Governor allows two Turkish officers investigation in Dink case

PanARMENIAN.Net - The governor of a northwestern province of Turkey permitted Sunday an investigation to be opened into a colonel and a captain for failing to act on information received prior to the assassination of Hrant Dink, editor-in-chief of Agos bilingual newspaper, and hiding the intelligence.



Nuri Okutan, the governor of Trabzon, said the governor's office decided to give the permission for the investigation after assessing a report of the inspectors from the Turkish Interior Ministry.



Hrant Dink was shot dead outside the offices of the paper in Istanbul in January, 2007. Police arrested the gunman Ogun Samast and a suspected associate who was identified as Yasin Hayal.



Inspectors asked earlier this week for the governor's permission to bring Col. Ali Oz and Capt. Metin Yildiz before the court for failing to act on information received prior to the assassination of Hrant Dink.



Two lower-ranked soldiers told the inspectors that they had informed Col. Ali Oz and Capt. Metin Yildiz about intelligence regarding the assassination of Dink, while Oz said he may have forgotten about this information.



The trial began in July 2007. Prosecutors have asked for a prison term of 18 to 24 years for Dink's assassin and life sentences for two key suspects, Erhan Tuncel and Yasin Hayal, for inciting to murder, Today's Zaman reports.