Visitors to agos.com.tr yesterday were greeted with a photo of Ogün Samast, showing him with a Turkish flag in the background. The photo was taken after Samast was caught in Samsun, two days after killing Dink on Jan. 19, 2007, and drew the ire of many as it showed members of the security forces posing for pictures with Samast.The hackers also left a note on the screen threatening the daily with more deaths if they do not change their editorial policy to what the group wants. “You either love [this country] or leave it or you die as [the] traitor Dink did. If you don’t correct your discourse and articles to the direction we want, new Ogün Samasts and Hrant Dinks will appear,” the note read.
Speaking to the private NTV/MSNBC news station, Sarkis Güreh, an Agos reporter, said they would take legal action on the issue. Calling the attack upsetting, Güreh said, however, that they are not afraid.
An investigation of the Dink assassination revealed that a group of ultranationalists was behind the murder, and police arrested the suspected gunman, Samast, and an associate, Yasin Hayal, a few days after Dink’s murder. Strong evidence suggested that some members of the group had ties with the police department in Trabzon, the hometown of the plotters. Some gendarmes later confirmed that they had been tipped off about the plot to kill Dink before the murder was committed. Dink family lawyers have frequently alleged that the police attempted to obscure evidence.
Lawyers representing the co-plaintiffs in the Dink trial have long claimed that the murder was the doing of Ergenekon, a clandestine group charged with plotting to overthrow the government. In the latest hearing they also petitioned the 14th High Criminal Court to contact the prosecutors investigating Ergenekon to request a copy of documents that describe the organization’s plots against religious minorities in Turkey.
