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Hrant Dink was commemorated in front of his newspaper on the 9th anniversary of his death. 1.5 +1 genocide

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Hrant-Dink 9thMaside Ocak: Promise to our Hrant, our Tahir, we will continue your legacy of struggle

Hrant Dink was commemorated in front of his newspaper on the 9th anniversary of his death. This year, the commemoration speech was read by Maside Ocak who is Hasan Ocak’s sister and one of the members of Saturday Mothers (Cumartesi Anneleri).

Here’s the full text of the speech

Parev, dearest Hrant,

Parev, dear Dink family with whom we became sisters in suffering,

Greetings to all hearts that are united today, in this very scene where Hrant Dink was murdered, to all hearts having gathered here so that he is ‘not to be forgotten’.  

Greetings to the enlightened people of these lands. 

Today marks the 9th anniversary of Hrant Dink’s assassination. 

On this January 19th, we have once again gathered to make our appeal ‘‘For Hrant, For Justice!’’ 

Because, for the last 9 years, there have been constant attempts to obstruct justice for this murder perpetrated by the state. There have been attempts to prevent this assassination from being solved truly, in all aspects.

Because, in Turkey, there is no political will that take democracy, human rights, and rule of law as a fundamental basis. While the defendants are well protected in the case of crimes committed or orchestrated by security forces, the victims are repeatedly faced with all forms of judicial and administrative practices geared towards refutation of their claims. 

Because, from the perspective of the state, Hrant Dink is still a dangerous enemy, since he advocated Armenian identity, used the therapeutic language of peace and brotherhood, and asked for a free, equal and just country. 

The poisonous climate, which was set before Hrant Dink’s assasination, has been jointly created by the government, the judicial bodies and the mainstream media. Today, this poisonous climate continues to target anyone who makes efforts for the resolution of social problems through democratic and peaceful means.  Today, those who do not obey the state policy of assimilation and imposition of a single identity are sentenced to live in a season of blood.  

We are in such a season of blood that we cannot even keep track of our dead. Bullets by the state hit babies in their eyes, small kids in their necks, killing them. Corpses are not allowed to be buried. The curfews imposed without any legal ground compels Kurds to watch and witness the bodies of the deceased rotting on the streets.  The society, which is already poisoned with lies, is expected to give consent to these unlawful, unscrupulous and inhuman practices. 

Hail to those who speak the truth in the face of lies of the rulers! Hail to those who declare ‘‘we will not be accomplices to this crime’’ in response to a government that is hostile to rights, truth and justice! 

They are scared of us not only when we are live, but also when we are dead. That’s why they want us to forget Hrant and all our murdered children. That’s why Saturday Mothers (Cumartesi Anneleri) are deprived of graves for the missing ones. That’s why they deny all the crimes against humanity they committed since 1915 to this very date. Since they are scared of the truth represented by our deceased, they want to enslave the society by subjecting them to a ‘constructed official discourse’. 

They want to turn Turkey into a country of masses who are estranged from one another’s pain and suffering, who are alienated from rights and law, and who lost its quality of being a society. That’s why they are blocking our channels of claiming rights and making peace mainstream.

Those who shot our Hrant in his back on Halaskargazi Avenue, those who shot our Tahir in his neck and made him fall face-down right next to the historic minaret Dört Ayaklı Minare. They did not only target them; they also wanted to shoot at our struggle for rights. Yet, here is our pledge to them: We will continue their legacy of struggle for truth, justice and peace. 

We will not concede to a single death, without any ifs or buts, without hesitation.  We will insist on silencing of arms, and settlement of all problems through dialogue. We will insist on peace, which is for us a state where human rights and liberties are recognized, protected and promoted. 

We are fully aware that each crime that is ignored, denied or not nconfronted paves the way for the next one. That’s why we will keep the truth alive. 

We are fully aware that remaining silent to persecution mechanisms targeting the dignity of people amounts to being an accomplice to the crime. That’s why we will not remain silent. 

We are fully aware that oppressive regimes build all their power and strength upon fear. That’s why we will hold no fear!   

We will never give up to call the ones who turned these lands into a safe haven for crimes against humanity, yet an unsafe hell for those who call for rights and liberties to account. 

There is no doubt that those who attempt to hamper brotherhood and freedom in this country are doomed to fail. Our humanity, which has been tested so many times with pain and suffering, will win and prevail. Our dream of equality, freedom and peace for all will ultimately become true. 

For our children who disappeared under custody and detention, 

For our lawyer Tahir Elçi, 

For Roboski,

For Gezi,

For Suruç,

For Ankara,

For Sur,

For Hrant,

For truth, for justice, for peace!  

Saturday Mothers (Cumartesi Anneleri)

Human Rights Association Istanbul Branch

Committee against Enforced Disappearances 

Turkey: Nine years on: No solid steps taken in Hrant Dink assassination

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AA Photo

AA Photo

İsmail Saymaz – ISTANBUL,

No solid legal steps have been taken in the nine years since Armenian-origin journalistHrant Dink was assassinated outside his office in Istanbul on Jan. 19, 2007, as thousands of people gathered to commemorate the late Agos editor-in-chief on the anniversary of his death.

The large crowd filed past the military museum in the Şişli district at around 1:30 p.m. on Jan. 19 to walk toward the Agos office building to read a statement at the site where Dink was shot dead by triggerman Ogün Samast nine years ago.

Accompanied by water cannons and armored vehicles, police took intense security measures along the route of the march as well as around the office of weekly Agos in Şişli’s Osmanbey neighborhood.

A poster reading “we are here Ahparig, with longing, anger and determination!” was placed on the outer walls of the office building. “Ahparig” means “my brother” in Armenian.

In legal terms, only one lawsuit has been filed into Dink’s assassination, while an ongoing investigation was launched separately against 26 public officials into negligence at the time of the killing. None of the 26 probed officials, including former and current police chiefs, have yet been tried.

Relatives and followers of the case have claimed government officials, police, military personnel and members of Turkey’s National Intelligence Agency (MİT) played a role in Dink’s murder by neglecting their duty to protect the journalist.

When Dink was murdered, the 26 officials were on duty in police departments in Istanbul, Ankara and the Black Sea province of Trabzon, from which Samast came to Istanbul before shooting the prominent journalist in the head nine years ago. Samast was sentenced to 22 years and 10 months in prison after being tried in a juvenile court as he was 17 at the time of the shooting death of Dink.

Samast’s killing of Dink was incited by Yasin Hayal, who in 2004 carried out a bomb attack with collaborator Erhan Tuncel targeting a McDonalds restaurant in Trabzon on the grounds that it was selling food during the Islam-holy month of Ramadan.

Hayal, who like Tuncel is a former member of a far-right political party and a right-wing nationalist youth group, was sentenced to life in prison for inciting Dink’s murder. Tuncel had been appointed as an Assistant Intelligence Officer at the Trabzon Police Department and informed police a year before Dink’s murder that Hayal had been planning to murder him. This information was then conveyed to the three police departments in Istanbul.

The investigation launched into the negligence of public officials at the time of Dink’s murder is still ongoing, with 26 current and former police officers stated as suspects in the indictment. The indictment prepared by Gökalp Kökçü, an Istanbul prosecutor who has also been in charge of terrorism-related investigations, was approved by the Istanbul 14th Court for Serious Crimes after it was presented on Dec. 9, 2015.

However, Kökçü was appointed to a department dealing with non-terrorism-related criminal activities as part of his job rotation system within the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, meaning that he was not able to head the investigation into the negligence of public officials in Dink’s murder.

The Istanbul Chief Prosecutor’s Office had returned the indictment to Kökçü in early November last year, arguing that “evidence that some of the suspects committed ‘deliberate murder’ could not be proven.”

Lawyers representing the Dink family reacted against the indictment returned to Kökçü, which meant that cases will likely not be opened against the suspects.

Hakan Bakırcıoğlu, a Dink family lawyer, said on Nov. 4 last year that not opening a case against former police chiefs Ahmet İlhan Güler, Celalettin Cerrah, Reşat Altay, Engin Dinç and other suspects, would exclude their integral responsibility in Dink’s murder.

Recalling the first two versions of the indictment, the latest one drafted in late October last year, Bakırcıoğlu said the two indictments charged former police chiefs Ali Fuat Yılmazer, Ramazan Akyürek, Tamer Bülent Demirel and Osman Gülbel each with “deliberate murder,” Engin Dinç, Reşat Altay and Ahmet İlhan Güler each with “deliberate murder with negligence,” and Sabri Uzun and Celalettin Cerrah each with “malpractice on public duty.”

“Despite resistance and barriers in front of the interrogation and investigation of public servants who took part in Dink’s murder, they were interrogated and investigated by the prosecutor [in charge of the case],” Bakırcıoğlu said.

January/19/2016

Istanbul: Indictment against state officials in Dink murder case finally accepted

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dink12An indictment against public officials charged with misconduct and negligence in the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in 2007 has finally been accepted by the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, after its second rejection last month.

The İstanbul Chief Prosecutor’s Office returned the indictment two times to public prosecutor Gökalp Kökçü, who is overseeing the investigation, for allegedly including the names of pro-government police officers as suspects and demanding a prison sentence of up to 25 years for Police Chief Engin Dinç, one of the suspects.

Dinç, currently the head of the National Police Department’s intelligence unit, led the Trabzon Police Department’s intelligence unit at the time of Dink’s murder in 2007.

After its approval, the indictment was sent to the İstanbul 14th High Criminal Court, which hears terror cases. The prosecutor, however, requested the trial be merged with the main Dink murder trial, held at the İstanbul 5th High Criminal Court.

The court has 15 days to either accept or reject the indictment.

The İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office returned Kökçü’s first indictment on Oct. 19, on the grounds that the indictment was “deficient.” After changing the indictment, Kökçü sent a new version of the 150-page document to the prosecutor’s office on Oct. 21.

In the altered indictment, Kökçü requested that the investigation be merged with the trial of those accused of Dink’s assassination. In this trial Ogün Samast, Yasin Hayal and Erhan Tuncel stand accused.

On Nov. 2, the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office returned the altered indictment to Kökçü, again, on the grounds that the indictment was still “deficient.” It has been claimed that the prosecutor’s office returned the indictment because it included Dinç, who is known to be close to the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), among other state officials who are suspected of being negligent and engaging in misconduct regarding the Dink murder.

According to the claims, the prosecutor’s office allegedly asked Kökçü to remove some names from the list of suspects. There were 25 state officials among the suspects in the investigation. Among those were Dinç, former İstanbul Police Chief Celalettin Cerrah, former İstanbul Police Department Intelligence Unit Chief Ahmet İlhan Güler, the former head of the National Police Department’s intelligence unit Ramazan Akyürek and former İstanbul Police Department Intelligence Bureau Chief Ali Fuat Yılmazer. Those suspects face charges of “forming an organization to commit crime” and “voluntary manslaughter.”

Media reports revealed that Dinç testified to the İstanbul Public Prosecutor’s Office secretly in September and that the Trabzon Police Department’s intelligence unit received intelligence on a probable assassination of Dink in Trabzon, which was sent to İstanbul police in a letter on Feb. 17, 2006. “I also phoned the chief of the intelligence unit of the İstanbul Police Department about the information,” Dinç said in his testimony.

However, during the trial in December 2014, Cerrah and Güler stated in their testimonies that they had not received any intelligence about Dink’s assassination before the murder took place in 2007.

Dink was shot and killed in 2007 by Samast, an ultranationalist teenager. Later, Samast and 18 others were brought to trial. Hayal was sentenced to life in prison for inciting Samast to commit murder.

The retrial began in September 2014, when the İstanbul 5th High Criminal Court complied with a ruling from the Supreme Court of Appeals from May 2013, which overturned a lower court’s ruling that acquitted the suspects in the Dink murder case of charges of forming a terrorist organization. This decision paved the way for the trial of public officials on charges of voluntary manslaughter.

Source: Zaman

Turkey: Killer of Hrant Dink appeals to testify in ‘criminal organization’ leg of case

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Turkish assassin Ogün Samast

Turkish assassin Ogün Samast

The triggerman who shot dead Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink almost nine years ago has appealed to present his testimony as part of the “criminal organization” leg of the case into the murder. The assassin Ogün Samast has also asked to be transferred to a prison in Istanbul near to where the case is being held.

Since he was sentenced by a juvenile court to 22 years in jail on July 2011, Samast has not attended any hearings at the Istanbul 5th Heavy Penal Court, where another case has been heard focusing on the “criminal organization” aspect of the killing.

In a letter dated Nov. 13, 2015, Samast told the court that he is now willing to give his testimony in the “criminal organization” leg of the case. He also asked to be transferred to a prison in Istanbul, from the high-security F-type prison in Kandıra, Kocaeli province, where he is currently been jailed.

Dink, who was the editor-in-chief of Agos, was shot dead outside its office building in Istanbul’s Şişli district on Jan. 19, 2007 by 17-year-old Samast.

In October 2014, the trial took a significant turn after the court in Istanbul overseeing the case announced that it would focus on allegations that the crime was hatched as part of a wider “criminal organization.” Lawyers representing the Dink family had demanded such a move since the start of the retrial.

In November 2014, the Constitutional Court ruled that civil servants and institutions allegedly implicated in the murder should be investigated.

Istanbul: Dink murder indictment returned to prosecutor for second time

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The body of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink is seen on the pavement in front of his newspaper office in İstanbul.(Photo: Reuters)

An indictment that had already been revised by public prosecutor Gökalp Kökçü, who is overseeing an ongoing investigation into state officials who face charges of misconduct and negligence in the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in 2007, was again returned to him by the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office for allegedly including the names of some pro-government police officers as suspects and demanding a prison sentence of up to 25 years for police chief Engin Dinç, who is also one of the suspects.

Dinç, currently the head of the National Police Department’s intelligence unit, led the Trabzon Police Department’s intelligence unit at the time of Dink’s murder in 2007.

The İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office returned Kökçü’s first indictment on Oct. 19, on the grounds that the indictment was “deficient.” After changing the indictment, Kökçü sent a new version of the 150-page document to the prosecutor’s office on Oct. 21.

In the altered indictment, Kökçü also requested that the investigation being conducted into the state officials on the charges of misconduct and negligence be merged with a trial being heard at the İstanbul 5th High Criminal Court against the perpetrators of Dink’s assassination. In this trial Ogün Samast, Yasin Hayal and Erhan Tuncel stand as the accused.

On Monday, the altered indictment was returned to Kökçü by the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, on the grounds that the indictment was still “deficient.” It has been claimed that the prosecutor’s office returned the indictment because it included Dinç, who is known to be close to the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), among other state officials who are suspected of being negligent and engaging in misconduct regarding the Dink murder.

According to the claims, the prosecutor’s office allegedly asked Kökçü to remove some names from the list of suspects. There were 25 state officials among the suspects in the investigation. Among those were Dinç, former İstanbul Police Chief Celalettin Cerrah, former İstanbul Police Department Intelligence Unit Chief Ahmet İlhan Güler, the former head of the National Police Department’s intelligence unit Ramazan Akyürek and former İstanbul Police Department Intelligence Bureau Chief Ali Fuat Yılmazer. Those suspects face charges of “forming an organization to commit crime” and “voluntary manslaughter.”

Media reports revealed that Dinç testified to the İstanbul Public Prosecutor’s Office secretly in September and that they received intelligence on a probable assassination of Dink in Trabzon, which was sent to the İstanbul police in a letter numbered 027248 on Feb. 17, 2006. “I also phoned the chief of the intelligence unit of the İstanbul Police Department about the intelligence,” Dinç said in his testimony.

However, Cerrah and Güler stated in their testimonies before the court during the trial in December 2014 that they had not received any intelligence about Dink’s assassination before the murder took place in 2007.

Dink was shot and killed by Samast, an ultranationalist teenager, in 2007. Samast and 18 others were brought to trial. Since then, the lawyers for the Dink family and the co-plaintiffs in the case have presented evidence indicating that Samast did not act alone. Another suspect, Hayal, was sentenced to life in prison for inciting Samast to commit murder.

The retrial started in September 2014 when the İstanbul 5th High Criminal Court complied with a ruling from the Supreme Court of Appeals in May 2013, overturning a lower court’s ruling that acquitted the suspects in the Dink murder case of charges of forming a terrorist organization. This decision paved the way for the trial of public officials on charges of voluntary manslaughter.

Turkey: 25 years sought for police chief in Dink murder indictment

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Signs and flowers are laid on the sidewalk in Osmanbey, İstanbul, to commemorate Armenian- Turkish journalist Hrant Dink. (Photo: Cİhan)

Signs and flowers are laid on the sidewalk in Osmanbey, İstanbul, to commemorate Armenian- Turkish journalist Hrant Dink. (Photo: Cİhan)

A prosecutor is seeking 25 years’ imprisonment for Engin Dinç, the head of the National Police Department’s intelligence unit, on charges of negligence in the 2007 murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink.

The details of the indictment prepared by public prosecutor Gökalp Kökçü, who is overseeing an ongoing investigation into state officials facing charges of misconduct and negligence in the murder of Dink, were recently revealed to media outlets.

According to the details of the indictment, Dinç, who was leading the Trabzon Police Department’s intelligence unit at the time of Dink’s murder in 2007, former Trabzon Police Chief Reşat Altay and former İstanbul Police Department Intelligence Unit Chief Ahmet İlhan Güler should be tried under Article 83 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) dealing with negligence causing death due to the failure to take appropriate action to prevent the death, which is punishable by up to 25 years imprisonment.

There are 25 state officials among the suspects in the investigation, including Dinç, Güler, Altay, former İstanbul Police Chief Celalettin Cerrah, former National Police Department Intelligence Unit head Sabri Uzun, former National Police Department’s intelligence unit head Ramazan Akyürek and former İstanbul Police Department Intelligence Bureau Chief Ali Fuat Yılmazer. Those suspects face charges of “forming an organization to commit crime,” “voluntary manslaughter,” “negligence” and “misconduct.”

It was also revealed that the prosecutor is seeking life sentences for Yılmazer and Akyürek and a year in prison for Cerrah and Uzun in the indictment.

However, earlier claims in the media stated the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office returned the indictment to Kökçü last Tuesday on the grounds that the indictment was “lacking.” After editing the indictment, Kökçü allegedly sent a new version of the 150-page document to the prosecutor’s office the day after.

The prosecutor’s office returned the indictment allegedly because the indictment included Dinç, who is known to be close to the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), among other state officials who are suspected of having engaged in negligence and misconduct regarding the Dink murder. According to the claims, the prosecutor’s office allegedly asked Kökçü to remove some names from the list of suspects although it is uncertain if he did.

Dinç is still operating as the head of the National Police Department’s intelligence unit. He worked as the Trabzon Police Department’s intelligence unit between Aug. 26, 2004 and Sept. 19, 2007. Several controversial incidents took place in Trabzon province during his period. The attempt of a local group to lynch members of the Association for Inmates’ Families’ Solidarity (TAYAD) during a demonstration held in Trabzon in 2005, a bomb attack on a McDonald’s restaurant in Trabzon in 2004 and the murder of Catholic Priest Andrea Santoro of the Sancta Maria Catholic Church by an ultranationalist teenager in Trabzon in 2006 were among those controversial incidents that took place during Dinç’s period.

Erhan Tuncel, who is a key suspect in the Dink murder, was among the perpetrators of the bomb attack on McDonald’s in 2004. However, Tuncel was allegedly kept outside of the investigation that was conducted into the bomb attack. He was then appointed as an informant working for the Trabzon Police Department’s intelligence unit.

In a petition filed by Hakan Bakırcıoğlu — the lawyer for the Dink family — with the İstanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office on Aug. 10, he asked the prosecutor’s office to try Dinç under Article 83. The lawyer claimed in the petition that Dinç had been aware of the intelligence that Yasin Hayal — another key suspect in the Dink murder — was planning to assassinate Dink as of Feb. 15, 2006 but did not send an official written statement to the Trabzon governor of that period, the Trabzon Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Trabzon provincial gendarmerie commander or the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) to warn them about the possible murder. Bakırcıoğlu also said Dinç neither informed the higher authorities about the preparations for the murder of Dink nor he conducted any operation against those who were planning the assassination to prevent the attack from taking place.

As the investigation into Dink’s murder deepened, eyes turned to Dinç, after several people working under him were arrested on charges of involvement in the murder.

Three police officers who worked under Dinç in the intelligence unit of the Trabzon Police Department — Ercan Demir, Özkan Mumcu and Muhittin Zenit — were arrested in January as part of an expanded probe into Dink’s murder. Trabzon Police Department Deputy Commissioner Mumcu and Zenit were arrested on Jan. 13 on charges of negligence and misconduct in Dink’s murder. An İstanbul court arrested former Cizre Police Chief Demir, who turned himself in on Feb. 23 after a warrant for his detention was issued on Jan. 16.

Dinç has since been promoted and is now chief of the National Police Department’s intelligence unit.

After the arrested police officials implicated Dinç, Kökçü twice summoned him to testify as part of the investigation as a suspect. However, Dinç did not go to the prosecutor’s office to testify. The media reports at that time claimed that Kökçü wanted to arrest Dinç over his suspected role in the Dink murder, but the government was disturbed by Kökçü’s intention and prevented Dinç from going to the prosecutor’s office to testify.

Dink was shot and killed by Ogün Samast, an ultranationalist teenager, in 2007. Samast and 18 others were brought to trial. Since then, the lawyers for the Dink family and the co-plaintiffs in the case have presented evidence indicating that Samast did not act alone. Another suspect, Hayal, was sentenced to life in prison for inciting Samast to commit murder.

The retrial started in September 2014 when the İstanbul 5th High Criminal Court complied with a ruling from the Supreme Court of Appeals in May 2013, overturning a lower court’s ruling that acquitted the suspects in the Dink murder case of charges of forming a terrorist organization. This decision paved the way for the trial of public officials on charges of voluntary manslaughter.

Source: Zaman

Turkey: Trabzon intelligence police knew about Hrant Dink’s hit-man before murder, prosecutor says

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Hrant dink trabzonAn Istanbul prosecutor has unearthed files which show that Trabzon police intelligence had known about Ogün Samast, the hitman in Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink’s murder, before the incident took place.

Gökalp Kökçü, the chief public prosecutor heading the investigation, believes that the Trabzon police intelligence unit was told by Erhan Tuncel, a police informant at the time, that a person named Ogün had been chosen as the hitman for Dink’s murder before the incident took place in Istanbul in January 2007.

Samast assassinated Dink in broad daylight on a busy street outside of the office of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos in Istanbul’s Şişli district. Samast is serving a sentence of 22 years and 10 months in a high-security prison. Yasin Hayal and Tuncel were accused of encouraging Samast to kill Dink in the Black Sea province of Trabzon.

Samast had come to Istanbul for the first time in his life two days before committing the crime from Trabzon. The family of Dink believed that there were more connections and people behind the murder and sought a detailed investigation during the long trial period. Kökçü said Trabzon police were informed about Samast’s ties with those who planned the murder of Dink around four months before the crime took place. Trabzon police previously told the court that they had not had any reports about the issue after April 8, 2006.

Tuncel said in his testimony on Oct. 29, 2013, that he had informed intelligence officers in Trabzon police in September or October 2006 that Hayal had arranged a new shooter. However, Trabzon police did not have any files from Tuncel about the new shooter or that cited the name of Samast.

Police intelligence chief Engin Dinç, meanwhile, gave a file to the prosecutor on Aug. 26 when his testimony was being taken as a suspect. The file showed a report that on Sept. 12, 2006, Tuncel had met with Trabzon intelligence officers Mehmet Ayhan and Mehmet Uçar. Another file about the meeting could not be provided by the Trabzon intelligence unit, leading the prosecutor to conclude that the second file was destroyed.

On Oct. 8, five former police officers recently detained on the charge of negligence in public duty were released, while four others under arrest have been cleared of charges of premeditated murder, forming an illegal organization, and membership in an illegal organization to commit crime in the murder case of Dink.

The nine suspects are reported to have been on duty in police departments in Istanbul, Ankara and Trabzon when Dink was murdered on Jan. 19, 2007.

Former Trabzon Police Department Intelligence Unit head Faruk Sarı, along with former police officers Yılmaz Angın, Bülent Demireleski, Osman Gülbel, Mehmet Ayhan and Onur Karakaya were all released on a ruling issued by the Istanbul 2nd Criminal Court of Peace early Oct. 8 after being detained Oct. 7 on the charge negligence in public duty.

The court ruling also recommended the dismissal of the charges of premeditated murder, forming an illegal organization and membership in an illegal organization to commit crime against four former police officers under arrest in the case, Ramazan Akyürek, Ercan Demir, Özkan Mumcu and Muhittin Zenit.

Akyürek, Zenit, Mumcu and Demir were previously arrested for negligence that caused Dink’s murder and were sent to prison, with the ruling recommending that the four be kept under arrest on the charge of negligence causing death.

At the time of Dink’s murder, Akyürek was the head of the Turkish National Police (EGM) Intelligence Directorate and Demir was the head of the police department in the Cizre district of the southeastern province of Şırnak.

Source: hurriyetdailynews.com

Honoring Through Music: Germany-based Turkish singer visits Armenia

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267x400xTurkish-singer-Leman-Stehn.jpg.pagespeed.ic.YZZ7-_4Vn2Satenik Tovmasyan
ArmeniaNow
After the 2007 assignation of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, Leman Stehn, a Germany-based Turkish singer, has been singing Dink’s favorite song “Sari Gelin”, from all possible stages in honor of her close friend, the singer told media.

The singer, who recently appeared on stages across Europe, arrived in Armenia to participate in the Komitas classical music festival, and within that framework had two concerts, two more are to come.

She had received the invitation to visit Armenia three years ago from Gayane chorus members, who were on a tour in Turkey. Her first visit to Yerevan was two years ago.

The singer is originally from Turkey, but spent her entire conscious life in Germany. As an adult, she returned to Turkey, but not being able to get used to Turkish reality, again returned to Germany for permanent residence.

Stehn said that particularly in recent years she has begun to deal with Armenian music, and to perform folk songs and works composed by Komitas.

“I was introduced to Armenian music by my Armenian friends, when I was studying music in college in Turkey. Since then I have been fond of and learned your culture,” she said.

Stehn said that the ties with Armenian culture broke when she returned Germany, but what happened to Dink forced her to return to Armenian music.

“I myself was an active participant in the demonstrations following the murder of Hrant Dink. After his death, at all the stages I performed I presented his favorite song, Sari Gelin,” said the singer.

Speaking about the Armenian Genocide, Stehn said that during her very first visit she went to the Tsitsernakaberd Memorial in Yerevan to pay homage to the memory of the 1915 Genocide victims.

“What I am doing now, I do it consciously, because I want to face history. It is no coincidence that one of my concerts is called ‘Never Forget’,” she said.

The German-Turkish singer also said that she freely uses the term Genocide.

“The things should be called by their proper names. What happened to the Armenian people was genocide, and on behalf of tens of thousands of Turks and on my own behalf I apologize to the Armenians for the tragedy,” she concluded.

Turkey: Police chief: Intelligence for Hrant Dink’s assassination was sent to İstanbul police

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urkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was shot dead by an ultranationalist teenager outside his office in İstanbul on Jan. 19, 2007. (Photo: Today's Zaman)

Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was shot dead by an ultranationalist teenager outside his office in İstanbul on Jan. 19, 2007. (Photo: Today’s Zaman)

Engin Dinç, the head of the National Police Department’s Intelligence Unit who led the Trabzon Intelligence Unit at the time of the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink in 2007, said in recent testimony to the İstanbul Public Prosecutor’s Office that the intelligence on Dink’s murder was passed to the İstanbul Police Department in February 2006.

Today’s Zaman learned that Dinç, who is a key suspect in the murder trial of Dink, gave his testimony before the İstanbul Public Prosecutor’s Office secretly and revealed that they received the intelligence for a probable assassination of Dink in Trabzon, which was sent to the İstanbul police in a letter numbered 027248 on Feb. 17, 2006. “I also phoned the chief of the Intelligence Unit of the İstanbul Police Department about the intelligence,” Dinç said in his testimony.

However, former İstanbul Police Chief Celalettin Cerrah and former İstanbul Police Department Intelligence Unit Chief Ahmet İlhan Güler stated in their testimonies before the court during the trial in December 2014 that they had not received any intelligence about Dink’s assassination before the murder in 2007.

Three police officers — Ercan Demir, Özkan Mumcu and Muhittin Zenit — who worked under Dinç in the Intelligence Unit of the Trabzon Police Department were arrested in January as part of an expanded probe into Dink’s murder. All three police officers had said in their testimonies that Dinç was the highest authority at the Trabzon Police Department’s Intelligence Unit, adding that the intelligence reports about Dink had been prepared by Dinç.

Former Trabzon Police Chief Reşat Altay, summoned by Prosecutor Yusuf Hakkı Doğan to testify in Dink’s murder trial in December 2014, named Dinç during his testimony. According to media reports, Altay said Dinç had never presented intelligence reports which warned that a possible attack would target Dink, before the reports were sent to the National Police Department. Altay reportedly said, “Apart from the reports, I also do not remember Dinç ever briefing me with any intelligence that Yasin Hayal was preparing to attack Dink.”

Despite a collection of testimonies pointing the finger at Dinç and requests from the lawyers of the family of murdered journalist Dink, the prosecutor conducting the ongoing murder probe decided not to summon Dinç to testify. He was also promoted and has been the chief of the National Police Department’s Intelligence Unit since April 2013.

Dink was shot and killed by an ultranationalist teenager in 2007. The hitman, Ogün Samast, and 18 others were brought to trial. Since then, the lawyers for the Dink family and the co-plaintiffs in the case have presented evidence indicating that Samast did not act alone. Another suspect, Yasin Hayal, was given life in prison for inciting Samast to commit murder.

The retrial started in September 2014, when the İstanbul 5th High Criminal Court complied with a ruling from the Supreme Court of Appeals in May 2013 overturning a lower court’s ruling that acquitted the suspects in the Dink murder case of charges of forming a terrorist organization. This decision paved the way for the trial of public officials on charges of voluntary manslaughter.

Referring to Erhan Tuncel, an informant and a key suspect who is accused of initiating efforts to have Dink murdered, Dinç said he met Tuncel in his office in Trabzon and asked him to convince Hayal to give up the idea of the assassination.

Separate investigations related to Dink’s murder, including investigations in İstanbul and Trabzon, had previously not been merged in spite of the demands of the Dink family’s lawyers. The investigations were finally combined toward the end of last year.

As part of the same investigation, two former heads of the National Police Department’s Intelligence Unit — Sabri Uzun and Ramazan Akyürek — and a former police chief, Ali Fuat Yılmazer, have testified as suspects.

The youngest daughter of Hrant Dink married

By

Sera Dink, the youngest daughter of prominent Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink who was assassinated in 2007, married the Armenian director Eric Nazarian. The wedding ceremony took place at the Meryem Ana Church in the Kumkapi district of Istanbul. The Archbishop Sebouh Chouldjian chaired the religious wedding service as the Canadian director Atom Egoyan served as a witness while his wife Arsinee Khanjian served as bridesmaid for the couple. Dignitaries of the Armenian community also attended the wedding ceremony.
Wednesday, July 1 2015
Stéphane © armenews.com