PROSECUTOR FOCUSES ON GENDARMES’ TIES TO DINK SUSPECTS

Today’s Zaman
Sept 27 2011
Turkey

Istanbul 14th Criminal Court Chief Public Prosecutor Hikmet Usta on
Monday said connections exist between members of the military and
two men who incited Ogun Samast to murder Turkish-Armenian journalist
Hrant Dink outside the office of the Agos weekly in 2007.

Usta said Samast and instigators Erhan Tuncel and Yasin Hayal had
unusual connections to three members of the military: Spc. Sgt.

Satýlmýþ Þahin, Pvt. Unsal Gurel, Pvt. Resul Kutukoðlu and Pvt. Ahmet
Faruk Aydoðdu.

A former police informant, Tuncel is believed to have supplied the
hitman with a gun while Hayal is accused of having acted with Tuncel
in masterminding the Dink murder. Among other key suspects is Samast,
an ultranationalist teenager who pulled the trigger. Samast stood
trial at the Ýstanbul 2nd Juvenile Court because he was a minor at
the time of the murder. He was recently sentenced to 22 years, 10
months in prison by the court.

The statements of the suspects in the Dink case did not satisfy the
public and prosecutors. The Dink indictment, which was prepared before
the Ergenekon case come to light, does not reflect the background of
Dink’s assassination. Usta’s latest announcement is the first dictum
which drew attention to the murder’s ties to Ergenekon. The prosecution
has pointed to an Ergenekon cell in the Black Sea province of Trabzon
as being behind the murder.

Ergenekon is a clandestine underground network accused of creating
chaos and plotting to overthrow the government. The prosecutor
also demanded a life sentence for seven suspects, including key
suspects Hayal and Tuncel, on charges of attempting to destroy the
constitutional order.

Usta’s words show the connection between Spt. Sgt. Þahin and Tuncel.

Investigators found that Þahin was in Ýstanbul on the day of the
incident, whereas Tuncel claims he was outside Ýstanbul. In addition,
Þahin in his statement on March 30, 2007, stated that he had met
Tuncel through Tuncay Uzundal while doing random ID checks. Þahin
states that he saw Uzundal again a few times when he was carrying out
inspections at Internet cafes, where Uzundal requested Þahin’s cell
phone number. A report provided by the prosecutor’s office states
that Þahin had called Tuncel 45 times and Uzundal 48 times.

From: Baghdasarian