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The Grand Turk

Hrant Dink murder was deliberately permitted, says former police intelligence branch head

2017-01-18

[Hurriyet Daily News] Ali Fuat Yilmazer, the former head of The Sick Man of Europe Turkey ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... ’s police intelligence branch, has given his testimony in the 31st hearing into the 2007 killing of Armenian-origin Turkish journalist Hrant Dink, saying the killing was "deliberately not prevented" and security authorities in Istanbul and Trabzon were responsible. "This murder was made possible on purpose and Dink was the victim of the killing. The police are guilty of misconduct on duty. The state did not carry out its duty," said Yilmazer. "In terms of numbers, there is an organizational connection behind this murder. Most importantly it has coordination within the state. The mechanisms within the state did not move to protect Dink," he added. Yilmazer also said the earlier investigation into the killing "were closer to justice" and those placed in durance vile Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! had been "silenced." Noting that the killing was planned in the Black Sea province of Trabzon before being committed in Istanbul, Yilmazer said Dink was murdered due to lack of measures that should have been taken in Istanbul. He said officials in Istanbul had a duty to take Dink under protection like Orhan Pamuk, the Turkish novelist who was given security protection and who was tried under the notorious Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code against "insulting Turkishness." Dink was also convicted of the offense before his death. In his testimony, Yilmazer denied claims that he was the instigator of the murder, saying he had "no connection" with the Trabzon authorities and in fact he had never even been to the Black Sea province. He also alleged that Engin Dinc, former Trabzon police intelligence branch chief, had such connections as he had spoken with the gendarmerie on the issue. Dink, 52, was rubbed out with two bullets to the head in broad daylight outside the offices of the Turkish-Armenian weekly newspaper Agos in central Istanbul. Trabzon-based Ogun Samast, then a 17-year-old jobless high-school dropout, confessed to the murder and was sentenced to almost 23 years in jail in 2011. But the case grew into a wider scandal after it emerged that security forces had been aware of a plot to kill Dink but failed to act. Relatives and followers of the case have long claimed government officials, police, military personnel and members of the National Intelligence Agency (MIT) played a role in Dink’s murder by neglecting their duty to protect the journalist.

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The Grand Turk

Trabzon intelligence police knew about Dink's hitman before murder

2015-10-10

[Hurriyet Daily News] An Istanbul prosecutor has unearthed files which show that Trabzon police intelligence had known about Ogun Samast, the hitman in Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink's murder, before the incident took place. Gökalp Kökcu, the chief public prosecutor heading the investigation, believes that the Trabzon police intelligence unit was told by Erhan Tuncel, a police informant at the time, that a person named Ogun had been chosen as the hitman for Dink's murder before the incident took place in Istanbul in January 2007. Samast assassinated Dink in broad daylight on a busy street outside of the office of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos in Istanbul's Sisli district. Samast is serving a sentence of 22 years and 10 months in a high-security prison. Yasin Hayal and Tuncel were accused of encouraging Samast to kill Dink in the Black Sea province of Trabzon.

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Europe

Italy protests music video of Turkish singer praising priest's murder

2007-09-19

Rome, 19 Sept. (AKI) - Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi has strongly criticised a video clip by a famous Turkish folk singer singing about the death of priest Andrea Santoro. According to a statement, Prodi telephoned the Italian Ambassador Carlo Marsili in Ankara on Tuesday and "expressed his displeasure, and that of the Italian government, following the news of a music video where the homicide of Don Santoro is celebrated". In the clip posted on YouTube.com folk singer Ismail Turut's voice can be heard singing the song "Do not make any plans" with lyrics by poet Ozan Arif. The song is accompanied by images showing Ogun Samast, the teenager who allegedly shot dead ethnic Armenian journalist, Hrant Dink in Istanbul on 19 January as well as a suspected accomplice, Yasin Hayal, who was also implicated in the 2004 bombing of a McDonald's restaurant. Monsignor Luigi Padovese, apostolic vicar in Turkey, in an interview with Adnkronos International (AKI) called the video a "repugnant act" which does not express the feelings of the community. Other images include those of a wolf, apparently symbolising the ultra-rightwing Grey Wolves group, and one of the group's most notorious members, Mehmet Ali Agca who shot and wounded Pope John Paul II in 1981. Prosecutors are considering whether Turut, Arif or the unknown person who created the video could be charged with inciting hatred. "If they find me guilty, I am ready to serve the punishment. However, I am not guilty" Turut has said in response to the probe. The image of Dink, an advocate for the claim that the mass deaths of Armenians under Ottoman rule during the World War I period was genocide - appears when the lyrics "whoever betrays the country, he will be finished off" are sung. The images on the video showing the murdered Italian priest have been removed, and the Italian Ambassador has pledged to continue to work closely with the local authorities to avert future similar cases. The clip has received considerable media attention in Turkey and has outraged activist groups with two, the Human Rights Association in Turkey and the Association of Solidarity for Oppressed People, announcing they would file lawsuits against Turut and Arif.

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Olde Tyme Religion

Culture of violence in Trabzon, Turkey spawned Dink's murderer

2007-01-23

Few were surprised in this Black Sea coast city when a local youth confessed over the weekend to the shooting death of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, the latest incident to darken Turkey's international reputation. Arrested Saturday on an overnight train, 17-year-old high school dropout and amateur soccer player Ogun Samast turned out to be from Pelitli, a suburb of Trabzon. "I said my prayers and then I shot [Mr. Dink]," Ogun reportedly told interrogators. "I feel no remorse. He said Turkish blood was dirty blood." It was here, last February, that a 16-year-old boy fatally shot an Italian priest in the local Catholic church. It was also here, in May 2005, that four students distributing leaflets about prison conditions narrowly escaped death at the hands of a 2,000-strong lynch mob. Nationalism always has been a fundamental ingredient of Turkish society. As a political movement, it has traditionally been strongest in the towns south of the 13,000-foot-high mountains dividing Trabzon from the bleak Anatolian interior. Now, Trabzon has become a leading center of militant Turkish nationalism, and locals said the phenomenon could spiral out of control. "What you have here is a headless monster, a nursery for potential assassins," said Omer Faruk Altuntas, a lawyer and local head of a small left-wing party. "You may not like its policies, but at least the MHP controls its followers," agreed Mehmet Akcelep, referring to Turkey's biggest extreme nationalist party, the National Movement Party. "But Samast and hundreds of others like him aren't party people; they're free particles." Locals say the sources of what one Turkish commentator has labeled "banal fascism" in Trabzon are partially economic. Surrounding villages used to be prosperous; then the hazelnut market collapsed and farmers fled to the city in the tens of thousands. Ogun's district of Pelitli is made up of former villagers forced out of their homes by floods and landslides. Youth unemployment is high and most teenagers while away their time in one of two Internet cafes, or playing soccer. Those grievances have been stoked by the belief that Trabzon has suffered more than its share of casualties in Turkey's 25-year war against Kurdish separatists. The May 2005 mob attack on four students occurred in an atmosphere of national hysteria triggered by an attempt by two Kurdish teenagers to burn the Turkish flag. Turkey's top general called the flag-burners "so-called citizens." Critics of developments in Trabzon blame all local authorities, but reserve their harshest words for the press. "Three or four times, they've pretty much invited people to take out their guns and start shooting," said retired teacher Nuri Topal. The lynch mob formed after local television stations ran news flashes saying the students were separatists. In most Anatolian towns, few people watch local television or read local newspapers. In Trabzon, both are immensely popular and influential, mainly because of the town's obsessive relationship with soccer. The only non-Istanbul club ever to win Turkey's soccer league, Trabzonspor is a central part of the city's identity. The club has long been rumored to be close to local mafia groups enriched by Trabzon's key position in Black Sea human-trafficking networks. Many think its influence on local society is negative, too. "Trabzonspor and its supporters associations have become a semiofficial channel for nationalist thought," said local human rights activist Gultekin Yucesan.

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Europe

Turkish police: two confess in Dink killing

2007-01-23

ISTANBUL, Turkey --A nationalist militant convicted of bombing a McDonald's restaurant in 2004 has confessed to inciting the killing of an ethnic Armenian journalist last week, police said Monday. Yasin Hayal told police he provided a gun and money to the teenager who is suspected of carrying out Friday's shooting, the Hurriyet newspaper reported, citing police records. The teenager, Ogun Samast, was arrested over the weekend along with several other people and has confessed to fatally shooting the journalist, according to a chief prosecutor. Police confirmed the confession, but gave no details. The #7 truncheon, works every time. Police Chief Celalettin Cerrah of Istanbul said Monday that the suspect was linked to Hayal. If accurate, Hayal's reported statements to police would be a strong indication that the journalist, Hrant Dink, was targeted because of his public statements on the mass killings of Armenians by Turks in the early 20th century, one of the nation's most sensitive and divisive issues. Istanbul Gov. Muammer Guler said prosecutors were still investigating whether the suspect was linked to any organization, although Police Chief Celalettin Cerrah had said earlier that there was "no political or organizational dimension" to the slaying. Since he doesn't consider Islam to have any political organizational dimension, he might actually have been sincere with that statement. Hayal was convicted in the bombing of a McDonald's restaurant in Trabzon in 2004 that injured six people. He was released after serving more than 10 months in prison. At the time, police could not establish a link between Hayal and any underground groups, and his motive was never clear. This is what happens, Europe, when you let terrorists out of prison after a few months.

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Europe

Teenager 'confesses to killing of journalist'

2007-01-21

A teenager detained over the killing of an ethnic Armenian journalist has confessed to the killing, the prosecutor said today. Police captured the suspect - identified as Ogun Samast - in the Black Sea city of Samsun late last night, a day after Hrant Dink was gunned down in broad daylight outside his newspaper's office in Istanbul. The killing stunned the nation and highlighted the precarious state of freedom of expression in a country that is vying for European Union membership. Police said the youth was captured following a tip from his father after pictures were broadcast on Turkish television. Chief prosecutor Ahmet Cokcinar said the teenager had confessed to killing Dink during initial questioning in Samsun. He refused to give any further details. "All I can say is that Samast confessed during his questioning yesterday," Cokcinar said. Samast, who is 16 or 17 years old, was apparently on his way by bus from Istanbul back to his home town of Trabzon when he was caught. Police escorted him on a private plane back to Istanbul where he was taken to a police station for further questioning, police said. The photograph, taken by a security camera two blocks from the scene of Dink's shooting, had been broadcast across Turkey, and showed the suspect allegedly toting a gun and running from the scene. Video footage showed paramilitary police at the Samsun bus station inspecting a pistol and then placing it into an evidence bag. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Samast was arrested with the gun believed to have been used in the killing. Most Turks have assumed that 52-year-old Dink, editor of the Turkish-Armenian newspaper Agos, was targeted for his public statements calling the killing of Armenians by Turks in the early 20th century genocide. Nationalists consider such statements an insult to Turkey's honour and a threat to its unity, and Dink had been showered with insults and threats.

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Europe

Hrant Dink murder suspect caught

2007-01-21

The main suspect in the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink has been arrested, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said. The governor of Istanbul said police captured Ogun Samast, aged 16 or 17, on a bus in the Black Sea city of Samsun. Mr Samast was earlier named as the suspect pictured in security camera images near the scene of the killing. Mr Dink, 53, was shot dead in broad daylight outside his newspaper offices in Istanbul on Friday. He was well-known for writing controversial articles about the mass killing of Armenians by Turks during World War I. Istanbul governor Muammer Guler announced the details of the capture in a live television broadcast. He said Mr Samast had been detained at Samsun bus station while apparently returning to his hometown of Trabzon from Istanbul. The governor added that Mr Samast was carrying a gun at the time, and that six other suspects had been detained in Trabzon. All seven will be brought to Istanbul for questioning on Sunday and police are investigating whether they were part of a group, Mr Guler said. "Mahmoud, my #7 truncheon and my wrist brace, please!" "Yes, effendi! Will you take your mustache wax now?" "Hmmm, yes, it's going to be a long day!" The governor emphasised that Ogun Samast - who he said was born in 1990 - had been detained after 32 hours. The suspect was identified by his own father when he saw television images taken at the scene of Friday's killing. A clear image taken from security camera footage showed a man apparently running from the scene, tucking what officials said was a gun into his belt. Dink's secretary told investigators Mr Samast had asked to meet Mr Dink earlier on Friday, before the killing, Mr Guler said. After the request was turned down, the secretary saw Mr Samast waiting on the street outside Mr Dink's office, he said.

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