Suspicious Robbery at ANKA News Agency Bureau

Istanbul bureau of the Ankara News Agency is robbed following a controversial article about Hrant Dink murder that was denied by the Police Department. Thieves walk out, taking only the hard disks of computers in the bureau.

İstanbul

Unidentified thieves cracked into the Istanbul bureau of the Ankara News Agency (ANKA), leaving with the hard disks of the computers and the notebooks.

Suspicious robbery came only a day after a controversial news article put into service by the agency about the relations between one of the main suspects of solicit in the murder of Turkish-Armenian writer Hrant Dink.

The agency released an article on February 7, claiming that Erhan Tuncel ceased to function as a police informant following his involvement with the Gendarmerie Intelligence Services (JITEM), whose existence is denied by authorities.

During the investigation into Dink's muder, Tuncel's name came up as a nationalist who was employed as an informant following his involvement in a bombing incident in Trabzon. His relations with extreme nationalist circles as well as the Dink assassin suspect O.S. surfaced soon after.

The Police Department contradicted ANKA's news but the agency stood by the article, saying it came from a trusted source.

The suspicious robbery followed a day after the controversy, on the night of February 8th.

"This robbery may well be related with the controversial article but we're determined to go on as an independent agency" ANKA Istanbul bureau chief Lutfiye Pekcan said.

Police began an investigation into the robbery. Journalists' associations condemned the incident and declared messages of solidarity with the agency.(AO/EU)