A Turkish court has sentenced nine defendants to life in prison in the retrial of public officials accused of complicity in the 2007 assassination of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink. This decision follows a Supreme Court of Appeals ruling that overturned previous verdicts for being too lenient, as reported by the Turkish Minute on Saturday.
The Istanbul 14th High Criminal Court convicted former Trabzon Gendarmerie Commander Ali Ã-z, along with Okan ÅžimÅŸek, Mehmet Ayhan, Onur Karakaya, Osman Gülbel, and Hasan DurmuÅŸoÄŸlu, of “attempting to overthrow the constitutional order,” sentencing each of them to life imprisonment. Former gendarmerie officer Muharrem Demirkale received a life sentence for “premeditated murder,” while Yavuz Karakaya and Bekir YokuÅŸ were sentenced to 12 years and 10 years, respectively, for aiding and abetting the murder. Another defendant, Veysal Åžahin, was sentenced to 15 years for “negligent homicide” but was acquitted of terrorism-related charges.
Evidence presented at the retrial highlighted that some officials had prior knowledge of the assassination plot but failed to act. Testimony indicated that intelligence about a planned attack on Dink had been deliberately misdated and concealed under the orders of senior officials. Åžahin testified that former Gendarmerie Commander Ã-z instructed subordinates to suppress intelligence received six months before the murder, documenting it instead as arriving one day after the killing.
Hrant Dink, the editor-in-chief of the Turkish-Armenian bilingual weekly Agos, was shot and killed outside his office in Istanbul on January 19, 2007, by then-17-year-old Ogün Samast. Samast was convicted and sentenced to nearly 23 years in prison in 2011. However, investigations revealed that multiple public officials had knowledge of the assassination plot but failed to prevent it.
The initial trial concluded in 2021 with 27 convictions and 33 acquittals, including former Trabzon police intelligence chief Engin Dinç and Istanbul intelligence head Ahmet Ä°lhan Güler, who were cleared of “negligent homicide.” Former high-ranking police officials Ramazan Akyürek and Ali Fuat Yılmazer received aggravated life sentences for “premeditated murder.” The Supreme Court of Appeals upheld these sentences but overturned other convictions, leading to the retrial.
International observers such as the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) have described the investigation into the assassination as politicized. The family of Dink has also frequently expressed dissatisfaction with the court proceedings, which they said failed to go after the real actors behind the murder.
Samast, who was released from prison in November 2023 after serving more than 16 years, has claimed that he was told before carrying out the act that there would be government support behind him after committing the murder and that he should have no worries about it.
The latest verdicts mark another chapter in the prolonged legal battle over Dink’s killing, but they are unlikely to be the final ones, as defense attorneys have indicated plans to appeal.
Dink, a prominent advocate for Turkish-Armenian reconciliation, had faced threats and harassment before his murder, particularly due to his writings on the Armenian genocide. His assassination sparked widespread protests and remains one of Turkey’s most politically sensitive cases.
