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OFFICER PROMOTED DESPITE CLAIMS IN DINK MURDER
Hurriyet Daily News
Feb 3 2012
Turkey
A top officer accused of alleged negligence in the murder of
journalist Hrant Dink, Ramazan Akyurek, receives a promotion and
appointed as the head of the Inspection Board in the Police Department
Interior Minister Ä°dris Naim Å~^ahin has made a number of appointments
in the Police Department whereby Ramazan Akyurek, a top officer
accused of alleged negligence in the murders of both Hrant Dink and
Friar Santoro, received a promotion.
"Ramazan Akyurek, who served in the highest rank in terms of [access
to] intelligence during both murders, has not been discharged from
his post by the government, but rather taken under its protection,
despite his liability in the first degree," deputy Atilla Kart of
the main opposition People's Republican Party (CHP) said in a written
statement yesterday.
Officer Akyurek was promoted from the head of the Department of
Strategy Development to the head of the Inspection Board in the Police
Department Headquarters in Ankara.
"Ramazan Akyurek was ostensibly removed from his post in response to
public pressure and outcry two years and nine months after Hrant Dink's
murder. When he filed a lawsuit at the Ankara 14th Administrative Court
to be reinstated back to his post, the Interior Ministry paved the
way for Akyurek to win the case by concealing the truth and issuing
a formal plea," CHP deputy Kart said.
Ramazan Akyurek served as the head of the police in the Black Sea
province of Trabzon between Dec. 2003 and May 2006, whereas Friar
Santoro was murdered on Feb. 2006, Kart said. Officer Akyurek then
served as the head of Police Intelligence between May 2006 and Oct.
2009, during which time Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was
also murdered in Jan. 2007, Kart added.
"And thus, all the obstacles that lie before the likes of Ramazan
Akyurek have been jointly cleared up," he said.
Erhan Tuncel, a former police informant in Trabzon, said he had warned
the local police about Dink's murder in 2007. It subsequently came
to light, however, that Ramazan Akyurek, the chief of the Trabzon
police at the time, had conveyed only one out of 11 notices to the
Istanbul Police Department.
The Interior Ministry discharged Akyurek from his post in relation
to those accusations in October and appointed him as an expert to the
Department of Strategy Development. Hrant Dink, the former chief editor
of the weekly Agos, a paper published in both Armenian and Turkish,
was shot to death in front of his office on Jan. 19, 2007.
Hitman Ogun Samast was later sentenced to more than 20 years in
prison, while instigator Yasin Hayal received an aggravated life
imprisonment sentence.
The court released Erhan Tuncel, however, although the chief justice
and the prosecutor as well as leading government figures have expressed
reservations about that controversial verdict.
Friar Andrea Santoro of the Catholic Church of Santa Maria in
Trabzon was also shot to death by a teenager who was sentenced to
life imprisonment, although his sentence was later commuted to 20
years in prison in view of the fact that he was a minor.
Hurriyet Daily News
Feb 3 2012
Turkey
A top officer accused of alleged negligence in the murder of
journalist Hrant Dink, Ramazan Akyurek, receives a promotion and
appointed as the head of the Inspection Board in the Police Department
Interior Minister Ä°dris Naim Å~^ahin has made a number of appointments
in the Police Department whereby Ramazan Akyurek, a top officer
accused of alleged negligence in the murders of both Hrant Dink and
Friar Santoro, received a promotion.
"Ramazan Akyurek, who served in the highest rank in terms of [access
to] intelligence during both murders, has not been discharged from
his post by the government, but rather taken under its protection,
despite his liability in the first degree," deputy Atilla Kart of
the main opposition People's Republican Party (CHP) said in a written
statement yesterday.
Officer Akyurek was promoted from the head of the Department of
Strategy Development to the head of the Inspection Board in the Police
Department Headquarters in Ankara.
"Ramazan Akyurek was ostensibly removed from his post in response to
public pressure and outcry two years and nine months after Hrant Dink's
murder. When he filed a lawsuit at the Ankara 14th Administrative Court
to be reinstated back to his post, the Interior Ministry paved the
way for Akyurek to win the case by concealing the truth and issuing
a formal plea," CHP deputy Kart said.
Ramazan Akyurek served as the head of the police in the Black Sea
province of Trabzon between Dec. 2003 and May 2006, whereas Friar
Santoro was murdered on Feb. 2006, Kart said. Officer Akyurek then
served as the head of Police Intelligence between May 2006 and Oct.
2009, during which time Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was
also murdered in Jan. 2007, Kart added.
"And thus, all the obstacles that lie before the likes of Ramazan
Akyurek have been jointly cleared up," he said.
Erhan Tuncel, a former police informant in Trabzon, said he had warned
the local police about Dink's murder in 2007. It subsequently came
to light, however, that Ramazan Akyurek, the chief of the Trabzon
police at the time, had conveyed only one out of 11 notices to the
Istanbul Police Department.
The Interior Ministry discharged Akyurek from his post in relation
to those accusations in October and appointed him as an expert to the
Department of Strategy Development. Hrant Dink, the former chief editor
of the weekly Agos, a paper published in both Armenian and Turkish,
was shot to death in front of his office on Jan. 19, 2007.
Hitman Ogun Samast was later sentenced to more than 20 years in
prison, while instigator Yasin Hayal received an aggravated life
imprisonment sentence.
The court released Erhan Tuncel, however, although the chief justice
and the prosecutor as well as leading government figures have expressed
reservations about that controversial verdict.
Friar Andrea Santoro of the Catholic Church of Santa Maria in
Trabzon was also shot to death by a teenager who was sentenced to
life imprisonment, although his sentence was later commuted to 20
years in prison in view of the fact that he was a minor.