TURKEY TRIAL LITMUS TEST FOR EU STATUS
Mustafa Yukselbaba, Reuters
Windsor Star (Ontario)
July 3, 2007 Tuesday
Final Edition
ISTANBUL – Eighteen suspects went on trial on Monday for the murder
of ethnic Armenian editor Hrant Dink in a case seen as a litmus
test for the rule of law and the right to free speech in Turkey,
a European Union candidate country.
Dink, whose comments about the massacre of Armenians in Turkey in 1915
angered Turkish nationalists, was gunned down outside his Istanbul
office in January by a 17-year-old who has confessed to the killing.
Up to 1,000 supporters of Dink’s family gathered outside the heavily
guarded Istanbul courthouse to demand justice amid claims that some
policemen were involved in the murder.
"Shoulder to shoulder against fascism," they chanted.
Dink’s widow said she wanted not revenge but justice.
"My beloved husband… never said a word against his country here
or abroad. He was a defender of truth… In return, he received the
traitor’s bullet," Rakel Dink told the court.
Dink’s lawyers have expressed fears over the independence of the
court, reflecting concerns about the possible involvement of Turkey’s
so-called "deep state."
DEEP STATE
The "deep state" refers to hardline nationalists in the state apparatus
ready to subvert the law for political ends.
Several Turkish newspapers on Monday quoted one of the main suspects,
Yasin Hayal, as saying he and his comrades murdered Dink on the orders
of police officers.
"I do not know what this ‘deep state’ means…but one thing is sure —
there was a group controlling us in the police," the Radikal daily
quoted Hayal as saying in a letter to prosecutors.
Police have not publicly commented on the accusations.
The European Union and human rights groups have shown a strong interest
in the Dink case, saying it is a crucial test for a justice system
often criticized for political bias.