TEENAGER ‘MURDERER’ SAYS HE ‘REGRETS’ KILLING HRANT DINK
Journal of Turkish Weekly
Oct 4 2007
The 17-year-old, identified by the initials O.S., who confessed
to killing Hrant Dink outside his newspaper office last January,
expressed "regret" for the killing in his testimony during the Dink
assassination trial which resumed yesterday at the Ýstanbul 14th
Criminal Court in Beþiktaþ.
Armenian-Turkish journalist Dink was gunned down in broad daylight on
Jan. 19 in front of the bilingual Armenian weekly, Agos, where he was
editor-in-chief. More than 100,000 people turned out for his funeral
in order to show solidarity and protest against violent nationalism.
"Yasin Hayal forced me to do this job. I shot him out of fear without
even understanding how it happened. I was at my uncle’s place when I
came back to my senses. I could not sleep the entire night. I regret
it; I didn’t know he had a family. I wouldn’t have done it if I had
known" said the youth in his testimony, private CNN Turk television
station reported Monday. He also claimed to be under the influence
of ecstasy pills, given to him by Yasin Hayal two hours prior to
the assasination. The trial is being held behind closed doors since
O.S. is a minor.
As the second hearing of the trial resumed yesterday, hundreds of
demonstrators fearing a state cover-up of Dink’s murder appeared
outside the courthouse, proclaiming: "We are all witnesses. We demand
justice." Police implemented heavy security outside the courthouse
where 19 suspects, eight of which are being held in police custody,
are being tried on various charges relating to the killing of Dink.
Dink’s wife, Rakel Dink, daughter, Delal Dink and representatives of
Agos newspaper and Bir Gun daily, where Dink was a regular columnist,
participated in the hearing as co-plaintiffs. Freedom and Solidarity
Party (ODP) deputy Ufuk Uras, German opposition Green Party leader
Claudia Roth, Agos Editor-in-Chief Etyen Mahcupyan and journalists
Yavuz Baydar, Ali Bayramoðlu, Murat Belge and Ayþe Onal also arrived
in court to support Dink’s family.
On Saturday Turkish media aired a recording of a telephone conversation
between one of the suspects and a police officer. The dialogue
clearly suggests the police officer knew about plots to kill the
journalist. Dink’s lawyers have complained that the murder has not been
properly investigated and have expressed fears for the independence
of the court, reflecting concerns about the possible involvement
of Turkey’s so-called deep state — a network of individuals nested
within the state hierarchy, carrying out behind-the-scene operations
they deem to be patriotic.
Erdal Doðan, a lawyer representing the Dink family, reiterated that
concern on Monday. Speaking to the press prior to the hearing,
Doðan said: "It was written everywhere that there was looseness
[in the police force], and that everybody knew Dink was going to be
shot except for Hrant Dink himself." Recalling that it became clear
during the investigation that the plot was being openly spoken about
in Internet cafes and on the streets of Trabzon, the hometown of the
murderer and most of the suspects, he added: "It is irrational to
think that the gendarmerie and the police department were unaware of
this. We have made our application to the Trabzon Criminal Court to
include them in this case." Doðan said the transcript of the recently
discovered phone conversation had been placed in the court files.
–Boundary_(ID_y4zrApm6NKT0hvklISH9jQ)–