Hrant Dink Report Criticised as "Superficial"
Radikal newspaper journalist Tarık Işık reports that the Prime Ministerial Review Committee (BTK) has examined a report by the Ministry of the Interior on the murder of Hrant Dink.
The BTK has criticised the report, which deals with allegations of police negligence in the case, for exceeding its authority and for being superficial.
Meanwhile, the BTK reiterated the stance of its own previously published report. It is possible that the Ministry of the Interior will prepare a new report.
PM ordered investigation
Following the murder of Hrant Dink, the Armenian-Turkish editor-in-chief of the Agos newspaper in 2007, his wife Rakel Dink applied to the BTK for a report.
The BTK report contained accusations of negligence and led to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan giving permission to auditors from the Ministry of the Interior (MoI) to investigate 19 police officers, including Ramazan Akyürek, the head of the police intelligence department.
The investigation was completed on 9 November 2009 and the ensuing report noted that there was no need to proceed against the 19 police officers from Trabzon and Istanbul.
However, the MoI report met with protests from the Prime Ministerial Office. According to one source, the government is determined to find the power structure behind the murder of Dink. On 18 January, the BTK wrote that the MoI report was superficial and that it, the BTK, did not agree with several conclusions in it.
Criticism
Differences of opinion were said to exist on the following issues:
* A preliminary investigation of the police officers had been ordered, but the civil servant auditors composed a research report, thus exceeding their authority.
* It cannot be ignored that the intelligence unit, which knew about assassination plans on Dink, did not act on this knowledge.
* It is still doubtful whether the information handed to the police by informant Erhan Tuncel led to "necessary action".
* There is a likelihood that intelligence received was not evaluated in a satisfactory manner.
Possibility of new report
The BTK reaction says that the MoI report is not "legally invalid", but has the quality of a "message". It is possible that Beşir Atalay, the Minister of the Interior, will consider the BTK criticism and call for a new report.
One of the duties of the BTK is to inspect and audit public bodies, and either carry out or call for investigations and questioning into issues related to duties, authorities and responsibilities.
The preliminary investigation the MoI was supposed to carry out was meant to be a gathering of information, documents and opinions on the relevant persons. (EÖ/AG)