GOVERNOR ALLOWS TWO TURKISH OFFICERS INVESTIGATION IN DINK CASE
PanARMENIAN.Net
21.07.2008 14:37 GMT+04:00
The governor of a northwestern province of Turkey permitted Sunday an
investigation to be opened into a colonel and a captain for failing
to act on information received prior to the assassination of Hrant
Dink, editor-in-chief of Agos bilingual newspaper, and hiding the
intelligence.
Nuri Okutan, the governor of Trabzon, said the governor’s office
decided to give the permission for the investigation after assessing
a report of the inspectors from the Turkish Interior Ministry.
Hrant Dink was shot dead outside the offices of the paper in Istanbul
in January, 2007. Police arrested the gunman Ogun Samast and a
suspected associate who was identified as Yasin Hayal.
Inspectors asked earlier this week for the governor’s permission
to bring Col. Ali Oz and Capt. Metin Yildiz before the court for
failing to act on information received prior to the assassination of
Hrant Dink.
Two lower-ranked soldiers told the inspectors that they had informed
Col. Ali Oz and Capt. Metin Yildiz about intelligence regarding the
assassination of Dink, while Oz said he may have forgotten about
this information.
The trial began in July 2007. Prosecutors have asked for a prison
term of 18 to 24 years for Dink’s assassin and life sentences for two
key suspects, Erhan Tuncel and Yasin Hayal, for inciting to murder,
Today’s Zaman reports