COPS KNEW OF DINK HITMAN
Hurriyet
Jan 14 2009
Turkey
ISTANBUL – Erhan Tuncel, a leading suspect for the murder of Turkish
Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, said he informed the Trabzon police
about possible gunmen for Dink’s murder prior to the act, according
to a report from the Prime Ministry Investigation Board, reported
the daily Taraf yesterday.
Tuncel, a police informer, is alleged to be the "elder brother" behind
Dink’s murder who incited the assassination. Inspectors of the Prime
Ministry’s board met with Tuncel on April 11, 2008. In this meeting,
Tuncel told inspectors that he had given photographs of Dink to police
before the murder and also told them about Zeynel Abidin Yavuz, who
Yasin Hayal, another suspected inciter, first thought should kill
Dink. Tuncel also said he gave police a description of Ogun Samast,
the confessed gunman of the murder. However, officials from the
Trabzon police have previously stated they had no information about
Samast before the murder. Trabzon is a Black Sea province where the
murder was allegedly planned. The suspects are also from Trabzon.
Another serious issue outlined in the report was the allegation that
Tuncel had been dismissed as a police informer prior to the murder. The
report states that the information about the Trabzon police’s dismissal
of Tuncel on Oct. 23, 2006 for lying and frequently asking for money
was doubtful and needed to be investigated.
In many intelligence reports based on information from Tuncel, there
was no mention of Tuncel lying or frequently asking for money. Tuncel’s
dismissal was highly likely to have been for a reason that was not
recorded, the board said. It was disclosed, however, that Muhittin
Zenit, a police officer in contact with Tuncel, called Tuncel after
the murder. In a statement made after the murder Zenit said he did
not know Tuncel had been dismissed as a police informer.
Dink, the editor in chief of the multi-lingual weekly Agos was shot
to death in front of his newspaper’s building in central Å~^iÅ~_li
on Jan. 19, 2006. Samast, who was under 18 at the time, was arrested
after the murder in the Black Sea province of Samsun. There have been
many media reports over allegations of negligence by the security
forces for not protecting Dink or preventing the murder despite having
information about the possibility of it.
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