COLONEL TO BE TRIED FOR NEGLECT IN TURKISH-ARMENIAN JOURNALIST’S MURDER

Hurriyet
Feb 17 2009
Turkey

A Turkish court will try a retired colonel and five soldiers for
covering up warnings ahead of the assassination of Turkish-Armenian
journalist Hrant Dink.

A High Criminal Court in the northwestern province of Trabzon ruled
Tuesday that Retired Colonel Albay Oz and five other soldiers face up
to two years in prison on the charge of "neglect of duty" for their
role in the death of Dink, Dogan News Agency reported.

A Criminal Court of Peace in the province had earlier ruled to dismiss
the charges against the six accused.

Dink, editor in chief of the Agos newspaper, was shot dead outside
the offices of the paper in Istanbul in January 2007.

The teenager accused in the murder was quickly apprehended trying to
make his way to his hometown of Trabzon on the Black Sea coast. Police
later arrested Erhan Tuncel and Yasin Hayal for inciting the teenager
to carry out the attack. A total of 20 suspects are currently standing
trial for Dink’s murder.

It was later revealed that Tuncel, who was a police informant, had
alerted Trabzon security forces about plans to murder Dink.