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in the Black Sea province of
Trabzon and sent them to İstanbul for interrogation, the
Anatolia news agency reported yesterday.

Two other people were detained on Monday in connection with the
murder. Several people, including the suspeected murderer and a
person who confessed to inciting the murder, have been arrested and
sent to jail already.
Dink was shot dead by a 17-year-old gunman from the Black Sea
province of Trabzon on Jan. 19 in a murder that shocked Turkey.
Reports said the police were warned a year ago about a plot to murder
Dink, the latest suggestion authorities may have failed to act to
stop the killing.
The report, carried by several newspapers, comes after the government
dismissed the governor and police chief in the Black Sea province of
Trabzon, where the main suspects come from. The government has sent
two inspectors to Trabzon on the northern coast to investigate
whether police and civilian authorities were at fault.
`There has been a tip-off that a man called Yasin Hayal, who lives in
Trabzon, has said he will come to İstanbul and kill Hrant Dink,’
daily Sabah quoted a letter sent from Trabzon to Ankara’s police
intelligence headquarters.
A national police spokesman could not confirm the report.
`I can’t say whether it is true or false. We are waiting for the
report from two investigators sent to Trabzon. They are in full
charge of this investigation,’ spokesman İsmail
Çalışkan told Reuters.
Sabah and another newspaper, Milliyet, said one of the suspects
charged in connection with the murder was an informer who had told
police another suspect was planning to murder the high-profile
journalist.
Hayal has admitted to inciting the murderer, Ogün Samast. Trabzon
police passed on the warning to Ankara’s police intelligence
headquarters and İstanbul police in February 2006.
That was the same month an Italian Catholic priest was killed in
Trabzon, which the Turkish media said was carried out by a youth
influenced by Islamist and ultra-nationalist ideas. Since Dink’s
murder the government has been criticized for failing to deal with
extremist groups.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Tuesday that Turkey
had paid a heavy price for not cracking down on what he called the
deep state — a term which refers to secretive nationalist elements
in the powerful Turkish army and bureaucracy — comments linked to
the Dink investigation.