MALATYA, DINK MURDERS STILL CLOUDED IN MYSTERY
Today’s Zaman
26.02.2008
Co-plaintiff lawyers arrive at the BeÅ~_iktaÅ~_ courthouse for the
trial of Hrant Dink murder suspects.
Turkey saw hearings for two separate but related crimes yesterday
as the third trial in the murder of an ethnic Armenian journalist in
Ä°stanbul and the suspects of the murders of three Bible publishers
in Malatya resumed yesterday, but neither trial has been a source of
encouragement for those hoping to see justice done in the end.
The two cases seem to be inherently related in many respects. In both
cases, the police have been accused of trying to obscure evidence to
protect the suspects and even of having links to the assailants. In
the case of Hrant Dink, an Armenian Turkish journalist, one of the
prime suspects is a known ex-police informant. The European Union
and international rights groups are monitoring both cases closely.
With regard to the previous hearing in the trial of the Dink murder
suspects, "It’s clear that police officers and security services
knew about the plans of these guys, but they didn’t act," said Joost
Lagendijk, the co-chairman of the Turkey-EU Joint Parliamentary
Commission.
Although both murders initially appeared to be hate crimes, an
investigation into a neo-nationalist gang known as Ergenekon,
with access to power centers in the military and state apparatus,
showed that the group might be behind both of the attacks, intended
to create chaos in the country and lay the groundwork for an eventual
coup d’état to overthrow the government.
Security was tight outside the BeÅ~_iktaÅ~_ courthouse ahead of the
trial of Dink’s murder suspects. Police put up barriers around the
building and set up checkpoints to search individuals entering the
building as well as check their identification documents.
Civilian automobiles were not allowed to enter the courthouse’s
parking lot.
Dink was gunned down in broad daylight on Jan. 19, 2007 in front
of the headquarters of bilingual Armenian weekly Agos, where he was
editor-in-chief. Following Dink’s murder, many reports suggested that
the police were tipped off about the planned assassination more than
once prior to his execution yet failed to prevent it.
A group of protestors calling themselves "Friends of Hrant" gathered
at BeÅ~_iktaÅ~_ Square ahead of the trial. The group, holding
posters of Dink and chanting slogans demanding justice for the slain
journalist, also issued a statement to the press. "We want something
very simple. We want something that nobody would object to. We want
justice," said singer Å~^evval Sam, reading the statement on behalf
of the group.
The group reiterated the demands of the Dink family and the attorneys
representing the plaintiffs, who have been saying that the murder has
not been properly investigated. The co-plaintiff lawyers say some of
the evidence has been hidden or destroyed.
They have also claimed that information vital to the course of the
investigation had been held back by the police from the prosecution
and the court in what seems to be an attempt to protect the suspects.
Nineteen suspects, including Dink’s suspected killer, 17-year-old
O.S., and an ultranationalist youth charged with planning the crime,
went on trial in July of 2007 for organizing the murder at the 14th
High Criminal Court in Ä°stanbul’s BeÅ~_iktaÅ~_ district.
The trial is being held behind closed doors because O.S. was a minor
at the time of the murder.
Since the third hearing in the trial, held on Feb. 12, all sessions
in the trial are being recorded by cameras set up in the courtroom,
a first in Turkish judicial history. The implementation began when
attorneys requested audiovisual recording, citing attempts of security
officers to obscure evidence during the second hearing of the trial.
During the second hearing of the trial’s suspects, O.S. expressed
"regret" for the killing in his testimony.
"I was forced to do this job. I shot Dink out of fear without even
understanding how it happened. I was at my uncle’s place when I
came 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,"
he said in his testimony.
Malatya case adjourned until March
The third hearing of the trial in the murder of three Christians,
one of them a German citizen, in the eastern Turkish province of
Malatya last year convened at the Malatya 3rd High Criminal Court at
9 a.m. yesterday.
Lawyers in the case demanded that the hearing be recorded with
visual and audio devices, a demand the court rejected. After the
rejection of the request, the lawyers this time asked that the judge
be removed, saying that the court’s impartiality and independence
was now jeopardized by the denial.
The court adjourned the case until March 17, 2008 to review the
request.
Malatya victim Tilman Ekkehart Geske’s wife, Suzanne Geske, and
Necati Aydın’s wife, Å~^emse Aydın, as well as chief suspect Emre
Gunaydın’s father, Mustafa Gunaydın, attended the hearing.
The suspects were brought to the courthouse from the Malatya prison
by special security units.
The five suspects currently under arrest are being charged with setting
up an armed terrorist organization, committing more than one homicide
as part of the activities of the terrorist organization, trespassing
and aiding and abetting an armed terrorist organization. Gunaydın is
additionally being charged with having masterminded the murders. The
prosecutor is seeking three life sentences for each of the five
suspects. The other two are facing charges of aiding and abetting an
armed terrorist organization.
Murders at Zirve Publishing House
On April 18, 2007, Christian Turks Necati Aydın and Ugur Yuksel and
Christian German national Tilman Geske were tied to their chairs,
stabbed and tortured at the Zirve Publishing House before their
throats were slit.
The publishing house they worked for printed Bibles and Christian
literature. The killings drew international condemnation and added
to Western concerns about whether Turkey can protect its religious
minorities.
–Boundary_(ID_LqjKnuug2Xxh CCsJqPET6g)–