Turkey: 2 suspects remanded in Hrant Dink case

By Muhammed Enes Can

ISTANBUL

A Turkish court Wednesday remanded in custody two security officers over their suspected links to the killing of a prominent Armenian-Turkish journalist.

Gendarmerie sergeants Haci Sefik Simsek and Bekir Yokus are accused of homicide, being a member of an armed terrorist organization, and attempting to overthrow the constitutional order.

Hrant Dink, founder and editor of bilingual Armenian-Turkish weekly newspaper Agos, was shot dead in an Istanbul street in January 2007.

Although a suspect was convicted, the case has been re-investigated several times amid concerns that police conspired to allow Dink’s killing to happen.

Ogun Samast, age 17 at the time of the killing, claimed he murdered Dink for “insulting Turkishness” and was jailed for 23 years in 2011.

By Muhammed Enes Can

ISTANBUL

A Turkish court Wednesday remanded in custody two security officers over their suspected links to the killing of a prominent Armenian-Turkish journalist.

Gendarmerie sergeants Haci Sefik Simsek and Bekir Yokus are accused of homicide, being a member of an armed terrorist organization, and attempting to overthrow the constitutional order.

Hrant Dink, founder and editor of bilingual Armenian-Turkish weekly newspaper Agos, was shot dead in an Istanbul street in January 2007.

Although a suspect was convicted, the case has been re-investigated several times amid concerns that police conspired to allow Dink’s killing to happen.

Ogun Samast, age 17 at the time of the killing, claimed he murdered Dink for “insulting Turkishness” and was jailed for 23 years in 2011.