Gendarmerie Major Yıldız Defends Neglection

Metin Yıldız, a gendarmerie major and director of the intelligence unit in Trabzon province at the time of journalist Hrant Dink's murder, has been called to the Bolu Criminal Court of Peace to give a statement regarding the murder and the period preceding it.

Yıldız is on trial for negligence in the murder of Dink on 19 January 2007. He is said to have had prior knowledge of murder plans.

Yıldız: Intelligence "not reliable"

Asked by lawyers of the Dink family whether he had informed the police or MİT, the secret service, of intelligence he had received, Yıldız said:

"It was not certain that the intelligence received was reliable. If the source and the reliability of the information had been confirmed, I would have informed the relevant institutions...Because it was not confirmed and the information was not definite or reliable, I did not inform MİT or the Trabzon province police intelligence unit."

Yıldız said that he had received information on murder plans by gendarmerie informant but that he had not found the information convincing. Intelligence officer Okan Şimşek said that he had been told by a Coşkun İğci (now a defendant in the murder trial),  but Yıldız said that he was not a registered informant.

Yıldız claimed that he had ordered confirmation of the intelligence received by Okan Şimşek. Around that time, Colonel Ali Öz, his junior who is also accused of negligence, came to Yıldız' office, asking if there were any commands regarding this issue. Yıldız defended his answer in the negative, saying: "From that day on until Dink died, there was no written information or document sent to me or any other verbal information."

Accusation by other gendarmerie officers

Dink family lawyers accuse Yıldız of neglecting to confirm intelligence received and of neglecting to coordinate with other intelligence units at MİT and the police in the matter.

In June 2008, Ali Oğuz Çağlar, gendarmerie major in July 2006, said as a witness that he had taken part in an intelligence meeting where the murder plans were brought up. He said, "Ali Öz, deliberately or not, ignored intelligence that our intelligence unit at the gendarmerie command had worked on for months, and which, in my opinion had quite high reliability, at A-1 level. He tried to close the matter. This terrible result happened either because of his lack of commanding skills or because he was trying to do something else."

Sergeant Major Hüseyin Yılmaz had also stated that it was the responsibility of the province gendarmerie command to coordinate intelligence data. (EÖ/AG)