TENS OF THOUSANDS MARCH IN PROTEST OF HRANT DINK VERDICT
Today’s Zaman
Jan 19 2012
Turkey
Some 40,000 people were out on the streets on Thursday in various
provinces across Turkey to commemorate Armenian-Turkish journalist
Hrant Dink, who was shot dead outside his newspaper’s office in
Å~^iÅ~_li on Jan. 19, 2007, two days after a court verdict that
established that there was no “criminal organization” link in the
assassination, although plenty of evidence suggests otherwise.
A large crowd gathered in Taksim at 1 p.m., but there were other events
in the same area in the evening as well. Other cities that saw large
crowds gathering both to commemorate Dink and to protest the court
verdict, which they say didn’t find or punish the real perpetrators
who organized the murder, included Ankara, Ä°zmir and Adana.
Dink’s family and friends and human rights organizations placed
red carnations on the spot where Dink was shot dead in Ä°stanbul
outside the office of Agos, the Armenian newspaper where he was
editor-in-chief.
Some 10,000 people began marching towards Agos’ office in Halaskargazi
Street “for justice,” a call shared by Turkish leaders and leading
businessmen who expressed unease with this week’s sentencing of one
man to life in prison for masterminding the killing, while another
18 were acquitted of charges of acting on a terrorist organization’s
orders. The group is set to make a statement to the press in front
of Agos.
Journalist and writer Karin KarakaÅ~_lı, who is from Turkey’s Armenian
community, read a press statement — on behalf of the group from the
window of Agos — that slammed Tuesday’s ruling. “We want an end to
this shame,” she said, referring to the five-year-long trial that has
failed to shed light on the masterminds behind the murder. “They are
telling us that the [case] file has been closed. The Dink case is not
a file that can be closed. The Dink case is a wound,” she continued.
The hashtag #kardesimhrant (mybrother Hrant) was the top trending topic
for Turkey on Twitter, while the words Taksim — where the protesters
met in Ä°stanbul — and Agos remained in the top 10 throughout much
of the day. Thousands of micro bloggers reported every second of the
event in a fast-moving stream of tweets.
At the night club Ghetto, a commemoration concert for Dink was held.
The bands and artists who performed were Aylin Aslım, Cafe Aman
Ä°stanbul, Gripin, Jehan Barbur, KardeÅ~_ Turkuler, Mogollar, Mor ve
Otesi, Redd, Rojin and Å~^evval Sam.
What really happened?
Dink was shot dead by an ultra-nationalist teenager in broad daylight
five years ago. The hit-man, Ogun Samast, and eighteen others were
brought to trial. During the process, the lawyers for the Dink family
and the co-plaintiffs in the case presented evidence indicating
that Samast was not acting alone. Another suspect, Yasin Hayal,
was given life in prison for inciting Samast to murder. However,
Erhan Tuncel, who worked as an informant for the Trabzon Police
Department, was not found guilty of the murder. The prosecution
believes the killers are affiliated with the Ergenekon network, whose
suspected members currently stand trial on charges of plotting to
overthrow the government. The lawyers have documented that the police
force in Trabzon, where most of the suspects are from and where the
assassination plot was hatched, and the Ä°stanbul Police Department
knew about the murder. In a separate trial, two gendarmerie officers
were convicted on charges of “dereliction of duty” in the run-up to
the Dink murder. There have also been other instances hinting at a
cover-up and even protection of the suspects, but the court decided
that a group of teenagers plotted to kill the journalist because he
was an Armenian. The verdict was met with outrage by civil society
gruops, politicians and others.
One photograph, released to the media shortly after the murder
for example, showed Samast — the shooter — standing next to two
proud-looking police officers with a Turkish flag in the background,
allegedly taken at the Samsun Police Department where he was captured
before he was brought to Ä°stanbul.
The court’s verdict, which found that the teenagers acted on their
own, came on Tuesday, two days before the fifth anniversary of the
Dink murder. The protests reflected a combined sense of mourning,
grief and anger.
The possible Ergenekon connection On Friday, Erdal Dogan, a former
lawyer for Hrant Dink, said there were many links that were covered
up during the investigation. He said that Zekeriya Oz, the former
prosecutor conducting the investigation into Ergenekon — the
clandestine network of coup plotters — was removed from office last
year just when he was about to investigate further into the heart of
the group that was really behind the murder.
“When you look at the big picture, you see the structure [behind
the murder], the organization. We see the traces of this in the
Sledgehammer coup plot of 2003,” he said, referring to a subplot
allegedly devised by a coup-planning group inside the military that
had non-Muslims at its target. “Even the names of the people who
would kill Dink were written out at the time.”
Dogan was quoted by the Dink agency as saying that he had been
following the main Dink murder trial — and the related trials — since
2005. He said he gave up his role as a plaintiff lawyer shortly after
it occurred to him that nothing would come out of the court process. He
told the Cihan news agency: “The prosecutor did not conduct a thorough
investigation. I had earlier said that nothing would come out of that
trial. There were criminal complaints filed against people — some of
whom are now jailed in the Ergenekon trial — who attacked the lawyers
and the Dink family during the trial,” referring to Kemal Kerincsiz,
an ultra-nationalist lawyer, who, along with like-minded individuals,
went to the first few hearings in the Dink trial and verbally harassed
and physically assaulted Dink’s friends.
Dogan also said the “structure” that killed Dink still has the power
to commit many other atrocities. He noted that the Cage action plan
— another coup document that is currently under investigation —
includes a proposal to assassinate important public figures from
non-Muslim communities and that the planned murders were referred to as
“operations.” Dogan said it was also out in the open that a group of
officers in the Trabzon police collaborated with those carrying out
the Cage plan. “There are serious incidents of negligence. If those
could have been prevented, Dink would still be alive.”
President Abdullah Gul on Thursday in his second statement on the
verdict said concluding the trial fairly and transparently is a major
test for Turkey.
“The Hrant Dink trial is an important trial. It has special sensitivity
since it concerns one of our non-Muslim citizens. It is a major test
for us to conclude the trial process so far and from now on in a
fair and transparent way,” he said on Thursday as he responded to
questions from reporters in Aksaray.
Gul recalled that the lawyers and the prosecutors involved in the case
have appealed the decision and that the final verdict would be given
by the Supreme Court of Appeals. “I hope the final verdict comes soon,”
he added.
Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal
Kılıcdaroglu also made a statement, leveling criticism at the ruling
Justice and Development Party (AK Party) for the controversial verdict.
Kılıcdaroglu said in his Twitter feed on Wednesday that there are
those who define students demanding free education as members of
a criminal organization, but don’t consider Dink’s murder the work
of an organized criminal effort. “This is the AK Party’s justice,”
Kılıcdaroglu added in a veiled statement meant to suggest the
government played a role in the court’s decision.
Other reactions Metin Ozyurt, head of the Law Center, a civil
society group promoting legal democratic rights, offered a related
view, saying, “It is a major contradiction that the same people who
are conducting campaigns for the release of Ergenekon suspects are
questioning organizational links in the Dink murder.” Ozyurt said Dink
was killed to serve the ends of the Cage Plan plotters. He criticized
the critics of the Ergenekon trial, who claim that the trial has become
an instrument for the government to crack down on its opponents. Ozyurt
said the assassination of Dink, the 2006 killing of an Italian priest
in Trabzon and the brutal murders of three Christians in Malatya in
2007 were connected and were part of the Cage plan.
The Turkish Industrialists and Businessmen’s Association (TUSÄ°AD)
issued its first formal statement on the verdict on Thursday. At
the 42th General Assembly meeting of her organization, TUSÄ°AD
President Umit Boyner said the verdict in the murder trial of Dink,
“a patriot who loved this land and its people,” hurt the public
conscience. She said the verdict had shocked the public, but she
also criticized the arrest of journalist Nedim Å~^ener as part of the
Ergenekon investigation. “In the run-up to this verdict, a journalist
who exposed the role of illegal structures [inside the state] and
the role of some state officials in the murder, or the failure to
prevent it, was arrested on charges of being a part of the illegal
organization that he thought he had exposed.”
She said the verdict greatly shattered public confidence in the
judiciary and judicial mechanisms.
Parliamentary Constitutional Commission head Burhan Kuzu also made a
statement on the verdict, saying: “We will wait for the appeals process
to be completed. It is not right to bring this to the forefront before
the judicial process is completely over.”
From: A. Papazian