JOURNALIST KEMAL GOKTAS: POLICE KNEW ABOUT DINK MURDER PLOT

/PanARMENIAN.Net/
17.02.2010 13:30 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Kemal Goktas, a correspondent for Vatan daily in
Ankara, told an Istanbul court Tuesday that the Istanbul Police
Department knew about the plot to assassinate Turkish-Armenian
journalist, Agos newspaper editor Hrant Dink but did not take any
precautions.

In a hearing at Istanbul’s 2nd Court of First Instance, Goktas, who is
being tried for revealing secret documents and jeopardizing the state’s
police department, said that the Trabzon Police Department had informed
the Istanbul Police Department about the plans for Dink’s murder.

"Then Intelligence Chief Ramazan Akyurek and the Istanbul Police
Department filed a criminal complaint against me for publishing the
document. This document showed how Hrant Dink was going to be murdered
and [proved that] police knew it beforehand. It shows that a group
headed by Yasin Hayal plotted to kill Dink," Goktas said.

In his book titled "Hrant Dink’s Murder – Media, Judiciary and State",
Goktas had revealed how the Istanbul Police Department ignored warnings
from the Trabzon Police Department about Dink’s murder.

Goktas, who is facing a three-to-five-year prison sentence, also said
Akyurek did not take steps to prevent the murder.

Meanwhile, 19 police officers, including Akyurek, that were charged
with negligence in the investigation into the Dink assassination have
been cleared by a report drafted by Interior Ministry investigators,
Today’s Zaman reported.

Hrant Dink (September 15, 1954 – January 19, 2007) was a
Turkish-Armenian journalist, columnist and editor-in-chief of
Agos bilingual newspaper. Dink was best known for advocating
Turkish-Armenian reconciliation and human and minority rights in
Turkey. Charged under the notorious article 301 of the Turkish
Criminal Code, Dink stood a trial for insulting Turkishness. After
numerous death threats, Hrant Dink was assassinated in Istanbul in
January 2007, by Ogun Samast, a Turkish nationalist.