Assassination of Hrant Dink: Difference between revisions

Three people were taken into custody regarding the murder on the day of the killing.<ref name="IHT070119"/> However, movements tied to the ultra-nationalist movement are currently suspected of carrying out the murder, in particular after the arrest of [[Yasin Hayal]], a militant who spent 11 months in prison for having taken part in the bombing of a McDonald's in Trabzon in 2004, and of [[Karadeniz Technical University]] student Erhan Tuncel, who was close to the Alperen organization, a youth organization associated with the far-right ultra-nationalist Islamist [[Great Union Party]] (BBP), created by former members of the [[Nationalist Movement Party]] (MHP).<ref name="Libe"/> Yasin Hayal confessed to telling Samast to kill Dink and supplying the murder weapon, while Erhan Tuncel has been charged as a main instigator of the killing, and allegedly directed both Samast and Hayal.<ref name="Trabzonlegend">{{cite news |title= A "Trabzon Legend" gave the orders to kill Hrant Dink |url= http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/5817478.asp?gid=74 |work= [[Hürriyet]] |date=22 January 2007|access-date= 22 January 2007}}</ref> The BBP has denied any involvement in the assassination.<ref name="hurriyet-en-5830266"/> Hrant Dink was described as a "traitor" by the Turkish far right, and had received up to 2,600 death threats from ultra-nationalist circles.<ref name="bbc070121" /> According to rumors reported by Turkish newspapers in late January 2007, Erhan Tuncel was actually a police informer for the Trabzon Police. The rumors also suggested that he warned Trabzon police office before the murder, but that the warnings were ignored.<ref name="hurriyet070129">{{cite news |first= Saygı |last=Öztürk |title= O, duruşma salonuna hiç girmedi |work= [[Hürriyet]] |url= http://hurarsiv.hurriyet.com.tr/goster/haber.aspx?id=5856494 |date= 29 January 2007 |access-date= 30 January 2007|language=tr }}</ref>

 

 

===Concerns over a possible cover-up===

* Speaker of the [[Grand National Assembly of Turkey]] [[Bülent Arınç]],<ref name="Reactions" />

* Chief of General Staff [[Yaşar Büyükanıt]] condemned the assassination.<ref name="hurriyet070119_2">{{cite news| title = Büyükanıt: Nefretle kınıyoruz| work = [[Hürriyet]]| date = 19 January 2007| url =http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/5807494.asp?m=1&gid=112&srid=3428&oid=3| access-date = 19 January 2007| language=tr}}</ref>

* Over one hundred thousand people marched in Dink's Funeral to protest against his assassination, holding placards that said "We are all Armenian" and "We are Hrant Dink" in both Turkish, Kurdish and Armenian.''(See funeral above.)'' Later, these placards were protested by the far-right [[Nationalist Movement Party|MHP]]. The leader of MHP described the placards saying "We are all Armenian" as "a freak show organized by those who do not participate in martyr funerals". On the other hand, a party council member of the main-opposition [[Republican People's Party (Turkey)|CHP]], a member of [[Socialist International]], said "We became ashamed of being Turkish. I am Turkish and I protest the assassination. Maybe we should have carried the placards saying 'We are all Human' instead of 'We are all Armenians'. The placards that say "assassin [[Article 301 (Turkish penal code)|301]]" are also wrong. As long as we do not want to denigrate Turkishness, we cannot call 301 an assassin."<ref name="Radikal211091">{{cite news|url=http://www.radikal.com.tr/haber.php?haberno=211091 |work=[[Radikal]]|title='Ermeni' sözüne bile tahammül yok|date=25 January 2007|access-date=3 March 2007 | language=tr }}</ref>

* [[Nobel Prize in Literature|Nobel Prize]]-winning [[Turkey|Turkish]] novelist, [[Orhan Pamuk]] visited Dink's family in Istanbul on 21 January. "In a sense, we are all responsible for his death," he said. "However, at the very forefront of this responsibility are those who still defend Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code. Those who campaigned against him, those who portrayed this sibling of ours as an enemy of Turkey, those who painted him as a target, they are the most responsible in this. And then, in the end, we are all responsible."<ref name="hurriyet070121">{{cite news|url=http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/english/5817673.asp |title= Orhan Pamuk: We are all responsible for Dink's death |work= [[Hürriyet]] |date= 21 January 2007 |access-date= 22 January 2007}}</ref>