INTELLIGENCE HEADS’ NEGLECT CLAIMS TO BE PROBED

Hurriyet
Feb 11 2009
Turkey

ISTANBUL – The Interior Ministry has initiated an inquiry into two
police intelligence chiefs upon allegations of negligence of duty
surrounding the murder of prominent Turkish-Armenian journalist
Hrant Dink.

The inquiry has come after a report of the Prime Ministry stated
Ramazan Akyurek and Ali Fuat Yılmazer neglected their duty to protect
Dink, even though they had intelligence about the murder prior to
Dink’s death. The report called for a preliminary inquiry to be
initiated into the police chiefs. Akyurek, who was previously the
police chief of Black Sea province of Trabzon, engaged Erhan Tuncel
as a police informer.

Tuncel is among the leading suspects in Dink’s murder and is on
trial for inciting murder. Tuncel, however, in several testimonies
given to the court said he had told police about the murder plan of
Dink. Akyurek later acted as the Central Police Intelligence Chief
and held that office at the date of murder. The Prime Ministry report
stated Akyurek had been informed about the murder plans against
Dink from the time he was Trabzon Police Chief and he carried this
knowledge with him to his position as Intelligence Chief.

The report also stated Ali Fuat Yılmazer, the current Istanbul
Police Intelligence Chief did not place Dink under the "Target
Personalities Program" to protect him, despite intelligence he had
received about the murder plan. Yılmazer at the date of the murder
was the chief of a central intelligence branch. Dink was shot dead in
front of the multilingual weekly Agos’ building in central Å~^iÅ~_li
on Jan. 19, 2007. The gunmen Ogun Samast, aged under 18 at the time
was arrested one day after the murder in bus station in Samsun on
his way to Trabzon, his hometown. Later Erhan Tuncel and Yasin Hayal
were arrested along with another group of suspects. Both Tuncel and
Hayal are alleged to be inciters. Tuncel was later revealed to be an
informer and that he had told police about the murder plans.
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