NTV MSNBC, Turkey
Feb 2 2007
Samast photo and video filmed at police station: Gendarme
Gendarme Commander said that photo and video of the man accused of
murdering Dink were part of efforts to tarnish the Turkish Armed
Forces.
Güncelleme: 17:46 TSÝ 02 Þubat 2007 CumaISTANBUL – The Turkish
Gendarme Command issued a written statement on Friday denying that
photos and video footage of the alleged killer of Hrant Dink, Ogun
Samast were taken at any gendarme posts.
`In now way were the mentioned photo and footage taken at any
gendarme post,’ the statement said adding that it was obvious that it
was taken at the tea room of the Samsun police’s anti-terror branch.
The statement said that the broadcasting by television station TGRT
of the video footage without giving the source but saying that it was
filmed at a gendarme post showed the intentions of the plot.
Police Force spokesman Ismail Caliskan in his regular weekly briefing
on Friday said that inspectors had been appointed to look into the
photo and footage of Samast. Caliskan said that there were high
ranking police officers who were among those who took photographs
with Samast and that this was being investigated as well.
Caliskan added that the murder of prominent Armenian-Turk Hrant Dink
was being investigated at all levels.
The photograph of Samast, arrested as the alleged gunman in the
murder of Dink, was taken in front of a Turkish flag which had a
saying by Ataturk referring to how sacred the soild of the country
was. The video also showed Samast holding a Turkish flag and people
taking photographs with him as a memoir while he was in detention.