TURKISH-ARMENIAN EDITOR DINK’S MURDER TRIAL OPENS
Nicolas Cheviron
Middle East Times, Egypt
AFP
ryID=20070702-114118-8154r
July 2 2007
WIDOW: Rakel Dink, widow of slain Turkish-Armenian editor Hrant Dink,
is helped by daughter Delal as they head into a court in Istanbul
July 2. The trial of suspects charged with killing Dink began in a
Turkish court in Istanbul Monday.
(REUTERS)
ISTANBUL — Eighteen suspects went on trial here Monday for the January
murder of ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, which sparked fears
of rising nationalist and anti-minority violence in Turkey.
The trial behind closed doors began amid accusations by Dink’s family
that the case was flawed because it does not include security officials
who knew as early as 2006 that there were plans to kill Dink, but
failed to act.
The police in Istanbul and the northern city of Trabzon, a nationalist
bastion from where most suspects hail, are responsible for "extremely
grave mistakes and almost intentional negligence," family lawyer
Ergin Cinmen said outside the courthouse.
The defendants "are just the tip of the iceberg," he said. "If public
servants are not put on trial, the ruling will never satisfy justice
and public conscience."
As police sealed off the street leading to the courthouse, about 2,500
protestors, most of them dressed in black, gathered at a nearby square
and unfurled a large banner that read: "We are all witnesses.
We want justice."
The crowd broke into applause as Dink’s widow Rakel briefly joined the
demonstration, chanting, "We are all Hrant Dink. We are all Armenians."
The 52-year-old, a prominent member of Turkey’s tiny Armenian minority,
was gunned down January 19 outside the offices of his bilingual
Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, in central Istanbul. Even though he
campaigned for Turkish-Armenian reconciliation, Dink was hated by
nationalists for branding the mass killings of Armenians under the
Ottoman Empire during World War I as genocide, a label that most
Turks despise and Ankara officially rejects.
The suspected gunman, 17-year-old Ogun Samast from Trabzon, has
admitted to shooting Dink because he was an "enemy of the Turks,"
the indictment says.
Samast faces 18 to 24 years in jail for the murder and a further
eight-and-a-half to 18 years for belonging to a terrorist organization.
The prosecution did not seek life because he is a minor, which is
also why the trial is closed to the public.
Two other key figures – Yasin Hayal and Erhan Tuncel, both 26 –
are accused of leading the ultra-nationalist group and masterminding
the murder. They could be jailed for life without the possibility of
parole if found guilty.
The indictment says that Tuncel was a police informer who twice
told officials in 2006 that Hayal was plotting to kill Dink, but
deliberately concealed the fact that someone else would pull the
trigger because Tuncel himself was part of the plot.
Hayal was no stranger to the police either: earlier he served 11 months
in jail for the 2004 bombing in Trabzon of a McDonalds restaurant,
in which six people were injured, to protest against the US-led
invasion of Iraq.
He allegedly threatened Turkey’s 2006 Nobel Literature laureate
Orhan Pamuk, who has also contested the official line on the Armenian
massacres.
The pair traded accusations in their first words before the judge,
lawyer Oguz Ugur Olca said as he came out while the hearing proceeded.
Tuncel rejected any involvement in the murder, maintaining that he
was only an informer who did his "duty" by tipping off the police
about the plot.
Hayal said that both Dink’s assassination and the bombing of the
McDonalds were masterminded by Tuncel, who in turn, called Hayal
"schizophrenic," Olca said.
The 15 other suspects face sentences of seven-and-a-half to 35 years.
The murder sent Turkey into shock and more than 100,000 people from
all walks of life took to the streets in sympathy on the day of
Dink’s funeral.
Several policemen were suspended in the northern city of Samsun,
where Samast was captured a day after the murder, after a video was
leaked showing security forces posing with the alleged killer for
"souvenir pictures."
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
