Human Rights Watch: Turkish Court Protects Dink Killers

ISTANBUL — A Turkish court’s verdict on January 17, 2012, that there was no state involvement or organized plot behind the 2007 shooting of the Turkish Armenian journalist Hrant Dink is a travesty of justice, according to Human Rights Watch.
“The Istanbul court’s denial of the plot behind Hrant Dink’s murder flies in the face of evidence,” said Emma Sinclair-Webb, Turkey researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Five years after the killing, Turkey’s criminal justice system remains unwilling to probe state collusion in political assassinations.”
“The court’s treatment of the murder as a straightforward crime committed in isolation by a few young men belies the evidence of their deep connections with the security forces,” Sinclair-Webb said. “It ignored the systematic failure by the Istanbul and Trabzon police and gendarmerie to take steps to try to prevent a murder they were repeatedly informed would happen.”
“The government has a clear duty to implement the judgment of the European Court, to cooperate fully to ensure that the full circumstances of state collusion in Dink’s murder are thoroughly investigated and that state officials are not protected,” said Sinclair-Webb.