ALLEGED KILLERS OF ETHNIC ARMENIAN JOURNALIST GO ON TRIAL IN TURKEY
By C. Onur Ant, Associated Press Writer

AP
Published: 03 July 2007

More than six months after the killing of an ethnic Armenian
journalist, 18 suspects went on trial yesterday in a case widely
seen as a test of whether the country’s judiciary will be able to
investigate allegations of official negligence in the slaying.

Hrant Dink was gunned down on 19 January and his killing led to
international condemnation and debate within Turkey about free
speech. Dink was hated by hardline nationalists for describing the
mass killings of Armenians early in the last century as genocide.

The trial was taking place behind closed doors because the alleged
teenage gunman, Ogun Samast, is a minor.

But lawyers, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not
allowed to report details of the case, said two of the key suspects,
Yasin Hayal and Erhan Tuncel, claimed they worked for the security
forces. The alleged gunman had remained silent during the trial.

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.

Hayal, accused of providing gun and money to Samast, wrote some 20
letters to court officials and police explaining his links to security
forces, according to his lawyer, Fuat Turgut.

"The police manipulated us, now they should protect us," Turgut quoted
Hayal as saying in his letters.

Tuncel, who is suspected of masterminding the killing, reportedly
told the court that he was paid by police for gathering intelligence,
according to a lawyer who attended Monday’s hearing.

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.

There has been no evidence that directly implicates any police or
government officials in the slaying of Dink outside his office.

Amnesty International, whose request to be an official observer in the
case was turned down by the court, called on the Turkish government
to investigate officials accused of negligence.

"If people within the state didn’t perform their duties correctly,
then they too have to be brought to justice," said Andrew Gardner,
the organization’s researcher in Turkey.

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."

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.