SUSPECT REGRETS HE KILLED HRANT DINK
Erol OnderoÐlu-Nilufer ZengÝn

BÝA, Turkey
Oct 2 2007

"I wouldn’t have killed him if I knew he had a family" regretted
O.S. the suspect for killing journalist Dink. Three of the eight
detained suspects were questioned by the defense lawyers. The
defendants told conflicting stories.

Today was the second hearing in the Hrant Dink murder trial, and the
statement of O.S. the suspected gunman, was taken. Bianet was told by
the joint attorneys that O.S. said: "Yasin Hayal forced me to do this
job. I was so scared, I did not know how it happened, I shot Hrant
Dink. When I came to my senses, I was at my uncle’s house. I could
not sleep that night, I feel remorse. If I had known he had family,
I would not have shot him."

Three statements taken

First the defense lawyers asked the suspects questions. The joint
attorneys had demanded that all eight detained suspects be brought
to court, but only O.S., Tuncay Uzundal and Zeynel Abidin Yavuz’s
statements were taken. Some of the undetained suspects did not attend.

O.S.: I took marihuana and ecstacy

According to joint attorney Bulent Akbay, O.S. claimed that Tuncay
Uzundal and Yasin Hayal had organised the murder, and that he had
tried to prevent it. He further claimed that Yasin Hayal had given
him two ecstacy pills to encourage him, and that he smoked marihuana
and then took the two pills in the morning before the murder.

Uzundal claimed in his statement that suspect and police informant
Erhan Tuncel had contacts to PKK (Kurdish Workers’ Pary) leaders and
that he suspected the PKK to have committed the murder.

Conspiracy theories to distract

Fuat Turgut, the controversial lawyer of suspect Yasin Hayal, is
himself on trial in another case for threatening behaviour and has
publicly supported the song of nationalist singer Ismail Turut which
has recently made the headlines. During the break, Turgut said:
"In this murder case we have to think internationally. Think of
the murders of people like Uður Mumcu, Ahmet Taner Kisasli, Necip
Hablemitoglu. Would this be Israel’s and the USA’s first murder?"

No faith in the trial

Joint attorneys said that the defendants gave "very masterful answers"
and that the murder was still shrouded in mysteries.

Journalist Etyen Mahcupyan evaluated the different statements made
by the suspects, saying, "It does not even matter that there are
discrepancies."

Hrant Dink’s brother Levent Dink, said, "It was clear from the
beginning that the case would be this shallow. I knew they would
exploit the structures of the Turkish Penal Code which still need
maturing. They are going to get out of it by accusing each other."

Relatives of Hrant Dink’s widow Rakel Dink, Sevan and Mihail Yagbasan,
who had come from Brussels to attend the hearing, were not allowed
into the court room.

In the second part of the hearing, the joint attorneys will question
the suspects.

Uras: A parliamentary commission planned

Ufuk Uras, the Istanbul MP for the Freedom and Solidarity Party
(ODP) attended the hearing. He told bianet, "We are going to found a
parliamentary commission to investigate the Hrant Dink murder. We will
do everything to throw light on this murder. Without doing so, it is
impossible to have clean politics and a transparent society in Turkey."

"Trabzon governor is partner in crime"

Referring to the recent emergence of a taped telephone conversation
between suspect Erhan Tuncel and police intelligence officer Muhittin
Zenit, Uras accused the Trabzon governor, who had decided that the
Trabzon police did not need to be questioned, of "protecting partners
in crime and of being a partner in the crime": "The Ministry of the
Interior is also guilty by not taken this governor off duty. We will
not leave off this case until punitive sanctions have been applied
to the police officers. Until today, we thought that a crime had been
committed despite of the state, that the state had been helpless. In
reality, the state, through some of its officers, has taken part in
the murder."

Dink family lawyers: Complaint filed about newly emerged recording

In a statement in front of the court building, Erdal Dogan, one of the
Dink family lawyers, said: "Everyone except himself knew that Hrant
Dink was going to be murdered. Those who were negligent are being
kept out of the investigation. The fact that Muhittin Zenit still
spoke to Erhan Tuncel months after he had been transferred [from
Trabzon to another city] shows that the relations were still there."

Another Dink family lawyer, Fethiye Cetin, said that the plaintiffs
would file a criminal complaint concerning the recorded telephone
conversation.

Roth: Do not forget

Claudia Roth from the German Green Party was first kept away from
the court, but later allowed to watch the case. In a statement she
said: "Hrant was one of the most pacifist people. Today is the Day of
Freedom of Expression. Hrant was killed by Article 301. All together,
we must continue the struggle for freedom of expression, which is the
most basic building block of democracy. " She added, "Do not forget,
because forgetting kills."

In front of the court building, people who "felt like witnesses to
the case" had congregated.

Speaking to bianet, Roth said that in a meeting with Minister of the
Interior Cemil Cicek tomorrow she would reiterate her demand for the
abolition of Article 301. She said that, after Dink’s funeral, she
had been shocked by the Republican People’s Party (CHP) chairperson
Deniz Baykal’s attitude towards Article 301.

Eugene Schoulgin, of the International Writers’ Union PEN, was
prevented from approaching the court building. She told bianet that
"they still have not understood the international dimensions of this
case. It is important to create international interest in such a case."

Also present in front of the court were health rights activist
Mustafa Sutlas, journalists Ali Bayramoglu, Nadire Mater, Ertugrul
Kurkcu and Yavuz Baydar, widow of singer Ahmet Kaya, Gulten Kaya,
writer Umit Firat, and actor Mahir Gunsiray.

The Hrant Dink Case Monitoring Committee made a press statement at
Besiktas square, near the court. There were around 200 participants,
including singer Ferhat Tunc, actor Mehmet Ali Alabora, journalist
Cengiz Aktar, Celalettin Can and Nimet Tanrikulu of the 78’ers Turkey
Initiative, and writer Ragip Zarakolu. They were wearing pictures
of Hrant Dink. After the press statement, they shouted, "We are all
Hrant Dink, we are all Armenian", the slogan that had been used on
the placards at his funeral.

–Boundary_(ID_7bwUtr8NZYogXOpX9KCoww)–

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress