JOURNALISTS WRITING ABOUT HRANT DINK MURDER UNDER PROSECUTION

BIAnet
minorities/117045-journalists-writing-about-hrant- dink-murder-under-prosecution
Sept 14 2009
Turkey

Head of the Police Intelligence Department Akyurek filed a complaint
against journalist Kemal GöktaÅ~_ after he has already taken
journalist Nedim Å~^ener to court. Both pressmen published books
about the Hrant Dink murder, voicing their critical concerns about
the handling of the case.

Erol ONDEROÄ~^LU hukuk@bianet.org Istanbul – Ankara – BÄ°A News
Center14 September 2009, Monday An investigation has been started on
journalist Kemal GöktaÅ~_ from Vatan newspaper on the grounds of his
book "The Murder of Hrant Dink – Media, Judiciary, State". Previously,
also journalist Nedim Å~^ener was tried because of his book "Dink’s
Murder and the Lies of the Intelligence Agency". Both books deal
with the background of the murder of Hrant Dink, assassinated
editor-in-chief of the Armenian-Turkish Agos Newspaper, in 2007.

GöktaÅ~_ told bianet that he testified on 9 September before
prosecutor Ä°smail Onaran in the context of the investigation launched
upon Akyurek’s complaint. Ramazan Akyurek is head of the General
Directorate of the Police Intelligence Department.

After Å~^ener also GöktaÅ~_ is put on trial

Akyurek declared that he was not related to the Dink case and accused
GöktaÅ~_ of "attempting to influence" the case.. Albeit, Akyurek’s
lawyer Nurullah Albayrak stated in a petition dated from 20 June 2009:
"Although my client is involved in this secret issue, he still has
not received a copy of the report prepared by the Prime Ministry
Inspection Board".

Albayrak claims that GöktaÅ~_ is talking about Akyurek in his book,
quoting page 147. He argues that the journalist put his client under
suspicion when he said that "further question marks emerged when
Akyurek’s statement before the Turkey National Assembly’s (TBMM)
Human Rights Sub-Commission on the Hrant Dink Murder was combined
with Tuncel’s defense".

Adittionally, despite Akyurek’s reports the following contents
of the book are included in the indictment: protection of Tuncel
(p. 218/219); after the murder the government "did not show political
determination to reveal the criminal organizations within the state"
(p. 289); Akyurek "did not move a muscle" to protect Dink (p. 302).

GöktaÅ~_ found out about the investigation by coincidence

The journalist got to know about the investigation by coincidence when
he appeared before the Ankara Court to make a statement regarding a
different issue. GöktaÅ~_ then was under charge of "violating the
investigation’s confidentiality" because he had reported about a
statement made in the context of the Ergenekon case.

Akyurek had sent GöktaÅ~_’s notification about the investigation
to Nedim Å~^ener’s address in Bakırkköy. The mistake was noticed
because Å~^ener refused to sign the notification.

More than 2 years ago on 19 January 2007, around the time when Erhan
Tuncel was made a secret agent, Aykurek was Police Chief of the city
of Trabzon (eastern black sea cost) and requested a trial against
GöktaÅ~_ on the grounds of "attempting to influence a fair trial"
(Penal Code 288), "insulting public officials" (Penal Code 125) and
"influencing the judiciary" (Press Law 19).

To quote from a report and to publish a document is obviously a crime

Akyurek also considers it a crime that GöktaÅ~_ quoted from the
report prepared by the Prime Ministry’s Inspection Board. Furthermore
he claimed that GöktaÅ~_ tried to associate him with a McDonald’s
bombing and with the Dink murder while he had already stated he had
not been involved in the latter case.

Suc duyurusunda Trabzon Emniyet Mudurlugu’nun cinayetten bir yıl önce
Ä°stanbul polisine Yasin Hayal’in Dink’e yönelik eylem yapacagının
bildirildigi belgenin de "yasa geregi gizli" nitelikli oldugu da
savunuldu.

In the criminal report it was also claimed that the document from
the Trabzon Police Department informing Yasin Hayal from the Istanbul
police about a planned action against Hrant Dink one year before the
Dink murder was "confidential by law".

Journalist Nedim Å~^ener, currently trialed under charges by Akyurek,
Muhittin Zenit, Fatih Sarı and Ali Fuat Yılmazer, is facing a
possible prison sentence of 32.5 years.