AGGRIEVED FAMILIES DEMAND JUSTICE AT DINK TRIAL

Hurriyet
Feb 8 2010
Turkey

Public anger about unsolved political murders in Turkey’s past has
spilled over at the ongoing trial of Hrant Dink’s alleged killers,
as relatives of previous murder victims came to court to support the
late journalist’s family.

Gathering at the court in Istanbul’s BeÅ~_iktaÅ~_ district Monday, a
group of families whose grievous faces testified to Turkey’s tumultuous
political past and present observed the latest episode in the trial
of those accused of murdering Turkish-Armenian journalist Dink in
broad daylight Jan. 19, 2007.

Filiz Ali, daughter of author and journalist Sabahattin Ali, who
was murdered by unknown perpetrators in 1948, said the Dink case
represents an opportunity to find out the "deep forces within state
organs" that have played significant roles in political assassinations.

"This case should shed light on all the secrets," Ali said, reading
a joint press statement on behalf of all supporting families. "We
are all from the same family and we do not want this family to get
any bigger. We see all related public bodies as being responsible
for solving these unsolved murders."

She continued, saying: "The laws have not allowed us to defend our
dead ones for many years now. We have also witnessed many state
officials mobilize to protect criminals and cover up their crimes."

Ali said the families of unsolved murder victims will continue to
observe the Dink case.

The families further plan to send a petition to Parliament on Feb. 11,
asking that it establish a parliamentary research commission to
"research organized political murders that have been committed in
Turkey since 1948," according to a story from daily Milliyet on Monday.

A group of people calling themselves "For Hrant, For Justice"
joined the families and marched to the court holding banners saying,
"We know the criminal" and "Face the truth."

Yet more controversy

Monday’s trial was the 12th in the ongoing Dink murder case. A total of
25 suspects were present, including those already under arrest: Yasin
Hayal, Erhan Tuncel, Ogun Samast, Ersin Yolcu and Ahmet Ä°skender.

Monday’s hearing resulted in even more controversy, however. After
the morning session, suspects and witnesses were allowed to sit down
together and some witnesses were seen talking to suspects. Before
the second session started, the mistake was noticed and the witnesses
left the courtroom, waiting outside until they were called in.

Witness Orhan OzbaÅ~_ admitted that he sat near Samast, who is accused
of pulling the trigger. When Judge Erkan Canak asked whether they
had talked before the session, OzbaÅ~_ said, "[Samast] told me that
he has been in prison for three years and I could be put in jail for
five years too."

Lawyer Å~^iar RiÅ~_vanoglu asked the court to make a criminal complaint
against those responsible for allowing witnesses and suspects to
sit side-by-side.

In another controversy, the police "forgot" to bring a secret witness
to the court, the NTV news channel reported.

OzbaÅ~_ said that he met Samast online and that Samast called him
on the phone a day before the murder. OzbaÅ~_ said he took his three
friends with him and met Samast in Istanbul’s BayrampaÅ~_a district,
where they walked around and then drove to Eyup and GaziosmanpaÅ~_a,
later returning to BayrampaÅ~_a to drop off Samast.

"Samast showed us a photo and a gun and said that he would kill the man
in the photo. We laughed, not believing what he said," OzbaÅ~_ said.

"A day after this incident, [Samast] called me and said he killed
the man and was returning to Trabzon. I did not believe him until I
saw the news on TV. I talked to my father about this and he told me
not to talk to the police, which I obeyed," said OzbaÅ~_.

Turhan Meral, another witness and a friend of OzbaÅ~_, said he was
with OzbaÅ~_ when he met Samast, but added that he did not know Samast
beforehand. Meral refuted his previous testimony, in which he said
he saw Samast had a gun and told them that he would kill a man. "I
did not see any photo or gun and I did not hear him saying anything
about killing anyone," said Meral.

Secretive attitude

A written statement from Ramazan Akyurek, the chief of police in
Trabzon at the time of the murder, said the telecommunication
information of all police and intelligence officers cannot be
delivered to court because it will cause security problems. Bahri
Belen, a Dink family lawyer, said in response to this statement that
according to the law, no documents or files that are related to crimes
can be kept secret.

Suspect Erhan Tuncel, a former police informant in Trabzon, presented
some documents to the court – including maps and notes taken from
the book titled "Effective Forgiveness," written by Judge Canak – and
said he would read an 18-page defense later. Tuncel also said he was
accused of being a member of an organized criminal gang because he had
close relations with the political party the Great Union Party, or BBP.

Families of political murder victims who joined the hearing included
Hrant Dink’s wife, Rakel Dink; Sezen Oz and Bengi Heval Oz, the wife
and daughter of public prosecutor Dogan Oz, murdered in 1978; Ozge and
Ozgur Mumcu, the daughter and son of journalist Ugur Mumcu, murdered in
1993; Nukhet Ä°pekci, the daughter of Abdi Ä°pekci, murdered in 1979;
Zeynep Altıok, the daughter of Metin Altıok, murdered in 1993; Meryem
Göktepe, the sister of journalist Metin Göktepe, murdered in 1996;
and Nilgun Turkler, the daughter of labor-union leader Kemal Turkler,
murdered in 1980.

More families signed the statement, which was read by Filiz Ali.

Case timeline

Sixty-six people have been prosecuted in relation to Hrant Dink’s
murder three years ago. Forty-seven were released after giving their
first testimony in court; on Tuesday, five detainees and 20 suspects
will be questioned in the 12th hearing of the ongoing Dink trial. The
following dates represent key events in the trial timeline:

First hearing, July 2, 2007: Out of a total 19 suspects, four are
discharged, reducing the number of detainees from 12 to eight.

Second hearing, Sept. 1, 2007: The file of murder suspect, instigator
and police informant Erhan Tuncel is destroyed on the grounds of
"government security."

Third and fourth hearings, Feb. 11 and Feb. 28, 2008: During a
cross-examination session, chief suspect Tuncel prevents suspects
Yasin Hayal, Mustafa Ozturk and Ersin Yolcu from testifying after
they accuse Tuncel of instigating the murder.

Fifth hearing, April 28, 2008: Telephone records of suspect Ozturk
requested by the court are destroyed on the grounds that the period
in which the court could use them had expired. An inquiry is launched
by the court into whether detainee Hayal had been visited by Veli
Kucuk and Levent Temiz, suspects in the alleged Ergenekon case.

Sixth hearing, July 7, 2008: Ogun Samast, 18, is taken in as another
murder suspect. Hayal’s brother in law tells the gendarmerie five to
six times that he knows who murdered Dink.

Seventh hearing, Oct. 14, 2008: A 90-page report on the murder
suspects is sent to the court by the police intelligence bureau
president, Ramazan Akyurek. Only 16 pages of the report are read out
because there was no information about the suspects on the remaining
pages. Hayal’s brother is taken in as a suspect, bringing the total
number of suspects to 20.

Eighth hearing, Jan. 26, 2009: Three of the eight detained suspects
are discharged. Hayal and Tuncel engage in violent physical and
verbal conflict.

Ninth hearing, April 20, 2009: A decision to keep Hayal, Tuncel,
Ogun Samast, Ersin Yolcu and Ahmet Ä°skender is reached. Intervening
lawyers ask for participants in the trial including former Istanbul
Security Minister Celalettin Cerrah, police intelligence bureau
president Akyurek, and former Trabzon security minister ReÅ~_at Altay
to be heard; this request is dismissed by the court on the grounds
that it would not bring any new information to the case.

Tenth hearing, July 6, 2009: A witness says that suspect Samast was
not alone during the incident. Samast denies the allegation.

Eleventh hearing, Oct. 12, 2009: The gun used in the murder is shown
to the suspects. "I was going to kill a man, not to a wedding; how
should I know?" Samast says. Also in reference to the gun, Hayal says,
"I 100 percent support it; that gun was this gun."