ANKARA: Dink murder: arrest warrant for Turkish police chief

Anadolu Agency (AA), Turkey
January 16, 2015 Friday

Dink murder: arrest warrant for Turkish police chief

Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was murdered in Istanbul in 2007

ISTANBUL

A Turkish court has issued Friday an arrest warrant for a senior
police officer, suspected of negligence with regards to the murder of
a Turkish-Armenian journalist in 2007.

An Istanbul night court, on the appeal of the prosecutor, decided
Friday to issue an arrest warrant for Ercan Demir, who is police chief
in the town of Cizre in Turkey’s southeastern province of Sirnak.

Demir was on duty as chief at the police department in the Black Sea
province of Trabzon when Hrant Dink was killed in Istanbul. Dink’s
murderer Ogun Samast had come from Trabzon.

Demir was previously questioned by an Istanbul prosecutor on Monday
and detained for two days. He was released on conditional probation by
an Istanbul court on Wednesday.

Two other police officers, also from Trabzon, were arrested Tuesday in
the negligence probe related to Dink’s murder.

Ozkan Mumcu and Muhittin Zenit are accused of “causing death due to
negligence” and “professional misconduct.”

Nine officials in total have been questioned in the investigation.

High-profile figures questioned last month include former Istanbul
vice governor Ergun Gungor, former Istanbul police chief Celalettin
Cerrah and former Istanbul police intelligence unit chief Ahmet Ilhan
Guler.

Dink’s murderer, Samast, who was 17 years old at the time, has been
tried and convicted in 2011.

Dink was the editor-in-chief of the weekly Agos, and was considered to
be one of the most prominent Armenian voices in Turkey.

Samast, who is serving a sentence of 23 years in prison, said that he
had killed Dink for insulting “Turkishness.”