Hrant Dink, Editor-in-Chief of Agos Newspaper, was targeted for the articles he wrote in his newspaper before he was murdered. In his last article, he wrote, “Yes, I can see myself in the soul anxiety of a pigeon, but I know that in this country people do not touch pigeons. Pigeons continue their lives even in the inner city, even in crowds of people. Yes, a little timidly, but at the same time freely.” Following this article, Dink was assassinated in the Şişli district of Istanbul on January 19, 2007 by shooter Ogün Samast.

 

17 YEAR OLD OGÜN SAMAST!

 

The shooter Samast was caught at Samsun Bus Terminal on his way from Istanbul to Trabzon. Samast was taken to Samsun Police Headquarters and gendarmerie officers took a souvenir photo with a Turkish flag in front of an Ataturk poster that read “The land of the homeland is sacred, it cannot be left to its fate”. In the footage of this moment, the police officers were heard saying, “Give your brother a nice pose, a smiling pose” and “My lion, well done Ogün”. It was understood that 17-year-old Samast was deliberately chosen as the shooter. So much so that Samast was sentenced to 21 years and 6 months in prison instead of aggravated life imprisonment because he was a child. Samast was released on parole on November 15, 2023.

 

During the course of the investigation, it was understood that Trabzon Security Directorate and Istanbul Security Directorate knew that Dink would be killed. It was learned that Yasin Hayal's brother-in-law Coşkun İğci, who worked for Gendarmerie Intelligence, informed the Gendarmerie that Dink would be killed. Likewise, it was revealed that Erhan Tuncel, who was made an “auxiliary intelligence officer” by Trabzon Intelligence Branch on November 17, 2004, informed Trabzon Security Directorate on February 17, 2006 that an action would be taken against Dink. However, neither the Trabzon Police Department nor the Istanbul Police Department took the necessary measures.

 

Ramazan Akyürek, who was Trabzon Police Chief before the assassination, did not take the necessary measures despite intelligence that Dink would be killed. After the assassination, he deleted the relevant records. Akyürek was sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment for “murder by using another person as an instrument”, 5 years, 7 months and 15 days imprisonment for “destroying an official document” and 7 years and 6 months imprisonment for “forgery of an official document”. Ali Fuat Yılmazer, the then Intelligence Department C Branch Director Ali Fuat Yılmazer was sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment for “killing a man by using another person as a means” and 4 years and 6 months for “destroying an official document”. 

 

Yasin Hayal, who threw an improvised explosive device at a McDonald's in Trabzon in 2004, injuring 6 people, but who was released after 11 months of imprisonment and turned out to be the planner of the Dink assassination, was sentenced to aggravated life imprisonment for “premeditated murder” and 14 years, 22 months and 75 days for various crimes including “establishing and leading an armed criminal organization” in the Dink case. Erhan Tuncel, the instigator of the murder of Hrant Dink, was sentenced to a total of 96 years and 6 months of hard labor on several charges including instigating the murder of Hrant Dink.

 

Hülya Deveci, one of the lawyers in the Hrant Dink case, made evaluations on the developments. 

 

Hülya Deveci stated that a total of 19 civilians, including the shooter Ogün Samast and the instigator Yasin Hayal, were first put on trial after the Dink murder, and underlined that they insistently demanded that the “organization connection” be investigated at that time, but the prosecutors did not deepen the investigation. Hülya Deveci said that only civilians were tried until 2012 and 3 people, including Ogün Samast, were sentenced for “premeditated murder” and “carrying an unlicensed weapon”. Hülya Deveci stated that they took the case to the Court of Cassation and the Court of Cassation ruled that “the organization connection must be investigated” and that public officials were also included in the case in 2014. 

 

FROM ERGENEKON TO 'FETÖ' WHO COMMITTED THE MURDER?

 

Hülya Deveci stated that "Ergenekon" was first tried to be included in the case process but no concrete evidence was included in the file, and that after the 15 July 2016 coup attempt, the people who were held responsible for the murder were sentenced for their alleged links to "FETÖ". Stressed that the "FETÖ" connection to the murder was revealed, but no in-depth investigation was conducted Hülya Deveci said, "Because the defendants who are currently sentenced and on trial in the file are not the people responsible for the murder as a whole. Because yes, a FETÖ organization connection was found in the murder. Since the process of FETÖ leading to this murder was not investigated and investigated in depth, not all those responsible for this murder were revealed. The suspects and defendants in this case are also the people from whom the court has requested information and documents related to this case or this murder. In other words, you are actually asking the accused and suspects to send information and documents about this murder. This is a clear indication of how incomplete or open to manipulation the information and documents to be submitted to that file are."

 

Hülya Deveci added, "Hirant Dink's being an Armenian journalist and his peaceful approach to the Kurdish issue made him a target. The state's reflex and silence behind his murder raises the possibility that the massacre was organized. That is why there has been a constant resistance to public office for years. Despite all this, much progress has been made and more public officials have been put on trial in this case than ever before in the history of Turkey. Many realities were also revealed in this murder."

 

Hülya Deveci said that the support of the public opinion was crucial to reveal the truth about the murder. Hülya Deveci said, "The biggest reason for the persistence of this case despite some obstacles and narrowing was the fact that hundreds of thousands of people attended Hrant Dink's funeral and the ongoing public ownership. As a result of the large number of commemorations that take place every year, we are able to follow these cases as well."

 

7 FEBRUARY IS THE VERDICT HEARING FOR PUBLIC OFFICIALS

 

Hülya Deveci also referred to the release of Ogün Samast and emphasised that the sentence given to Samast was not fair. Hülya Deveci stated that Samast completed his execution in 15 years, served 16 years and 10 months for committing crimes in prison and was not sentenced for "membership of an illegal organization" and that the "membership of an illegal organization" case against Samast was dropped due to the statute of limitations. Hülya Deveci emphasised that Samast was released on conditional release due to his "good behaviour" and underlined that Samast was released despite committing crimes inside, but most political prisoners are not released despite not committing any crimes. Hülya Deveci said, "On 7 February, there is the final hearing of the case against public officials. There are currently 15 defendants in total. Some public officials were charged with 'attempting to abolish the Constitution'. We do not think that with the verdict in this file, this murder will be solved and closed. Because the decision on this murder on 7 February will be an incomplete decision. We call for sensitivity to this case."

 

MA / Ömer İbrahimoğlu