IN TURKEY, ALLEGED KILLERS OF ETHNIC ARMENIAN JOURNALIST TO GO ON TRIAL
C. ONUR ANT, AP Worldstream
Published: Jul 02, 2007
Hundreds of protesters appealed for justice to be done as the trial
of the alleged killers of an ethnic Armenian journalist opened
Monday. Human rights advocates say it is a test of whether Turkey’s
judiciary is willing to search for any signs of official negligence
or even collusion in the slaying.
The Jan. 19 killing of Hrant Dink led to international condemnation
and debate within Turkey about free speech, ethnic tensions and the
excesses of nationalism. Dink was detested by hardline nationalists
because he described the mass killings of Armenians early in the last
century as genocide.
A total of 18 people, including the teenage alleged gunman, Ogun
Samast, went on trial for the killing in an Istanbul court Monday. The
trial will take behind closed doors because Samast is a minor.
Critics accused authorities of failing to act on reports of a plot to
kill Dink, and it is unclear whether allegations that could potentially
be embarrassing for top officials will be explored in the trial.
Hundreds of protesters demonstrated near the court house, appealing
for justice and carrying a banner that read: "We are all witnesses,
we want justice."
The demonstrators also shouted: "We are all Hrant Dinks, We are
all Armenians."
"Hrant Dink’s murder trial is a critical test of the Turkish
judiciary’s independence," Holly Cartner, Europe and Central Asia
director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement from New York
on Friday. "We will be closely watching how the court handles any
evidence that may implicate the security forces."
Turkey had vowed a thorough investigation, and the governor and police
chief of the Black Sea city of Trabzon, the hometown of Samast, were
removed from office because of negligence. Some security officials
who posed for photographs with the gunman as he held a Turkish flag
were also dismissed.
However, there has been no evidence that directly implicates any
police or government officials in the slaying of Dink outside his
office. Citing the indictment, Human Rights Watch noted that one of
the three main defendants, Yasin Hayal, had been a police informer.
Lawyer Fuat Turgut, representing Hayal, said his client had written
around 20 letters to police authorities, asking for help in the trial.
"The police manipulated us, now they should protect us," Turgut quoted
Hayal as saying in his letters.
Many Turks are convinced that a so-called "deep state" _ a network of
state agents or ex-officials, possibly with links to organized crime
_ periodically targets reformists and other perceived enemies in the
name of nationalism.
"This trial will be a test of whether this quagmire will be dried
up or not," lawyer Kezban Hatemi, representing Dink’s family, told
reporters before the hearing Monday. "The indictment lacks evidence
and there is a need to find out real culprits."
Ali Bayramoglu, a columnist at Dink’s ethnic Armenian newspaper Agos,
said Monday that people who defend ideas were "facing violence in
this country."
"There are dark, semi-official forces in action," Bayramoglu claimed.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said shortly after Dink’s killing
that his government would not hold back in its efforts to solve
the crime.
Dink sought to encourage reconciliation between Turkey and Armenia. But
he was prosecuted under Article 301 of Turkey’s penal code, which
bans insults to Turkish identity, for his comments on the mass
killings of Armenians by Turks in the early 20th century. Remarks on
that tumultuous period of Turkish history led to legal problems for
several other prominent intellectuals, including Nobel Prize-winning
novelist Orhan Pamuk.
Dink’s death prompted calls for the revision or removal of Article
301, which is viewed by the European Union as an obstacle to Turkey’s
efforts to join its club. No changes have been made.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
