Istanbul court annuls demotion of police chief over failure to prevent Dink murder

PanARMENIAN.Net - An administrative court on Monday, May 9, annulled an earlier Interior Ministry decision to demote Ramazan Akyürek, the former head of the National Police Department's intelligence department, over his alleged negligence in protecting Turkish-Armenian journalist, Agos newspaper editor Hrant Dink.

Akyürek, who was at the helm of the intelligence department at the time, was demoted by the Interior Ministry after allegations emerged that he was among a number of police officers who had failed to prevent the assassination of the journalist despite having credible evidence that it was imminent.

The Ankara 14th Administrative Court reviewed an appeal filed by Akyürek against his demotion and decided to annul the decision to demote the former police chief. The court said “there was no concrete evidence that required his demotion over allegations of negligence”, Today’s Zaman reported

Nineteen suspects are currently facing trial in the Dink murder case. A majority of the suspects, including the hitman, are from Trabzon, whose police department says it had informed the Istanbul Police Department about the plot to kill Dink on more than one occasion.

The ensuing investigation and trial exposed the hitman's questionable links to various individuals tied to the Istanbul Police Department and the Trabzon Gendarmerie Command. Despite significant evidence pointing to the involvement of various officers in organizing the plot to kill Dink, the identity of the masterminds of his assassination remains elusive.

Lawyers representing the co-plaintiffs in the Dink trial have long alleged that the murder was the doing of Ergenekon, a clandestine group charged with plotting to overthrow the government.