THE EVENTS BEFORE DINK’S MURDER

Hurriyet
Jan 20 2010
Turkey

Numerous theories have been discussed about how power centers
played a role in the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant
Dink. Whenever this subject is opened to discussion, I prefer to
start with the McDonald’s bombing that took place in the Black Sea
province of Trabzon exactly 25 months before the Dink killing.

In fact, most of the unknowns in the Dink murder case are covered in
this incident. We see that the actors of the bombing were key figures
in Dink’s murder. If the bombing had been investigated thoroughly,
if the trial process hadn’t had peculiarities, Dink could’ve been
alive today.

Why was Tuncel not on trial?

Let’s start from the beginning. The McDonald’s bombing in Trabzon
occurred on Oct. 24, 2004. Dink was killed on Jan. 19, 2007.

Six people were injured in the bombing. Perpetrator Yasin Hayal was
caught. One of the names involved in the incident was Erhan Tuncel,
the "big brother," who stands on trial as an instigator in the Dink
murder case. Despite plenty of evidence, the Trabzon prosecutor,
the Security Directorate and the gendarmerie didn’t touch him.

Hayal, the instigator in the Dink murder case, later said Tuncel
himself made the bomb for the McDonald’s incident. In the report
prepared by the Prime Ministry Investigation Board, it is clearly
stated that Tuncel and Hayal committed the McDonald’s bombing together.

The question that needs to be answered at this point is this: Why
did the Trabzon Prosecutor’s Office, the Security Directorate and
the gendarmerie not start proceedings against Tuncel? Although there
was a decision to take Tuncel forcefully to court for deposition,
it was not done. The gendarmerie couldn’t find Tuncel.

If Hayal had not been released…

Another challenging point is this: then-Trabzon Security Director
Ramazan Akyurek assigned Tuncel as "intelligence aid."

If Tuncel had been turned in rather than being appointed to the
intelligence staff, the course of events most probably would’ve taken a
different turn. In this case, Tuncel would have been prosecuted and put
behind the bars. Perhaps the Dink murder would not have been plotted.

Yet another key point we should dwell upon is this: Though Hayal
committed the bombing, his file was not followed by the prosecutor for
terror crimes but was studied as a plain judicial case file. If the
bombing had been regarded as a terror incident, the penalty for Hayal
could’ve been increased and he wouldn’t have been released. Therefore,
the Dink murder wouldn’t have been committed.

The peculiarities in the Trabzon courthouse are not limited to the
above. As proceedings continued, Hayal was released in September 2005
in the 11th month of his arrest.

The point we must focus on is that Hayal was released by the council
on duty, not the one in charge of the case. The release paper carried
the signatures of the judge of the Commercial Court. Besides, his
release took place while the council officially responsible for the
case was off duty.

If the appeal hadn’t been delayed

In the end, the Trabzon High Criminal Court sentenced Hayal to
six years and eight months imprisonment on June 14, 2006. After the
reduction of the sentence, Hayal’s penalty was settled at 32 months in
prison. Since the appeal process is pending at the Court of Appeals,
Hayal is not behind bars yet.

Now, let’s look at the peculiarities at the Court of Appeals. The
appeal process was completed on May 2, 2008. According to the ruling,
Hayal was supposed to be sentenced for 21 months in addition to the
11 months that he served. If the decision had been taken in a timely
manner, Hayal could’ve been sent to prison again and the Dink murder
wouldn’t have been plotted.

Regardless of how you put it, if the McDonald’s bombing case had been
conducted properly by both the prosecution and the security forces,
Dink could’ve been with us today.

* Mr. Sedat Ergin is a columnist for the daily Hurriyet in which this
piece appeared Wednesday. It was translated into English by the Daily
News staff.