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Cihan News Agency (CNA) - Turkey
January 13, 2013 Sunday
Feeling ridiculed, Hrant's Friends dissect murder, trial process of Dink
ISTANBUL (CIHAN)- Having a great sense of being ridiculed by the
Turkish system, which they said not only punished but even protected
the real perpetrators of the 2007 murder of Hrant Dink, late
editor-in-chief of the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, Hrant's Friends
have recalled and retold the process that led to the assassination of
Dink and the failure to bring the real criminals to light.
"We feel like we are being made fun of. Both the government and
judiciary ridiculed us during the course of the 24 hearings," said
Garo Paylan, a long-time leader in Armenian institutions in Turkey. He
was speaking at a panel called "Six years of Show trial: Hrant Dink
murder case" organized by Hrant's Friends who say "We are Here
Ahparig! ("ahparig" means "my brother" in Armenian) as part of a
week-long memorial of events on Jan. 12, telling people from all walks
of life who consider themselves "Hrant's Friends" that they were
indeed naively waiting for five years for justice to be granted.
When the Istanbul 14th High Criminal Court issued its final verdict on
Jan. 17 last year in the 25th hearing of the case acquitting all
suspects of organized crime charges, the public's sense of justice was
greatly impaired. The court handed down a sentence of life
imprisonment for Yasin Hayal, the instigator. Erhan Tuncel, another
individual accused of being a troublemaker, who worked for the Trabzon
Police Department as an informant, was released. Gunman Ogün Samast
was sentenced to nearly 23 years in prison by a separate juvenile
court.
Journalist Banu Güven reminded the public that many institutions and
individuals played a role in the cover up of Dink's murder. For
example, when Tuncel was captured, some high level police officials
called news stations and told them not to mention Tuncel's name in
their stories because he was one of the "good guys."
Fethiye Çetin, Dink family's lawyer handling the case, said in the
panel titled "Operation starts: Before January 19", that Dink was
subjected to a campaign of serious of attacks by the state and media.
"There were several news items indicating that [Christian] missionary
activities were a domestic threat to Turkey. In addition the National
Security Council (MGK) established a commission against claims of
genocide. In Parliament, political party members were talking about
missionary threats, and Rahsan Ecevit was the leader of all," she said
in reference to the opposition Republican People's Party's (CHP)
lawmaker.
She also stated that Dink published a story in Agos in 2004 about
Turkey's first-ever female fighter pilot, Sabiha Gökçen, who is the
adopted child of the Republic of Turkey's founder, Mustafa Kemal
Atatürk. Dink wrote that Gökçen was actually an Armenian orphan who
survived the 1915 events. The story made headlines in the daily
Hürriyet, whose motto is "Turkey belongs to the Turks."
A smear campaign was launched against Dink, concentrating on a single
sentence from Dink's series of articles titled "On Armenian Identity,"
and he was accused of insulting Turkishness. Some individuals and
organization filed complaints against Dink using identical petitions.
Dink was convicted of violating the infamous Article 301 of the
Turkish Penal Code (TCK) which forbids insulting "Turkishness."
Çetin recalled that the General Staff issued a harsh statement against
Dink's article and following that statement, Dink was summoned to the
Istanbul Governor's Office.
In "I am now a target," an article published after that meeting, Dink
said that they wanted to teach him a lesson. "But what did they want
from Hrant, an individual running a newspaper and who tries to make
his voice heard? Why was the deep state preoccupied with Dink?" she
asked.
Her explanation was that some ultra-nationalists and neo-nationalists
or modernist nationalists, often called "ulusalci" in Turkish, who do
not want Turkey to enter the European Union, were trying to generate
fear in society by inciting suspicions about the West and threats of
missionaryism. "Another reason is that Dink was reminding the state
about the events of 1915, and the Gökçen story was too much for some
in society to digest. Dink was an affectionate, influential speaker.
All of that made Dink a dangerous person," she added.
Armenians claim up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed during World
War I at the hands of the Ottoman Empire in a systematic genocide
campaign. Turkey categorically denies these charges, saying the death
toll is inflated and that Turks were also killed as Armenians revolted
against the Ottoman Empire in collaboration with Russian forces in
order to create an independent state in eastern Anatolia.
Hakan Bakircioglu, another lawyer working on behalf of the Dink
family, emphasized in another panel on Saturday that despite all the
efforts made by the Dink family and their attorneys, it has not been
possible to break the "unwillingness" of investigating prosecutors
with respect to delving deeper into the investigation and exploring
all the connections. "It was not possible to hear many public
officials as witnesses, who were protected with immunity," he said. He
elaborated that the court rejected hearing key officials in the case
such as Celalettin Cerrah, head of the Istanbul Police Department at
the time; Ahmet Ilhan Güler, then director of the Istanbul
Intelligence Division; Ramazan Akyürek, head of the Intelligence
Department of the National Police Department. Resat Altay, director of
the Trabzon Police Department at the time; and Colonel Ali Öz,
commander of the Trabzon Gendarmerie Regiment.
In the last panel held on Saturday, "Deep labyrinths of the state:
Police and gendarmerie," journalists debated the role of these two
institutions. There were tense moments as journalists argued that some
media organizations covered parts of the story and either emphasized
the role of the gendarmerie or the police according to their
ideological stance.
No hopes for a real investigation
Responding to an appeal from the Dink family lawyers, the Supreme
Court of Appeals' Chief Public Prosecutor's Office last week asked the
high court to overturn the Istanbul court's controversial verdict
ruling out the involvement of an organized criminal network in Dink's
murder, some panelists expressed their despair regarding the process.
Bakircioglu said that there is a need for a strong political will to
go forward with the case but he does not see it yet. "A case still
exists in Istanbul for the investigation of officials who played a
role in Dink's murder by either planning the deed or covering up or
ignoring evidence. However, this case is not going proceeding with
action," he said.
Göktas voiced similar views. "We have been guilelessly waiting for
justice to be enforced. The court's actions and ruling ridiculed all
of us," he said, adding that despite the top court prosecutor's
positive move against the Istanbul court's ruling last year, it does
not mean the Supreme Court will pass a decision in line with it
supporting the prosecutor's opinion or that it will reveal that this
is not a the doing of a few individuals, but the work of a greater
conspiracy or organization.
"There is now even an ombusdsman now who approved the court's ruling
against Dink on Article 301 charges," he added in reference to
Parliament's election of Mehmet Nihat Ömeroglu, a retired member of
the Supreme Court of Appeals, as Turkey's first chief ombudsman.
On Jan. 10, 2013, The Supreme Court of Appeals' Chief Public
Prosecutor's Office said that Dink was clearly only killed because he
was of a different religion, and his murder was part of planned and
systematic activities of a criminal network aiming to damage the
state's unity.
The European Court of Human Rights [ECtHR] ruled in September 2010
that Turkey had failed to investigate and prosecute those who were
responsible for Dink's murder and this constitutes a violation of
Hrant Dink's right to life.
January 13, 2013 Sunday
Feeling ridiculed, Hrant's Friends dissect murder, trial process of Dink
ISTANBUL (CIHAN)- Having a great sense of being ridiculed by the
Turkish system, which they said not only punished but even protected
the real perpetrators of the 2007 murder of Hrant Dink, late
editor-in-chief of the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, Hrant's Friends
have recalled and retold the process that led to the assassination of
Dink and the failure to bring the real criminals to light.
"We feel like we are being made fun of. Both the government and
judiciary ridiculed us during the course of the 24 hearings," said
Garo Paylan, a long-time leader in Armenian institutions in Turkey. He
was speaking at a panel called "Six years of Show trial: Hrant Dink
murder case" organized by Hrant's Friends who say "We are Here
Ahparig! ("ahparig" means "my brother" in Armenian) as part of a
week-long memorial of events on Jan. 12, telling people from all walks
of life who consider themselves "Hrant's Friends" that they were
indeed naively waiting for five years for justice to be granted.
When the Istanbul 14th High Criminal Court issued its final verdict on
Jan. 17 last year in the 25th hearing of the case acquitting all
suspects of organized crime charges, the public's sense of justice was
greatly impaired. The court handed down a sentence of life
imprisonment for Yasin Hayal, the instigator. Erhan Tuncel, another
individual accused of being a troublemaker, who worked for the Trabzon
Police Department as an informant, was released. Gunman Ogün Samast
was sentenced to nearly 23 years in prison by a separate juvenile
court.
Journalist Banu Güven reminded the public that many institutions and
individuals played a role in the cover up of Dink's murder. For
example, when Tuncel was captured, some high level police officials
called news stations and told them not to mention Tuncel's name in
their stories because he was one of the "good guys."
Fethiye Çetin, Dink family's lawyer handling the case, said in the
panel titled "Operation starts: Before January 19", that Dink was
subjected to a campaign of serious of attacks by the state and media.
"There were several news items indicating that [Christian] missionary
activities were a domestic threat to Turkey. In addition the National
Security Council (MGK) established a commission against claims of
genocide. In Parliament, political party members were talking about
missionary threats, and Rahsan Ecevit was the leader of all," she said
in reference to the opposition Republican People's Party's (CHP)
lawmaker.
She also stated that Dink published a story in Agos in 2004 about
Turkey's first-ever female fighter pilot, Sabiha Gökçen, who is the
adopted child of the Republic of Turkey's founder, Mustafa Kemal
Atatürk. Dink wrote that Gökçen was actually an Armenian orphan who
survived the 1915 events. The story made headlines in the daily
Hürriyet, whose motto is "Turkey belongs to the Turks."
A smear campaign was launched against Dink, concentrating on a single
sentence from Dink's series of articles titled "On Armenian Identity,"
and he was accused of insulting Turkishness. Some individuals and
organization filed complaints against Dink using identical petitions.
Dink was convicted of violating the infamous Article 301 of the
Turkish Penal Code (TCK) which forbids insulting "Turkishness."
Çetin recalled that the General Staff issued a harsh statement against
Dink's article and following that statement, Dink was summoned to the
Istanbul Governor's Office.
In "I am now a target," an article published after that meeting, Dink
said that they wanted to teach him a lesson. "But what did they want
from Hrant, an individual running a newspaper and who tries to make
his voice heard? Why was the deep state preoccupied with Dink?" she
asked.
Her explanation was that some ultra-nationalists and neo-nationalists
or modernist nationalists, often called "ulusalci" in Turkish, who do
not want Turkey to enter the European Union, were trying to generate
fear in society by inciting suspicions about the West and threats of
missionaryism. "Another reason is that Dink was reminding the state
about the events of 1915, and the Gökçen story was too much for some
in society to digest. Dink was an affectionate, influential speaker.
All of that made Dink a dangerous person," she added.
Armenians claim up to 1.5 million Armenians were killed during World
War I at the hands of the Ottoman Empire in a systematic genocide
campaign. Turkey categorically denies these charges, saying the death
toll is inflated and that Turks were also killed as Armenians revolted
against the Ottoman Empire in collaboration with Russian forces in
order to create an independent state in eastern Anatolia.
Hakan Bakircioglu, another lawyer working on behalf of the Dink
family, emphasized in another panel on Saturday that despite all the
efforts made by the Dink family and their attorneys, it has not been
possible to break the "unwillingness" of investigating prosecutors
with respect to delving deeper into the investigation and exploring
all the connections. "It was not possible to hear many public
officials as witnesses, who were protected with immunity," he said. He
elaborated that the court rejected hearing key officials in the case
such as Celalettin Cerrah, head of the Istanbul Police Department at
the time; Ahmet Ilhan Güler, then director of the Istanbul
Intelligence Division; Ramazan Akyürek, head of the Intelligence
Department of the National Police Department. Resat Altay, director of
the Trabzon Police Department at the time; and Colonel Ali Öz,
commander of the Trabzon Gendarmerie Regiment.
In the last panel held on Saturday, "Deep labyrinths of the state:
Police and gendarmerie," journalists debated the role of these two
institutions. There were tense moments as journalists argued that some
media organizations covered parts of the story and either emphasized
the role of the gendarmerie or the police according to their
ideological stance.
No hopes for a real investigation
Responding to an appeal from the Dink family lawyers, the Supreme
Court of Appeals' Chief Public Prosecutor's Office last week asked the
high court to overturn the Istanbul court's controversial verdict
ruling out the involvement of an organized criminal network in Dink's
murder, some panelists expressed their despair regarding the process.
Bakircioglu said that there is a need for a strong political will to
go forward with the case but he does not see it yet. "A case still
exists in Istanbul for the investigation of officials who played a
role in Dink's murder by either planning the deed or covering up or
ignoring evidence. However, this case is not going proceeding with
action," he said.
Göktas voiced similar views. "We have been guilelessly waiting for
justice to be enforced. The court's actions and ruling ridiculed all
of us," he said, adding that despite the top court prosecutor's
positive move against the Istanbul court's ruling last year, it does
not mean the Supreme Court will pass a decision in line with it
supporting the prosecutor's opinion or that it will reveal that this
is not a the doing of a few individuals, but the work of a greater
conspiracy or organization.
"There is now even an ombusdsman now who approved the court's ruling
against Dink on Article 301 charges," he added in reference to
Parliament's election of Mehmet Nihat Ömeroglu, a retired member of
the Supreme Court of Appeals, as Turkey's first chief ombudsman.
On Jan. 10, 2013, The Supreme Court of Appeals' Chief Public
Prosecutor's Office said that Dink was clearly only killed because he
was of a different religion, and his murder was part of planned and
systematic activities of a criminal network aiming to damage the
state's unity.
The European Court of Human Rights [ECtHR] ruled in September 2010
that Turkey had failed to investigate and prosecute those who were
responsible for Dink's murder and this constitutes a violation of
Hrant Dink's right to life.