Dink gunman says unknown killer was involved in murder

PanARMENIAN.Net - A previously unknown killer was involved in the 2007 murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, the shooter claimed about a month after a court ruling sentenced him to 22 years in prison and released all the other suspects.

Ogün Samast, who was still a minor when he shot Dink in broad daylight five years ago, wrote a letter to the Taraf daily from his cell in Kandıra Prison. According to the letter, which was published on Saturday, March 17, he met with someone about three months before the assassination. “We had tea with this person. I will explain later who this person is and his connection to the murder,” he wrote.

Samast said he would be able to talk about the involvement of this mysterious third person only after his appeal process in the Supreme Court of Appeals is completed.

In his letter to Taraf, Samast alluded to the role of Tuncel, saying, “He is not exactly the picture of innocence.” He said Tuncel was the key in devising the plot to kill Dink, and he got off because of the protection extended to him by higher ranking officials in the security forces. He sounded regretful in the letter. “I broke the law and made a mistake, and I am paying for it with my youth and my life,” he wrote ruefully. He said those people who made him kill Dink, portraying him as an “enemy of the motherland,” should be investigated and charged. He said he had not heard of Dink, or Agos, his newspaper, until he had been misled into thinking they were targets to be destroyed. “If this is not done, there will be many others.”

Samast also said he was forced by Hayal to commit the murder: “He always told me to do it and to relax because I would only get six or seven years and walk out. He threatened me; I didn’t do it of my own accord.” He also said Hayal was the one who gave him the address of the Agos newspaper and pictures of the slain journalist.

On Sunday, Taraf published more of Samast’s letter, which the newspaper says was 25 pages long. “I am working on a book where I will share many unknown points. I will publish it in the next four to five months,” Samast wrote.

He also wrote mystical sounding paragraphs, saying: “I am living with furrowed eyebrows in a dungeon, and I am taking the last boat of life with no ticket. I have many scars created by the bullets of the lords of this age. I also have some photographs shot in treacherous studios.” The newspaper commented, “Samast also gave mysterious messages” and interpreted Samast’s words as an allusion to his knowledge of the hitherto unknown person involved in the murder and his intention of revealing his identity.