ANKARA (Hurriyet Daily News)—Turkish President Abdullah Gül has revealed plans to take action in the controversial Hrant Dink murder case upon his return to Turkey, telling reporters in Strasbourg that he plans on ordering further investigations into the stalled case.
Dink, a Turkish journalist of Armenian origin who wrote on subjects that included the denial of the Armenian Genocide by Turkey and the reconciliation between Armenians and Turks, was murdered four years ago.
The Dink family recently made a new plea that police and gendarmerie officials not questioned during the investigation be brought into the scope of the investigation, given a recent European Court of Human Rights decision that found Turkey guilty of both failing to protect Dink and his freedom of speech and not properly investigating civil servants suspected of being involved in the murder.
Gül said he was ashamed that the Turkish government was not able to protect one of its citizens and that the system in place in Turkey had proven to be “deeply troubling” given that the Dink case remains unsolved after four years.
Gül said he planned to instruct the State Audit Board (DDK) to further investigate the Dink case and bring to light what remains hidden. Leaving the murder unsolved would be a “stain” on the country’s history and raise concerns regarding the judiciary process, he said, adding that solving the case with a determined approach would prevent similar incidents from happening in the future.
The DDK recently called for a new investigation into a 2009 helicopter crash that killed a right-wing political party leader, Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu, after it found serious flaws in the Turkish state’s response to the incident.
Meanwhile, opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu said Gül’s announcement could finally allow the investigation to reveal the truth behind the murder.
The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) “conceals evidence, instead of revealing it. We know that those who hide evidence are elevated to high positions. It is a great development that the president is stepping in. Maybe the public can finally learn the facts that have been hidden,” Kılıçdaroğlu said.
Pure propaganda, If in Turkey for every case for justice needs to be pressured by the whole world to act, that says a lot on Turkey’s justice system.
Hogwash by the turks as usual. They need to giv e our lands back and leave us alone. Their bullet to Hrant was their teachings and laws that say what it says. The politicians are full of it and even with most of the world on our side-they still do NOT get it. They killed, they lied and they lie- they drown in their own blood