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AKI, Italy
Jan 31 2007
TURKEY: PROBE INTO JOURNALIST'S MURDER IS BEEFED UP
Istanbul, 31 Jan. (AKI) - Turkish authorities have dispatched two
chief inspectors to Trabzon, the hometown of the alleged killer of
Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, to boost the murder
investigation - a move which comes amid a growing storm over the
police's possible failure to prevent the murder through negligence.
Turkish media on Tuesday cited sources from the National Police
Department who confirmed the authorities had received information
about a planned attack against Dink one year ago, but that no attempt
was made to investigate the threats.
Dink was shot dead on 19 January in front of the Istanbul office of
the newspaper he edited. A 17-year-old boy from Trabzon, Ogun Samast,
was arrested in connection with the murder after he was recognised
from closed circuit television footage taken at the scene of the
shooting.
According to the police sources, Erhan Tuncel, a university student
in Trabzon with links to a Turkish ultra-nationalist group blamed for
the killing, warned local police in February 2006 of a plan to
assassinate the prominent journalist who campaigned for Turkey to
recognise as genocide the mass killings of Armenians under the
Ottomans during the early 20th century.
Tuncel, an alleged police informer and one of the six suspects
charged in connection with Dink's killing - is being interrogated in
Istanbul by the counter-terrororism police.
Tuncel has reportedly told police that Yasin Hayal, also under arrest
in connection with the murder, had planned to travel from Trabzon to
Istanbul to kill Dink, and that this intelligence was passed on to
Istanbul police. Police allegedly found nothing suspicious and took
no further action, the Milliyet daily reported on Tuesday.
Tuncel turned informer in 2004 in exchange for immunity after he was
detained in connection with a bomb attack on a McDonald's restaurant
in Trabzon, for which Hayal served 11 months in jail. In the summer
of 2006, police stopped working with Tuncel on suspicion that he was
acting as a double agent on behalf of the ultra-nationalists, the
Milliyet report said.
Human rights activists are urging prosecutors to investigate
Istanbul's police chief, Celaleddin Cerrah, who they alleged has been
negligent over the murder. Cerrah has also drawn criticism for his
statements that Samast "has no links with terror groups," and that
"his nationalist sentiments motivated him to shoot Dink," in the
immediate aftermath of the murder suspect's arrest.
Dink branded a "traitor" by ultra-nationalists for urging open debate
on the massacres of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire, often
appeared in court on charges of violating an item in Turkey's penal
code that prohibits any questioning of the officially accepted
version that the genocide did not take place. The European Union -
which Turkey hopes to join - has repeatedly called for the scrapping
of the controversial 'offending Turkishness' article in the penal
code.
Since Dink's murder, which prompted mass demonstrations in his honour
and in favour of freedom of expression, the government has come under
increasing criticism for failing to deal with extremist groups.
Prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quoted as saying on Tuesday
that Turkey had paid a heavy price for not cracking down on what he
called the "deep state" - a term which refers to secretive
nationalist elements in the powerful Turkish military and
bureaucracy.
Jan 31 2007
TURKEY: PROBE INTO JOURNALIST'S MURDER IS BEEFED UP
Istanbul, 31 Jan. (AKI) - Turkish authorities have dispatched two
chief inspectors to Trabzon, the hometown of the alleged killer of
Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, to boost the murder
investigation - a move which comes amid a growing storm over the
police's possible failure to prevent the murder through negligence.
Turkish media on Tuesday cited sources from the National Police
Department who confirmed the authorities had received information
about a planned attack against Dink one year ago, but that no attempt
was made to investigate the threats.
Dink was shot dead on 19 January in front of the Istanbul office of
the newspaper he edited. A 17-year-old boy from Trabzon, Ogun Samast,
was arrested in connection with the murder after he was recognised
from closed circuit television footage taken at the scene of the
shooting.
According to the police sources, Erhan Tuncel, a university student
in Trabzon with links to a Turkish ultra-nationalist group blamed for
the killing, warned local police in February 2006 of a plan to
assassinate the prominent journalist who campaigned for Turkey to
recognise as genocide the mass killings of Armenians under the
Ottomans during the early 20th century.
Tuncel, an alleged police informer and one of the six suspects
charged in connection with Dink's killing - is being interrogated in
Istanbul by the counter-terrororism police.
Tuncel has reportedly told police that Yasin Hayal, also under arrest
in connection with the murder, had planned to travel from Trabzon to
Istanbul to kill Dink, and that this intelligence was passed on to
Istanbul police. Police allegedly found nothing suspicious and took
no further action, the Milliyet daily reported on Tuesday.
Tuncel turned informer in 2004 in exchange for immunity after he was
detained in connection with a bomb attack on a McDonald's restaurant
in Trabzon, for which Hayal served 11 months in jail. In the summer
of 2006, police stopped working with Tuncel on suspicion that he was
acting as a double agent on behalf of the ultra-nationalists, the
Milliyet report said.
Human rights activists are urging prosecutors to investigate
Istanbul's police chief, Celaleddin Cerrah, who they alleged has been
negligent over the murder. Cerrah has also drawn criticism for his
statements that Samast "has no links with terror groups," and that
"his nationalist sentiments motivated him to shoot Dink," in the
immediate aftermath of the murder suspect's arrest.
Dink branded a "traitor" by ultra-nationalists for urging open debate
on the massacres of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire, often
appeared in court on charges of violating an item in Turkey's penal
code that prohibits any questioning of the officially accepted
version that the genocide did not take place. The European Union -
which Turkey hopes to join - has repeatedly called for the scrapping
of the controversial 'offending Turkishness' article in the penal
code.
Since Dink's murder, which prompted mass demonstrations in his honour
and in favour of freedom of expression, the government has come under
increasing criticism for failing to deal with extremist groups.
Prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quoted as saying on Tuesday
that Turkey had paid a heavy price for not cracking down on what he
called the "deep state" - a term which refers to secretive
nationalist elements in the powerful Turkish military and
bureaucracy.