Tens of tousands march in Istanbul for Hrant Dink, for Justice

Friends of Hrant Dink, a society of tens of thousands hold a march to the Agos editorial office today on January 19 to commemorate the fifth anniversary of his killing in the dim light of recent Turkish court verdicts of his assailants.

Istanbul / NationalTurk – After a Turkish court handed down a life sentence and an acquittance verdict to two militant nationalists for their roles in the murder of Hrant Dink five years ago, the controversial decision drew critics from all over Turkey and was regarded as an attempt to cover up the suspected involvement of members of Turkey’s security forces.

The organization ‘Friends of Hrant Dink’ helds a march starting from Taksim square to the Agos editorial office in Şişli district in Istanbul with the participation of more than 25000 people.

Many people carried black banners that read: “We are all Hrant, we are all Armenian.”

Turkish court : Hrant Dink Assasination Conspritors : Not members of any criminal org.

Conspirator Yasin Hayal was sentenced to life in prison Jan. 17 for his role in the Jan. 19, 2007, killing, but alleged co-conspirator Erhan Tuncel was acquitted in the case. Crucially, the court also ruled that no criminal organization was responsible for the murder even though a prosecutor had posited links between the killing and the alleged Ergenekon gang.

Hrant Dink, a journalist of Armenian descent, was gunned down in Istanbul on January 19, 2007, by Ogun Samast, a nationalist from Trabzon. Samast, who was a minor at the time of the murder, was sentenced to nearly 23 years in prison by a juvenile court last year.

Hrant Dink Murder, Trial, Verdicts : Controversy in Turkey

The trial against Samast’s accomplices from Trabzon ended after four years yesterday, with Judge Rustem Eryilmaz of Istanbul’s high criminal court sentencing Yasin Hayal, a right-wing extremist, to life in prison. Erhan Tuncel, a former police informer and another main suspect in the trial, was acquitted of aiding and abetting in the Dink case, but sentenced to 10 and a half years in prison for his role a bomb attack committed by Hayal in Trabzon three years before the killing of Dink. Both were cleared of charges of membership in a terrorist organisation, Turkish media reported.