Relatives of a number of figures assassinated in shady murders that have remained unsolved for many years attended Monday’s hearing in the trial of suspects in the murder of Hrant Dink, a Turkish-Armenian journalist fatally shot by an ultranationalist teenager outside the Agos weekly in 2007.
Nükhet İpekçi, the daughter of journalist Abdi İpekçi, who was killed in 1979; Sezen Öz, the wife of prosecutor Doğan Öz, who was killed in 1978 while investigating illegal structures inside the military and other state agencies; and Filiz Ali, the daughter of socialist writer Sabahattin Ali, who was killed in 1948, attended the Dink trial on Tuesday to show their support for Dink’s family. The families said in a joint statement: “We are a growing family in a country where lives are taken incessantly. We do not want this family to grow anymore.” Üskül on Tuesday afternoon expressed support for the families, saying: “It should be researched what can be done about this. Too much time has passed since some of these murders. However, what they say in unison is important. They are saying, ‘Illuminate the Dink murder, so we can at least feel some peace.’ Of course, all of these murders should be explained, but solving the Dink murder will give them some peace of mind. I think setting up a research commission in this regard could be effective.”
 Relatives of a number of people assassinated in shady murders that have remained unsolved for many years attended Monday’s hearing of the trial of the Hrant Dink murder suspects. |
Families of victims of unsolved murders went to Parliament yesterday, where they submitted a petition for the establishment of an investigative commission. The group met with the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) group at 10:30 am and then with members of the Parliamentary Human Rights Commission at 11. At 12, they came together with Republican People’s Party (CHP) group members, followed by meetings with the Democratic Left Party (DSP), Parliament Speaker Mehmet Ali Şahin and the Peace and Democratic Party (BDP). The families who were at Parliament yesterday include relatives of writer Ali, killed in 1948; prosecutor Öz, killed in 1978; journalist İpekçi, killed in 1979; Police Chief Cevat Yurdakul, killed in 1979; academic Cavit Orhan Tütengil, also killed in 1979; journalist Ümit Kaftancıoğlu, killed in 1980; Sevinç Özgüner, killed in 1980; union leader Kemal Türkler, killed in 1980; writer İlhan Erdost, killed while in police custody in 1980; journalist Çetin Emeç, killed in 1990; Kurdish writer Musa Anter, killed in 1992; journalist Uğur Mumcu, killed in 1997; poets Nesimi Çimen, Metin Altıok and Behçet Aysan and musician Hasret Gültekin, burnt to death in the 1993 Sivas Massacre; writer Onat Kutlar, killed in 1994; archaeologist Yasemin Cebenoyan, killed in 1994; Hasan Ocak, killed while in police custody in 1995; journalist Metin Göktepe, beaten to death by police in 1996; and the Dink family. The family of Necip Hablemitoğlu, a scientist killed in 2002, was also present. Hablemitoğlu’s murder, initially blamed on religious groups, is now believed to be linked to the coup-plotting group Ergenekon.
Dink murder trial
Dink was shot by an ultranationalist teenager, but the ensuing investigation revealed that a number of officers, including those of senior ranks, knew about a plot to assassinate Dink. A gang operating according to a chain of command was revealed to be behind the murder. Currently, there are 20 suspects in the trial, but Dink family lawyers believe the real person or group that manipulated these individuals has evaded justice. Also, none of the police officers who failed to act despite being tipped off about the plot were punished, further adding to suspicion that there might be groups inside the security forces protecting the perpetrators. Dink’s family also claimed that Dink might have been killed as part of the Cage plan, an alleged military plot to foment chaos in the country by killing non-Muslim intellectuals and bombing mosques with the ultimate aim of toppling the democratically elected Justice and Development Party (AK Party) government.
Meanwhile, concerns about the safety of a witness whose identity is being withheld for security purposes also emerged during Monday’s hearing, when the police department and the court briefly blamed each other for the absence of the witness, who was supposed to take the stand that day. Some of the statements made during this confusion revealed information about the witness’s ethnic identity and the level of his Turkish skills. This witness, in earlier testimony to the prosecutors, had claimed that contrary to police findings shots were fired at the murder scene not only by Ogün Samast, the hit man in the case, but also Yasin Hayal, who is currently accused of directing Samast to kill Dink.
