Epress.am News from Armenia
Five years ago today, on Jan. 19, 2007, then editor-in-chief of bilingual Agos weekly newspaper Hrant Dink was killed. Recalling Dink, another Turkish-Armenian journalist, publicist Markar Esayan today wrote in his column in Today’s Zaman that they lost their brother, comrade and speaker who they are proud of, but Turkey was also deprived of the ideas that he had to offer and the transformations of minds and consciences that would address the problems of this country boldly during the transition away from the old state approach.
“Those who are familiar with his writings and speeches appreciate the gravity of this loss.
“And we are left with the duty to figure out what we can do for Turkey through a murder case. The general staff, with the Sabiha Gökçen declaration; National Intelligence Organization (MİT) officers, who assumed a role by threatening him at the office of the governor; Kerinçsiz and his friends; the ultranationalists who threatened him and dishonorable columnists who set up ‘gallows’ to execute him are all responsible. We argue that they did not protect Hrant Dink; therefore, they contributed to his death.
“The list of responsible parties also includes the gendarmerie, which failed to consider the relevant information in the aftermath of the murder in 2005, the police department, the officers who erased the camera recordings after his murder, the police chiefs who argued that the murder was not the work of an organized group and the editors-in-chief who assumed the role of his killer, Ogün Samast, and said, ‘I understand Ogün, I understand him pretty well; this murder is the job of a loser’,” he wrote.
Esayan confessed that he thought this murder would cause Turkey to repent, but “that did not happen because this country is a place where this murder could still be committed.”
“During his visit to the Dink family to offer his condolences, the Prime Minister promised that he would resolve the murder, just like he promised with the Uludere incident. People should not give promises they cannot keep because some naïve people may raise their expectations. This should not be done. It would have been easier to stomach if he had said, instead, ‘This is not something I can handle, and for this reason I will not give any promise that I cannot keep’.
“I will not talk about the case. The investigation was planned since the beginning by the state. Let me admit that even I did not expect this. I did not expect the release of Erhan Tuncel and 19 other suspects. But that could have been unfair to these kids while those who actually killed Dink are still free. I think this trial has been unfair to Hayal, too. The court should have released him while it was at it,” he wrote.
Recall, on Jan. 17, the İstanbul 14th High Criminal Court, in the 25th hearing of the case, issued its ruling of life imprisonment for major suspect in the case Yasin Hayal for inciting Ogün Samast to murder, while the other suspect on trial, Erhan Tuncel, was acquitted of murder charges (but given 10 years and six months for an unrelated McDonalds bombing in 2004). The two, and all other suspects, were cleared of charges of membership in a terrorist organization.
The group “Hrant’s Friends” will gather in Istanbul’s Taksim Square today and walk to the area outside the Agos’ offices where Dink was killed.