TRABZON HEAD OF BBP PARTY QUESTIONED IN DINK MURDER CASE

Hurriyet, Turkey
March 28 2007

Reverberations from the investigation into the murder of journalist
Hrant Dink in Istanbul continue, as the Trabzon head of the BBP Party,
Yasar Cihan, was taken in for questioning over information he may
have had about Dink’s murder.

In testimony to police, Cihan did say that he had known both Erhan
Tuncel and Yasin Hayal, two of the men police have confirmed were
behind the planning and execution of Dink’s murder. Cihan told police
that both Tuncel and Hayal had come to party headquarters in Trabzon,
but that neither of them had told him anything about plans to murder
the ethnically Armenian journalist Dink. Cihan did say that after
Hayal had emerged from prison, after serving time for bombing a Trabzon
McDonald’s, that he had counceled the young man on what direction to
give to his life, but that he had quickly realized that his advice
would do no good, and thus proceeded to "cut his friendship ties"
with Hayal.