PROSECUTOR USTA:

According to various Turkish dailies and news sources, Hikmet Usta, the prosecutor in charge of the Hrant Dink murder trial, did not find any connections between the journalist murder and the Ergenekon trial. Usta reached this conclusion after having obtained information from the police. On the other hand, Fırat News Agency quoted an unidentified witness as saying "The Istanbul Police brought Ogün Samast to Samsun".

Samast was sentenced to imprisonment of almost 23 years this July for the killing of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink on 19 January 2007. The Dink family lawyers initially requested the acquisition of the Ergenekon case file in 2009. Ergenekon is a clandestine terrorist organization charged with various crimes against non-Muslim minorities staged for the ultimate purpose of triggering a military coup.

Special Authority Public Prosecutor Usta had asked the Istanbul police in writing whether there were any connections between the defendants of the Dink murder trial and the Ergenekon case. Usta reportedly received a negative answer and is going to include that into his final plea. As reported by Helin Şahin from Star newspapers and several other media outlets, in Usta's opinion the Dink murder was not part of the Ergenekon actions since he did not find concrete documents or connections. The prosecutor's final plea is expected for the coming hearing of the Dink murder trial on 25 October.

The Istanbul Police stated that Ergenekon defendants talked on the phone to some members of the 'Alperen Ocakları' in Trabzon. The 'Alperen' group follows a synthesis between nationalism and Islamism. Brigadier General Veli Küçük, lawyers Kemal Kerinçsiz and Levent Temiz, ret. Colonel Levent Göktaş, Commander Erbay Çolakoğlu and ret. Captain Muzaffer Tekin were alleged to have connections to the defendants of the Dink case. However, the Istanbul Police pointed out that no direct telephone conversations had been registered between these Ergenekon defendants and the people involved in the Dink murder.

It was emphasized in the police report that not all transcriptions of the telephone conversations could be acquired. It was also highlighted that looking backwards the contents of the phone talks could not be determined. The Dink assassination was seen as an "operation" of the Cage Action Plan, a coup plan supposedly worked out by the Naval Forces targeting Non-Muslims. Furthermore it was said that the journalist's name was included on the death lists in the documents of the Sledgehammer trial related to a coup allegedly plotted by the Armed Forces.

"He came with plainclothes policemen"

At the same time, a senior military official from the Samsun Provincial Gendarmerie Command who preferred to remain anonymous apparently made the following statement to Fırat News Agency: "When Ogün Samast got on the bus after the murder, plainclothes police officers were sitting in front, behind and next to him. His every step was followed from Istanbul onwards".

The witness recalled that Ogün's bus to Trabzon stopped at the new bus station of Samsun (Black Sea coast) on the way and added that the security of the area of the bus station lies within the responsibility of the Provincial Gendarmerie Command since it is located outside the city. "When the bus had stopped and opened the doors, personnel from the Samsun Provincial Gendarmerie Command entered the bus and arrested the person on subject from the spot. They knew which seat he had taken" the witness said.

According to the statement of the witness, the Istanbul Police did not arrest Samast in order not to take over the responsibility for the murder. Instead, they wanted him to go to Samsun under surveillance, the witness claimed. (ÖÖ/VK)