Today’s Zaman, Turkey
Jan 19 2014
Seven years on, Dink murder remains unsolved
GÃ`NAY HÄ°LAL AYGÃ`N
[email protected]
Jan. 19 was the seventh anniversary of the death of Turkish-Armenian
journalist Hrant Dink, who was gunned down in 2007 in broad daylight
in front of the offices of the bilingual Armenian weekly Agos, where
he was editor-in-chief. Seven years on, the murder remains unsolved,
with the real masterminds and motives continuing to be a source of
mystery for the entire country.
Although there has been mounting evidence that the murder was not the
job of a few individuals, those who devised the plot to kill Dink and
those who covered up the evidence after his murder have yet to be
exposed and punished.
So, what has happened since Dink’s death? An underage person who
carried out the murder was captured and sentenced, but those who
ordered him to do so have not yet been identified or brought to
justice. The hope remains — though it grows dimmer — that the
continuing investigation may eventually expose the criminal
organization responsible for Dink’s assassination.
Cengiz Çandar from Radikal said the Dink murder came at a troubled
time for Turkey, with the country headed towards a complicated
presidential election. `The first days of January suggested that 2007
would be a hard year for Turkey,’ wrote the columnist, adding that the
`sky became gloomy’ in the third week of January when Dink was shot
from behind. `Much has been said and written since then. Many people
protested against the murder. Many trials were held to find out the
truth behind the murder. Yet, the shroud of mist surrounding the
murder has not been lifted,’ Çandar complained. According to the
columnist, the state, not the deep state, was behind the murder. `It
is easier to point to the deep state in such cases. But to me, it was
not the deep state that carried out Dink’s murder. It was the state
itself. I have said several times before [in interviews and on TV
programs] that the state was behind the murder. It was the state
itself that was so close to the surface with all its institutions, he
noted.
According to Milliyet’s Nagehan Alçı, the seven years that have passed
since the killing of Dink are a source of shame for Turkey. `It has
been seven years but the Dink murder still lies there, just like a
corpse,’ she wrote. Alçı said she had interviewed Dink before the
murder, and he said he had been made a `target’ by a deep power that
wanted him to be seen as a man who insulted Turkishness. `When I go
out, I find myself psychologically torturing myself, thinking about
the men walking towards me, thinking about me,’ Alçı quoted Dink as
saying in the interview. The columnist also said those who conducted a
slander campaign against Dink were tried as part of the Ergenekon
cases, but no link between them and the Dink murder was established.
`Media actors who played the biggest role in the slander campaign that
resulted in Dink’s murder have not been called to account,’ she
stated.