TURKS WIDEN PROBE OF JOURNALIST’S DEATH

Ottawa Recorder, Canada
Staff and agencies
July 3 2007

ISTANBUL, Turkey – A Turkish court has decided to broaden the
investigation into the killing of an ethnic Armenian journalist to
consider allegations of official negligence in the slaying, a lawyer
said Tuesday.

The 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.

Lawyer Bahri Belen, representing Dink’s family, told reporters that
the court agreed to broaden the investigation.

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.

Critics have 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.

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.

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.