HRANT DINK REPORT CRITICISED AS "SUPERFICIAL"

BIA Net
6-hrant-dink-report-criticised-as-superficial
feb 26 2010
Turkey

The Prime Ministerial Review Committee has evaluated a report by the
Ministry of the Interior on the murder of journalist Hrant Dink as
"superficial".

26 February 2010, Friday Radikal newspaper journalist Tarık IÅ~_ık
reports that the Prime Ministerial Review Committee (BTK) has examined
a report by the Ministry of the Interior on the murder of Hrant Dink.

The BTK has criticised the report, which deals with allegations of
police negligence in the case, for exceeding its authority and for
being superficial.

Meanwhile, the BTK reiterated the stance of its own previously
published report. It is possible that the Ministry of the Interior
will prepare a new report.

PM ordered investigation Following the murder of Hrant Dink, the
Armenian-Turkish editor-in-chief of the Agos newspaper in 2007,
his wife Rakel Dink applied to the BTK for a report.

The BTK report contained accusations of negligence and led to Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan giving permission to auditors from the
Ministry of the Interior (MoI) to investigate 19 police officers,
including Ramazan Akyurek, the head of the police intelligence
department.

The investigation was completed on 9 November 2009 and the ensuing
report noted that there was no need to proceed against the 19 police
officers from Trabzon and Istanbul.

However, the MoI report met with protests from the Prime Ministerial
Office. According to one source, the government is determined to find
the power structure behind the murder of Dink. On 18 January, the
BTK wrote that the MoI report was superficial and that it, the BTK,
did not agree with several conclusions in it.

Criticism Differences of opinion were said to exist on the following
issues:

* A preliminary investigation of the police officers had been ordered,
but the civil servant auditors composed a research report, thus
exceeding their authority.

* It cannot be ignored that the intelligence unit, which knew about
assassination plans on Dink, did not act on this knowledge.

* It is still doubtful whether the information handed to the police
by informant Erhan Tuncel led to "necessary action".

* There is a likelihood that intelligence received was not evaluated
in a satisfactory manner.

Possibility of new report The BTK reaction says that the MoI report
is not "legally invalid", but has the quality of a "message". It
is possible that BeÅ~_ir Atalay, the Minister of the Interior, will
consider the BTK criticism and call for a new report.

One of the duties of the BTK is to inspect and audit public bodies,
and either carry out or call for investigations and questioning into
issues related to duties, authorities and responsibilities.

The preliminary investigation the MoI was supposed to carry out was
meant to be a gathering of information, documents and opinions on
the relevant persons.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress