TURKISH POLICE KNEW ABOUT THE PLANNING OF THE MURDER OF HRANT DINK
Assyrian International News Agency
March 14 2008
The Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was murdered in daylight on the
street in Constantinople (Istanbul) on! January 19th 2007. Shortly
after the murder an 18-year old was arrested and a couple of days later
several persons were arrested for planning the murder on Hrant Dink.
Besides the murderer Ogun Samast, Yasin Hayal was also arrested,
he appeared to be the head figure and the brain behind the murder
of Hrant Dink. Yasin Hayal and several other persons are members of
a gang which is known under the name "Big Brother" (Abi Cetesi). At
the arrest, gang members proudly propagated openly that a treacherous
voice had been silenced. Recently the trial of the murder of Hrant
Dink was held. And several astonishing facts have been revealed.
Ramazan Akyurek, the responsible chief of the secret service in
the city of Trabzon, warned the police in Istanbul about the threat
against Hrant Dink.
The city of Trabzon, which lies at the coast of the Black Sea, is
associated with several attacks against Christians, among others Andrea
Santoro, who was murdered by a 16-year old boy on January 5th 2006.
With a letter Ramazan Akyurek requested the police in Istanbul to
take measures to prevent a possible attack against Hrant Dink.
According to information that was presented during the trial, the
Istanbul police chose to not take the warnings seriously and that
they did not take any measures.
The police officer Muhittin Zenit, who signed the letter that was
sent to the Istanbul police, stated during the trial that they had
done everything they could, but that it was the Istanbul police which
had not done their job.
The most astonishing statement was made by police officer Muhittin
Zenit, who said "We had reported the secret service information
further, I tried to persuade Yasin Hayal not to make the attack."
With that concrete information, the police in Trabzon informed the
Istanbul police about the plans of the murder of Hrant Dink. This
shows that the police and the murd! erers al so went hand in hand
before the murder of Hrant Dink.
The newspaper Hurriyet reports about the information that was brought
up in the trial with the headline: "I warned the Istanbul police,
but they couldn’t protect Hrant".