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People's Daily Online, China
Jan 3 2007
Turkish security officials removed from office over inappropriate TV
image of journalist murder suspect
Four police officers and four gendarmery officers were removed from
offices in Turkey's northern city of Samsun on Friday, over footage
showing some security troops posing for "souvenir pictures" with the
alleged murderer of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink.
According to the semi-official Anatolia news agency, the Turkish
Interior Ministry announced its decision to dismiss four police
officers in Samsun where Ogun Samast, 17, the alleged murderer of
Dink, was arrested.
Furthermore, the Gendarme General Command also transferred four of
its staff, said the report.
Anatolia reported that this happened after private TGRT television
channel broadcast on Thursday night a video footage showing Samast,
who has confessed to the murder of the journalist, posing in front of
a Turkish flag, flanked by some uniformed security officials.
The images and footage were taken at the anti-terror department in
Samsun, where Samast was arrested 32 hours after Dink was shot dead
outside his newspaper offices in Istanbul on Jan. 19, it was
reported.
The footage had emerged as an embarrassment for Samsun security
forces, which were accused by the press as having treated Samast the
murderer as a "hero."
During a weekly press briefing in Ankara, the spokesman of the
Security Directorate General Ismail Caliskan said a probe had been
launched to find out by whom or why the video footage and images were
shot.
Caliskan added that inspectors of the interior ministry have been
carrying out an investigation in northern cities of Trabzon, Samsun,
Istanbul and Ankara.
Hrant Dink, a 53-year-old Turkish citizen of Armenian descent, was
well-known for writing controversial articles about the alleged
Armenian genocide by Ottoman Turks during World War I and had
received a six-month suspended sentence.
Dink had received threat from nationalists who considered him as a
traitor. Turkish officials said that they have charged seven people
over the murder of Dink.
Jan 3 2007
Turkish security officials removed from office over inappropriate TV
image of journalist murder suspect
Four police officers and four gendarmery officers were removed from
offices in Turkey's northern city of Samsun on Friday, over footage
showing some security troops posing for "souvenir pictures" with the
alleged murderer of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink.
According to the semi-official Anatolia news agency, the Turkish
Interior Ministry announced its decision to dismiss four police
officers in Samsun where Ogun Samast, 17, the alleged murderer of
Dink, was arrested.
Furthermore, the Gendarme General Command also transferred four of
its staff, said the report.
Anatolia reported that this happened after private TGRT television
channel broadcast on Thursday night a video footage showing Samast,
who has confessed to the murder of the journalist, posing in front of
a Turkish flag, flanked by some uniformed security officials.
The images and footage were taken at the anti-terror department in
Samsun, where Samast was arrested 32 hours after Dink was shot dead
outside his newspaper offices in Istanbul on Jan. 19, it was
reported.
The footage had emerged as an embarrassment for Samsun security
forces, which were accused by the press as having treated Samast the
murderer as a "hero."
During a weekly press briefing in Ankara, the spokesman of the
Security Directorate General Ismail Caliskan said a probe had been
launched to find out by whom or why the video footage and images were
shot.
Caliskan added that inspectors of the interior ministry have been
carrying out an investigation in northern cities of Trabzon, Samsun,
Istanbul and Ankara.
Hrant Dink, a 53-year-old Turkish citizen of Armenian descent, was
well-known for writing controversial articles about the alleged
Armenian genocide by Ottoman Turks during World War I and had
received a six-month suspended sentence.
Dink had received threat from nationalists who considered him as a
traitor. Turkish officials said that they have charged seven people
over the murder of Dink.