Dink murder trial opens in Turkey

By Vincent Boland in Ankara

Published: July 2 2007 10:33 | Last updated: July 2 2007 10:33

A teenager accused of murdering the Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink goes on trial on Monday in Istanbul on Monday in a case considered a severe test of the independence and thoroughness of Turkey’s judicial system.

Dink was murdered on a street in Istanbul in January. A 17-year-old boy, Ogun Samast, was arrested and charged with the crime along with 17 alleged accomplices, all from the northeastern city of Trabzon.

Dink was the founder and editor of Agos, a bilingual Turkish and Armenian weekly for Istanbul’s estimated 60,000 inhabitants of Armenian descent. He was a hate figure among Turkish nationalists for advocating acknowledgement of the mass murder of Armenians during the collapse of the Ottoman empire.

He had been prosecuted several times under the notorious article 301 of Turkey’s penal code, which seeks to silence those whose views are critical of the country’s institutions or its past or who “insult Turkishness”.

Amid reports of the alleged involvement of members of Turkey’s security forces in Dink’s murder, human rights campaigners and Dink’s family said the trial was a crucial test of the judicial system’s willingness to prosecute any members of the police or gendarmerie implicated in the case.

Holly Carter, Europe and Central Asia director of Human Rights Watch, said the trial was a critical test of the Turkish judiciary’s independence. “We will be closely watching how the court handles any evidence that may implicate the security forces.”

Fethiye Cetin, a lawyer for Dink’s family, said evidence and documents relating to the murder had been destroyed or were flawed.

Turkey’s judicial system has faced severe criticism in recent months for its handling of cases involving writers and intellectuals. The most controversial was the prosecution, for “insulting Turkishness”, of Orhan Pamuk, the Nobel prize-winning novelist, in 2005. The case was terminated by the justice ministry after an international outcry.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007