11TH DINK TRIAL HEARING: A CALL FOR FILES FROM

UNCLAS ISTANBUL 000403 SIPDIS DRL FOR LCAREY E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PREL PGOV TU AR OSCE SUBJECT: 11TH DINK TRIAL HEARING: A CALL FOR FILES FROM ERGENEKON AND MALATYA REF: ISTANBUL 48 ¶1. (SBU) Summary. At the eleventh hearing of the Dink murder trial on October 12, attended by Istanbul PolOff, the Dink family attorneys requested that Istanbul's 14th Heavy Penal Court consider files from the Ergenekon indictments pertaining to a clandestine organization whose alleged members are currently standing trial in two separate court cases. Linking a series of murders and violent acts against minorities over the past three years, the lawyers demanded that the court request related documents seized during the Ergenekon probe. On October 16 the Turkish National Police fired its intelligence chief - former intelligence chief for Trabzon, where much of the murder plotting was alleged to have occurred - for not taking sufficient measures to inform the security officials in Istanbul of the threat to Hrant Dink. The murder trial is scheduled to continue on February 8, 2010. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) At the October 12 hearing of the Dink murder trial, Dink family lawyer, Fethiye Cetin, linked a series of murders and violent acts against minorities over the past three years to the alleged Ergenekon organization's "Psychological Action Plan" against minorities. Cetin demanded that the court request related documents seized during the Ergenekon probe. In her statement Cetin cited the activities conducted by Ergenekon suspects as responsible for turning "Hrant Dink into a target for ultranationalist people and groups." ¶3. (SBU) Five of the eleven murder suspects, including the alleged triggerman Ogun Samast, appeared at the hearing. Samast and one other suspect confirmed at the hearing that the gun confiscated by police following the murder was indeed the gun they used. High-profile international spectators also attended the hearing, including EU-Turkey Joint Parliamentary Commission Helene Flautre; and two lawyers representing the Bar Associations of Brussels and Paris, including Alexandre Couyoumdjian, member of the Armenian Association in the Paris Bar. The trial is scheduled to continue on February 8, 2010. ¶4. (SBU) In April 2008, a parliamentary committee investigating the alleged complicity of security officials established that the security forces were tipped off about the plot to kill Dink before the murder but did not act. Last year the committee also called on high-ranking Jandarma to testify during the investigation, but none of them appeared on the scheduled date. Similar details of complacency were offered in previous hearings (Ref A). On October 16, the Turkish National Police sacked its Intelligence Chief, Ramazan Akyurek, after the Prime Minister's Inspection Council earlier concluded that he, along with Istanbul Intelligence Chief Ali Fuat Yilmazer, should be investigated for negligence of duties. The investigation determined that Akyurek - the former Trabzon Police Chief - did not take sufficient measures to inform the security officials in Istanbul of the threat to Hrant Dink, although he was aware of the plans of Yasin Hayal and Erhan Tuncel. ¶5. (SBU) Comment. International presence at the hearings, combined with the objectives of the GOT's ongoing Democratic Initiative, may also move the government and state to take further steps to hold accountable state officials found to be negligent in prior investigations. Post will continue to monitor the case and communicate with the Dink family lawyers, especially with regard to evidence on the potential link between the Dink and Ergenekon cases. End Comment. WIENER