The Turkish interior minister has announced a new investigation into the role of the security forces in the 2007 murder of journalist of Armenian origin, Hrant Dink, according to delayed reports.
Interior minister, Basir Atalay on February 4, following the publication of a report by the prime minister’s services (BTK), ordered the opening of an investigation into the responsibilities and negligence of Ramazan Akyurek, intelligence director of national security in Ankara and of Ali Fuat Yilmazer, intelligence head of Istanbul police, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) said.
Interior ministry inspectors will also question representatives of the gendarmerie and the police in Trabzon, from where the journalist’s murder was instigated and those in Istanbul, where Dink was murdered and from whom he had asked protection shortly before his death.
Investigators will also examine the activities of the extreme-right organisation, Foyer Alperen, of which the journalists’ two alleged killers, Ehran Tuncel and Yasin Hayal, were members.
The inspectors’ conclusions could, if they uncover mismanagement, lead to the opening of a judicial investigation for “negligence” against the police and the gendarmerie and a trial.
Hrant Dink, editor of the newspaper Agos, was shot dead on January 19, 2007. The trial of the two suspected killers opened in July 2007. The next hearing is due on April 20.
“The interior minister’s decision represents a major step in the Hrant Dink case," RSF reacted. “We hope that new elements will appear and advance the trial. The opening of this investigation is the final chance to shed light on poor running of the police and the gendarmerie," it added.
