Turkish authorities turned the trial of Hrant Dink's assassination into farce

PanARMENIAN.Net - The case of Hrant Dink's murder has become too complicated, Giro Manoyan , head of the central office of political issues of Hay Dat of the ARF Dashnakstsutyun, told a press conference in Yerevan.



He commented on the last message by the Turkish media that the murder of the editor-in-chief of the Turkish-Armenian "Agos" newspaper was organized by a secret intelligence unit of Turkey's Gendarmerie (JİTEM). According to Mr. Manoyan, Turkish authorities have turned this trial into a farce, which caused dissatisfaction of the Armenian community of Turkey.



"It is not clear what do the Turkish authorities seek to achieve, but one thing is certain: we are very far from the truth," Giro Manoyan said. He stressed that all these statements are made to conceal the truth that, in turn, suggests that the same forces that organized Hrand Dink's murder can influence the judicial process.



The assassination of the editor-in-chief of the Armenian-Turkish "Agos" newspaper Hrant Dink was the work of the secret Gendarmerie intelligence unit of Turkey (JİTEM), whose existence has been denied by officials. This is stated in the document, included in the third official indictment into Ergenekon case, a clandestine gang accused of plotting to overthrow the government.



A document seized from the computer of Turhan Chemez, a former MP from the ruling Justice and Development party, who was suspect at large in the Ergenekon trial, a man called Ziyad Yusuf, who is said to be a Kurd living in the Kurdish-controlled region of northern Iraq, a retired general Veli Kyuchuk, arrested as a part of the Ergenekon investigation and the National Police Department of Turkey were behind the assassination of Hrant Dink.



The formal charge pointed out that professor Emin Gyurses, being under arrest, and the other suspect, Colonel Mustafa Denmez discussed the murder of Hrant Dink in a telephone conversation.



According to audio recordings, Gyurses said Denmezu following: "The assassination of Hrant Dink was a good warning for those people," todayszaman.com says.



Hrant Dink was killed on January 19, 2007 by the nationalist Ogyun Samast near the office of the Agos newspaper in Istanbul. Under Turkish law, Samast can be sentenced to life imprisonment, since at the time of the killing, he was already an adult. Earlier the Turkish press said that at the time of the killing Samast was 17 years old.