‘PUNISHING DINK MURDERER JUST THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG’

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Oct 5 2007

Capturing and punishing the teenager who shot Turkish-Armenian
journalist Hrant Dink outside his Ýstanbul office in January would
only eliminate the "tip of an iceberg," a German politician has said,
calling for a thorough investigation into the murder and removal of
the infamous Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK), under which
Dink had faced trial for "insulting Turkishness."

Claudia Roth

Claudia Roth said her presence at the second hearing of the Dink murder
trial earlier this week was first of all "a matter of solidarity to
support his family and friends."

Beyond that, she said "it was a political signal. We have to show
that we will not forget what happened. Europe is closely watching
how the investigation proceeds and takes this as a first test for
the government to show how serious they really take their promises."

Roth, co-chairperson of the German Alliance ’90/Green Party and
deputy chair of the German-Turkish Parliamentary Friendship Group,
was in Turkey to attend the trial and meet with Turkish leaders,
including President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdoðan, after the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) was
re-elected to power in the July 22 elections.

A 17-year-old suspect, identified as O.S., has confessed to killing
Dink on Jan. 19. But controversy over the case continues to grow,
with critics complaining of a state cover-up and judicial negligence
in finding and punishing possible accomplices within the police
department. Audio recordings of a phone conversation between a police
officer and one of the key suspects in the crime, suggesting that
the police officer was aware of the planned killing, were released
by Turkish media over the weekend, but authorities refused to allow
an investigation into the police officer concerned.

Punishing O.S. would mean "just eliminating the tip of the iceberg,"
Roth said in an interview with Today’s Zaman. "But as we all know,
the Titanic didn’t sink because of that top. Rather it was due to what
was hidden below the water’s surface. It is necessary to illuminate
the background, to reach the actual wirepuller behind this abhorrent
crime."

Roth is convinced that a "deep state" — referring to shadowy elements
of the state cooperating with criminal gangs in order to "protect the
interests of the state" — was involved in the crime, citing media
reports that showed police officials in O.S.’s hometown of Trabzon
were aware of the crime long before it took place. "The ‘deep state’
is not just a conspiracy theory, but [it] really exists.

Turkish security institutions and judicial apparatuses need to
be cleansed of such elements by someone who will act in this task
decisively and adamantly," she said. "Otherwise it will undermine
this country one day."

According to the German politician, if there is any positive thing
about the Dink murder, it is that it showed removal of Article 301 of
the TCK is now a matter of urgency. Roth, after meeting with Prime
Minister Erdoðan on Wednesday evening, said he told her Article 301
would be changed.

"Turkey has to understand that freedom of speech and press is one
of the most urgent preconditions for any democratic society and a
developing civility," she said, emphasizing that the government has
no excuse after its election victory on July 22 and the election of
Gul as president in August. "With the government majority and the
presidency in one hand, it is time now to prove the true will to
bring the necessary and essential reforms," she remarked.

Responding to a question about those opposing Turkey’s EU membership,
particularly French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Roth said she had been
given homework by President Gul when they met in Ankara earlier this
week, which is that she would raise her voice against anti-Turkey
rhetoric, including that from Sarkozy. "And I promised to do my
homework," she stated.

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