Southeast European Times, MD
Feb 9 2007
Senior Turkish police officer removed over Dink’s murder
09/02/2007
The head of Istanbul’s police intelligence was suspended this week as
part of the investigation into the murder of a prominent
Turkish-Armenian journalist who had angered nationalists.
(AP, AFP, International Herald Tribune, The New York Times, The New
Anatolian – 08/02/07; Zaman – 07/02/07; AP, BBC, VOA, Turkish Daily
News – 06/02/07; AFP, BBC – 02/02/07)
Video footage showed Hrant Dink’s confessed killer, Ogun Samast,
posing with police officers and a Turkish flag. [Getty Images]
A senior Turkish police officer was removed from duty this week
following revelations that police were warned in advance about the
planned murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink. Police
reportedly received a tip about the plot in February 2006.
"I admit all my guilt for not sharing the intelligence I received
regarding the assassination plot," a report in The New Anatolian on
Thursday (February 8th) quoted the head of Istanbul’s police
intelligence, Ahmet Ilhan Guler, as saying.
He was suspended late Monday as part of the investigation into the
murder. The Interior Ministry also has reportedly cleared the way for
a probe into Istanbul Police Chief Celalettin Cerrah’s actions. Dink,
52, the editor-in-chief of the Istanbul-based bilingual
Turkish-Armenian newspaper Agos, was gunned down in broad daylight on
January 19th, outside his office.
Ogun Samast, a 17-year-old from the eastern city of Trabzon, has
confessed to killing the journalist because he "insulted Turkish
blood". Seven other people have been arrested on suspicion of
involvement in the case. All of them are from Trabzon.
Dink angered Turkish nationalists by maintaining that the killings of
some 1.5 million Armenians in the waning days of the Ottoman empire
amounted to genocide, a characterisation that Ankara firmly denies.
Trabzon Governor Huseyin Yavuzdemir and Police Chief Resat Altay were
removed from office soon after the murder.
Guler’s suspension came only days after five police officers and five
members of the Gendarmerie in the Black Sea province of Samsun were
dismissed after the release of video footage that showed them posing
alongside Samast and giving him a "hero’s welcome".
The footage rekindled concerns among Turks about the existence of a
shadowy "deep state" — a term denoting hardline nationalists
operating within the state ready to breach the law in defence of
their beliefs.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has pledged to deal with what he
described as "gangs within state institutions".
Dink’s funeral was attended by more than 100,000 people, who silently
expressed their protest against hardline nationalism, blaming his
death also on Article 301 in Turkey’s penal code.
Like Orhan Pamuk, the winner of last year’s Nobel Prize for
literature, and scores of other Turkish intellectuals, Dink was
prosecuted under the controversial article, which makes it a crime to
"insult Turkishness".
A group of ten civic organisations submitted a proposal Thursday to
amend the article, which has been widely criticised by the EU and
international rights groups. "We believe our proposal will help
overcome existing difficulties," Davut Okutcu, the head of the
Economic Development Foundation, said in a televised news conference.
The proposed amendments seek to better distinguish between legal
criticism and illegal denigration. Among other changes, the draft
reportedly proposes that the phrase "insulting Turkishness" be
replaced by "openly scorning and deriding" the Turkish identity. Some
groups, however, say Article 301 should be scrapped altogether,
rather than simply toned down.
"Leading up to the general elections in November, the government has
escaped from political responsibility on a controversial issue like
Article 301 in fear of losing voters," the International Herald
Tribune quoted Gencay Gurun, the general secretary of the Turkish
Chamber of Doctors, as saying on Thursday.
"Changes are only a facade and can never prevent bitter consequences,
as we’ve witnessed with Mr. Dink’s murder," he said.