Dink murder can’t be treated like regular crime, politicians say

In a related note, the prosecutor in the court case concerning the 2007 killing of prominent Turkish-Armenian journalist Dink slammed the judge hearing the trial for failing to deliver a fair decision amid growing outrage over a trial many feel has failed to shed light on alleged official negligence or even collusion. The judge presiding over the 14th İstanbul High Criminal Court sentenced Yasin Hayal to life imprisonment and acquitted 19 defendants charged with being part of a terrorist group. A juvenile court sentenced Dink's assassin, Ogün Samast, to 22 years, 10 months in jail last July. He was 17 when he committed the murder.

Prosecutor Hikmet Usta said in a two-page long petition as part of his appeal of the verdict, which was delivered on Tuesday, that there was sufficient evidence to establish the murder was the result of efforts by an organized criminal group. The prosecutor’s comments came in response to presiding judge Rüstem Eryılmaz’s earlier remarks published in Vatan daily Thursday.

The judge had commented that while he personally cannot deny the murder was the work of an organized network, the evidence submitted to the court was not sufficient to issue such a ruling. In his petition, Usta acknowledged that judges are independent in delivering decisions. However, he dismissed Eryılmaz’s argument that there was not enough evidence to establish the involvement of an organized criminal network.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan also commented on the case on Friday, expressing his hope that the Supreme Court of Appeals “will clear up any doubts” with regards to the Dink murder trial.

“The [trial] process has not been completed yet; it is in the appeals phase. I hope the judiciary will clear up doubts during the appeals process and take steps that will ease the public’s conscience,” Erdoğan said in Ankara during the launch of an urban transformation project on Friday. “No plot or provocation will remain secret. No murder will remain unsolved,” the prime minister added.

Also on Friday, Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin joined the debate saying the prosecutor has now petitioned for an appeal, and he called on all sides to continue monitoring the process with calm. “Judges and prosecutors speak through their written resolutions or legal queries. I think what most of the press reported as the ‘prosecutor’s response’ to the judge were actually statements from his petition. Any other evaluation or comment would simply hurt the process. The bullets that were shot at Dink were [also] shot at Turkey’s solidarity, peace and brotherhood,” he stated.

He added that the government was disturbed by the truth about shady crimes not being brought to light, but noted that they have taken significant steps in this direction. However, he noted that the government was working hard to make sure that the invisible faces behind the Dink murder and other shady incidents -- such as the massacres of Alevis in Maraş, Çorum and Sivas or the Council of State shooting in 2006 -- are revealed. “This is the first time this country is investigating past unsolved murders,” he said.

Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu also commented on the verdict on Friday. “The verdict, which found no organized criminal connection to the Dink murder, is obviously not the right decision,” he said. “There have been hundreds of articles and books published about this. The existence of an organized network has been well documented.”

“And now the judge and the prosecutor are clashing horns over that verdict. This further shows that it was wrong. Since then there have been many protests against the verdict, and it has also not been a verdict that was accepted as just by the public,” he added. The CHP leader blamed the government’s intervention for the ruling.

Another person who publicly criticized the ruling was İstanbul Deputy Prosecutor Fikret Seçen, who has conducted investigations into activities associated with organized crime. He told journalist Taha Akyol that he believed the Dink killing was the work of an organized criminal gang. He also said he was going to petition the Supreme Court of Appeals and challenge the ruling. “It might or might not be connected, on the basis of the legal evidence we have, to Ergenekon [a clandestine network charged with plotting to overthrow the government],” he suggested.

Seçen added that the İstanbul prosecutor’s office was currently conducting an investigation into the alleged negligence of a number of police department and gendarmerie intelligence officers who, Dink family lawyers say, acted either in collusion with the killers or didn’t do anything to prevent the assassination despite having knowledge of plans to kill Dink. In other words, the Dink murder investigation is still under way apart from the process that was launched at the Supreme Court of Appeals with the prosecutor’s petition of the final verdict.

Seçen also said his office was examining the records of cell phone numbers found by the Telecommunications Administration (TİB) that were active in the vicinity of the crime scene at the time of the murder.