Hürriyet, Turkey
Feb 1 2007

Reverberations from Hrant Dink murder continue; Pamuk cancels trip abroad

Reverberations from the murder nearly two weeks ago of journalist
Hrant Dink continue: yesterday, Trabzon Chief of Police, Resat Altay,
who was formally dismissed from his post following Dink’s murder as
the investigation began to reveal that a number of the suspects
originated from Trabzon, left this Black Sea city with his wife.

In the meantime, one of the men suspected of having a key role in
Dink’s murder, Trabzon resident Yasin Hayal, told investigators in
Istanbul yesterday that he had chosen 17 year old Ogun Samast to
carry out the murder since he knew he himself was under police
observation, which he had guessed would impede him in an attempt to
kill Dink.

In Ankara meanwhile, Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu said that
prior to the close of the investigation into the Dink murder, he
would not be commenting on claims that Trabzon police informant Erhan
Tuncel, who is also a suspect in the murder, had warned police a
total of 17 times of the impending attack against Dink. Aksu also
reiterated that there would be no moves to dismiss either Istanbul
Chief of Police Celalettin Cerrah nor the Chief of Intelligence,
Ramazan Akyurek, prior to the close of the Dink investigation.

In a related note, Nobel prize award winning Turkish author Orhan
Pamuk has reportedly cancelled plans to travel to both Belgium and
Berlin, where he was to receive honorary doctorate awards at
universities in those cities. Sources in Germany connected to the
publishing house which publishes Pamuk’s books in German there said
Pamuk had cancelled his trip out of fear over possible attacks from
nationalist Turkish factions.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress