My answers have one simple common denominator and it is this: We cannot solve it because the whole system was involved in it.
Let me explain it in plain English. Dink’s murder was planned and orchestrated by circles within Ergenekon. Everything was planned in advance. Dink once said that the Armenians would be free once they had gotten rid of “the poisonous blood associated with Turks.” What he meant was very obvious. The Armenians, according to Dink, were poisoned with the hatred of Turks and once they had managed to overcome this hatred, a healing process would have been started.
One lawyer, Kemal Kerinçsiz, who is now behind bars in connection to being a member of Ergenekon, brought a case against Dink for the above mentioned words, alleging that he was insulting “Turkishness.” Normally, any judge could have easily come to the conclusion that Hrant’s words were not about “Turkishness,” but were an invitation for Armenians to look at their hatred towards Turks from different angles. However, the Turkish courts, as they were instructed to do, “misunderstood” these words and took them literally as if they were suggesting that Turkish blood was poisonous.
When Dink was put on trial for insulting “Turkishness,” he became an open target. While he was being tried before the courts, circles within Ergenekon were not only pressuring the courts to give him a prison sentence, but were also preparing murderers in Trabzon. Yasin Hayal, who has very strong ties with the gendarmerie, was trying to convince Ogün Samast to kill Dink. While he was doing this, they also talked to Erhan Tuncel, who informed police intelligence of every single step that Hayal and Samast were taking. Basically, everyone knew that Dink was going to be killed. Since both intelligence services were involved in this murder we have not been able to take any steps forward since the beginning of the case.
As I was writing this article, the İstanbul Court was holding its 24th hearing in the Dink case. I kept one eye on my twitter page to see the messages being sent by journalists at the courtroom. Two important developments happened in this hearing. The first one was the lawyers’ analysis of the data on the records kept by the Telecommunications Directorate (TİB). After 1 million requests the TİB provided its records showing who was talking on mobile phones in the vicinity of the spot where Dink was killed. Dink’s lawyers stated in this last hearing that the two accused had talked to five people in the area before, during and after the murder. This is quite important, and if the lawyers have not made a technical mistake, this will prove beyond reasonable doubt that the murderer was not alone when he killed Dink. This would of course open up a new dimension to the case.
The other important development is this: Hayal claimed that “the state” is now trying to kill him in prison. He said he was used by the state and if he is killed, everyone should understand that he was killed by it. He also stated that Tuncel had used and manipulated him. His remarks may be the beginning of an honest confession or he may be trying to send a threatening message to “his masters” to save him, hinting that if they don’t, he will tell the whole truth.
While all this was happening, Hrant’s friends were reading out a press release outside the court room. I highlighted some statements in this press release:
“You have neared the end of five years. You, not us. For five years you hid the real killers; those who set up a treacherous ambush to take him away from us, those who set up the bloody pathway leading to murder under the shield of the state. For five years you have spoiled the evidence; you hid the evidence that would unveil the real murderers -- you concealed them. For five years you brought a few triggermen before us and asked us to suffice with this. For five years you have been adamantly doing this with a cold, insidious tenacity. The tens of thousands marching after him, the millions crying after him did not touch you one bit. Your cold hearts didn’t bleed. The state of law is far from you. That is why you preferred to show us the law of the state instead. And this we have seen. ... This is almost the end of five years and the 24th hearing … you are still concealing the real killers. But now that we, us Hrants, are very patient and very determined, neither five, nor 95 years will deter us from demanding from you -- those who protect them -- the real killers.”
I really hope that we will see some concrete developments in this case soon.
