BAYKAL LASHES OUT AT POLICE IN DINK MURDER CASE
Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Feb 10 2007
Leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Deniz
Baykal criticized the police for mishandling the investigation of
the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink and said the
Ýstanbul police chief should be removed from office.
"Why is the chief of Ýstanbul police still in office? Is it possible
that an investigation conducted in this manner can yield healthy
results?" Baykal asked as he spoke to reporters in Munich, Germany.
"I want a proper police chief," he exclaimed.
Dink was murdered on Jan. 19 by 17-year-old Ogun Samast, outside
his newspaper office in Ýstanbul. As the investigation continued,
the police came under fire for mishandling the case with revelations
that they had failed to follow up on an earlier tip-off about a plot
to murder Dink.
The criticism deepened when video footage showing members of the
police and the gendarmerie posing for souvenir photos with Samast at
a police station in Samsun appeared on national television. Samast is
from the Trabzon region of the Black Sea and was captured in nearby
Samsun after a nationwide manhunt. The scandalous pictures were taken
some time after his arrest when he was remanded into custody pending
a trial. The police and gendarmerie are two separate organizations but
share internal security duties in Turkey. Early reports said that the
footage had been shot at a gendarmerie station, but the gendarmerie
angrily denied it, saying the leak of the footage was a deliberate
plot. Inspectors have requested permission to launch a preliminary
investigation into Ýstanbul Police Chief Celalettin Cerrah. He may face
a full investigation according to the results of the preliminary probe.
Baykal said the Dink murder probe put the police under the spotlight
and added that Turkey should dig deep into what is happening inside
the police services.
In an interview broadcast on CNN Turk television, Baykal said the
police department was plagued by "religious sectarian elements"
and called for efforts to restructure the department.
"There is dangerous nepotism in the police department. If we don’t take
measures to tackle this, there could be bigger incidents," he said.
In comments published in the daily Milliyet yesterday, Baykal claimed
that the murder had "official links," saying it would be difficult
to believe that the murder had been planned by a small group without
knowledge of the police.
The opposition leader also dismissed talk of the "deep state,"
a term used to refer to elements within the state working together
with criminal gangs in secret unsanctioned operations for the "high
interests" of the state.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan has suggested that the murder
could have a linkage with the deep state and said Turkey has paid a
heavy price for its failure to dismantle it.
"This is empty talk," Baykal said of the deep state debate and stressed
that the Dink murder once again brought to the surface a rift between
the police and the gendarmerie.
"I have never seen the gendarmerie accuse the police of any
wrongdoing… It has always been the opposite," Baykal said. "Those
who do not fulfill their duties blame those who do."
The CHP leader also reiterated his call for the dismissal of Interior
Minister Abdulkadir Aksu in connection with the handling of the Dink
murder case. "The responsibility for this incident lies with the
interior minister and the prime minister… A security policy promoted
by them is being pursued at the moment and this policy is wrong."
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