SENIOR OFFICER DEMOTED OVER KILLING
Gulf Times
16/10/2009
The head of the Turkish police intelligence department, under
investigation over the 2007 killing of Turkish-Armenian journalist
Hrant Dink, has been removed from office, media reports said yesterday.
Ramazan Akyurek was demoted to a lower post in a different department
to ensure an objective investigation over his alleged misconduct in
handling prior intelligence of the murder, they said.
In a report prepared last year on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s
orders, Akyurek was accused of failing to act on tip-offs on plans
to kill Dink.
Akyurek was at the time police chief in the Black Sea city of
Trabzon from where the self-confessed killer of Dink and most of his
accomplices hail from.
The report also accused Akyurek of abuse of office for failing to
provide Dink with bodyguards during his term as the head of police
intelligence even though the journalist was clearly a possible target,
and called for disciplinary action.
Dink, 52, was gunned down on January 19, 2007, outside the offices
of his Agos newspaper in central Istanbul.