Journalists Claim: Government Knew about Hrant Dink Murder

The joint attorneys of the Hrant Dink murder case stated that according to the records the security forces knew that triggerman suspect Ogün Samast met with a group of three friends when he came to Istanbul. The lawyers declared that the government can no longer deny its responsibility before this background.

Lawyer Bahri Bayram Belen said that Chief of Intelligence Office Ramazan Akyürek sent an intelligence document to the Istanbul 14^th High Criminal Court on 16 October 2009, 20 days prior to his deposition from office. The document included information on Samast who was said to be going from Trabzon to Istanbul and to meet with some people at the Esenler bus terminal on the European side of Istanbul. This shows that Samast was also observed by the government intelligence organizations before and after the murder of Hrant Dink on 19 January 2007, Belen claimed.

Belen: Samast was observed by the police before the murder

Belen had announced this information to journalists after the 11^th hearing of the case on 12 October 2009. However, the issue came up again in a program called "Neutral Zone" on CNN Türk presented by Ahmet Hakan on the occasion of the third anniversary of the murder of the Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink on 19 January.

Upon the joint attorney's request to acquire the observation reports about the defendants for the time before the murder, the referring documents were sent to the court on 25 September 2009. One of the documents says, "Interrogation procedures have been initiated regarding Orhan Özbaş, Turan Meral and Kaan Gerçek because all three persons met with Ogün Samast, who killed the mentioned person, at the bus terminal when he came to Istanbul".

The three people mentioned in the document were taken into custody and interrogated before they were released again. They said that they met Samast one day prior to the murder and took him around.

Belen said, "This document as well as the statements of Erhan Tuncel made in the latest hearing indicate that Samast was monitored by the police before the murder".

Şener: What else does Akyürek know?

Journalist Nedim Şener, facing almost 30 years imprisonment for his book "The Dink murder and the Intelligence lies", also took part in the discussion program. He argued, "They admitted their guilt because they had screwed it up. If they know that he met with his friends, which part of the intelligence followed up? What else can Ramazan Akyürek know about this? What does he keep in his hands?"

Çalışlar: So the state knew about the murder

Journalist Oral Çalışlar stated, "If you knew that the person who was going to commit the murder came to Istanbul himself and if you know when and who he met, that actually means that you knew about the murder. What is it called if the government knows about a murder and lets it happen?"

Samast did not mention the bus terminal

Samasat gave his statement to the Istanbul Public Prosecution on 23 January 2007 without mentioning anything about the meeting at the bus terminal:

"I got off the bus at the Esenler bus terminal at 8.00 am in the morning of 17 January 2007. I went to my uncle Turhan (Meral) who lives close to the bus terminal. After a while I called my friend Orhan (Özbaş) and met him. Orhan picked me up from Bayrampaşa together with some friends with his father's car and I came back to my uncle's house at around 7.00 pm". (EÖ/VK)