Turkish Citizen allegedly involved in Dink murder arrested in Kyrgyzstan

PanARMENIAN.Net - Kyrgyz authorities have arrested a Turkish citizen suspected of being involved in the 2007 killing of a prominent Turkish-Armenian journalist in Istanbul, RFE/RL reports.

The Interior Ministry said on March 4 that the suspect, a Turkish national born in 1984, was detained on February 26 with a fake passport and driving license. It did not release any further details about his identity.

The ministry said investigators found out that the man is wanted in Turkey for several alleged crimes, including involvement in the killing of journalist Hrant Dink.

The suspect was charged with illegally crossing the border and forgery, and sent to pretrial detention for at least two months.

Dink was gunned down in broad daylight on January 19, 2007, outside the Istanbul offices of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian Agos newspaper, where he was the editor. He was 53.

Dink had been an arduous proponent of reconciliation between Armenians and Turks and was repeatedly prosecuted for insulting "Turkishness" over his comments on Armenian identity and the Armenian Genocide.

After the murder, tens of thousands of people gathered in central Istanbul to mourn. Dozens of suspects were charged in Turkey after the high-profile killing with charges including failing to uncover the plot to kill Dink.

Three former top police officials were sentenced to life in prison for their involvement in the killing.

In 2012, ultranationalist sympathizer Ogun Samast, who was 17 at the time of the murder, was sentenced to 23 years in prison for Dink's killing.

Ali Oz, a former Interior Ministry commander of the Black Sea region of Trabzon where Samast came from, was sentenced to 28 years in prison in March last year.