“Turkey Took No Heed of European Court’s Verdict”

Dink family's lawyer Fethiye Çetin penned a letter to the Committe of Ministers of the Council of Europe, arguing that the Turkish government had failed to implement any serious, concrete or frank steps to execute the verdict issued by the ECHR and that it rewarded the responsible parties by promoting rather than trying them in a court of law.

The Turkish government updated its action plan dating to June 27, 2011 once again on Oct. 19, 2011 due to the finalization of the European Court's verdict on Dec. 14, 2010, she said, adding that both action plans included contemporary developments under the titles of independent and general measures and ongoing trials rather than the verdict's execution.

"The written [contents] of the government's action plan clearly indicate [they] took no concrete or serious steps to execute the verdict. The government did not attempt anything positive since the time of the last action plan either," Fethiye Çetin said.

Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, the chief editor of the Armenian weekly Agos, was shot dead on Jan. 19, 2007 in broad daylight before his office in Istanbul's Şişli district.

"The [action] plan elucidated at length over measures allegedly taken, ongoing trials and investigations not yet complete, but [it] divulged no concrete information over the execution of the [European Court's] verdict on Dink or a renewal of the trial," Çetin said in her letter.

"The government did not choose to opt for remission to execute the verdict, failed to bring those responsible before justice and continued its rhetoric and actions [intended to] pave the way for new violations by reproducing the [same] structure that spawned the violations [in the first place,] she said.

The ECHR had convicted Turkey of violating the second article of the European Convention on Human Rights over the right to life, the 10th article on the freedom of speech and the 13th article over the right to an effective remedy in the lawsuit filed by the Dink family.

A court had sentenced Dink's murderer Ogün Samast to a total of 22 years and 10 months in prison on charges of "premeditated murder" and "possession of unlicensed weapons."Instigator Yasin Hayal also received a life sentence, while Erhan Tuncel was acquitted. All the defendants, however, were acquitted of charges of membership in an illegal organization due to lack of evidence, and a number of officials implicated in the affair also received promotions. (AS)