New Anatolian, Turkey
Feb 9 2007

Baykal hints at deeper plot in Dink murder

The New Anatolian / Ankara
09 February 2007

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Deniz Baykal
yesterday said that if accusations unleashed by suspects in the last
month’s murder of journalist Hrant Dink turn out to be true, this
would highly likely drive Turkey into chaos.

The second man said to be behind the killing, Yasin Hayal, was quoted
as saying in his testimony that Erhan Tuncel, arrested on charges of
soliciting the murder before his being a former police informant came
to light, engineered the attack.

Baykal told reporters, on his way to Munich where he is expected to
attend an international security conference, that if Tuncel was the
man behind the murder, it means the police had used a man who
actually planned the murder.

Baykal called it a heavy blow to the police that it cannot dismiss
easily. "Then it is hard to think that it is an individual plot,"
Baykal said, adding that this possibility raises questions as to
whether certain people used Tuncel as a pawn.

"Tuncel’s silence makes one think he is under the protection of
certain people," he added.