GENDARMERIE SOLDIERS ADMIT KNOWING ABOUT DINK MURDER

Today’s Zaman
March 21 2008
Turkey

Two gendarmes have confirmed earlier testimony by a witness that they
had been clearly warned about a plot to assassinate ethnic Armenian
journalist Hrant Dink.

The trial of the two soldiers on charges of dereliction of duty
by failing to take the necessary measures to prevent the murder of
Dink continued in a Trabzon court on Thursday. Sgt. Maj. Okan S. and
Special Sgt. Veysel Sahin are being accused of failing to act within
the scope of their powers to prevent the murder of Dink, even though
they had solid intelligence on the plot to assassinate the journalist
months before the incident.

The two soldiers testified for the first time at yesterday’s hearing,
corroborating earlier testimony of witness Coþkun Ýðic, the ex-husband
of a relative of one of the prime suspects of the Dink murder, that
they had previous knowledge of the plot. They also said they had
informed their superior, Trabzon’s Provincial Gendarmerie Commander
Col. Ali Oz. The two suspects testified that they had given false
statements during the course of the investigation due to pressure
from Oz.

Dink was shot by an extremist teenager on Jan. 19, 2007, outside
the Agos weekly building — where he was the editor-in-chief — in
Ýstanbul’s Beyoðlu district. The ensuing investigation revealed that
some of the suspects who were later found to be the masterminds of
the murder had links to police officers.

The first witness to testify at the first hearing for two suspects in
January was Ýðci, the ex-husband of the aunt of Yasin Hayal, a prime
suspect in the Dink murder investigation. Ýðci testified that he had
notified the two gendarmerie soldiers at least two-and-a-half months
ahead of the murder of his nephew’s plans to shoot Dink.

The witness said Hayal, who is currently in prison pending trial in
the Dink murder, had told him openly about his plans for the murder.

Ýðci stated that he informed the two gendarmes of the plans to kill
Dink about two-and-a-half to three months prior to the murder. He
testified that Hayal and his friends told him about an earlier visit
near Dink’s house and the environs of the Agos weekly in Ýstanbul,
which he relayed to the two gendarmes now being tried. He said the
two warned him not to talk to anyone about what he knew shortly after
the assassination.

–Boundary_(ID_AXQ1I7Dt9gIdXw0kadk 9yg)–