Parliamentary Inquiry Says The State Could Not Protect Hrant Dink

Parliamentary Human Rights Subcommittee accuses the security units of the state for not taking the necessary steps to prevent Hrant Dink’s murder in its report. It points out to the lack of communication between the institutions.

Bia news center - Ankara

24-07-2008

Yesterday (July 23), the subcommittee established within the Human Rights Investigation Committee of the Turkish Parliament (TBMM) announced its report about Hrant Dink’s Murder on January 19, 2007.

The report states that the state was at fault in protecting the life of its own citizen. President of the committee and Bursa deputy for the Justice and Development Party (AKP) Mehmet Okutan, who declined to answer the questions of the journalists, said, “We reached the decision that there was fault, negligence and lack of coordination both in gendarmerie and police organizations.”

Report says, “Both the police and the gendarmerie are at fault”

Mehmet Ocaktan had the press release with the committee members Kazım Ataoğlu, Bingöl deputy for the AKP, Şenol Bal, İzmir deputy for the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and Ayşe Jale Ağırbaş, Istanbul deputy for the Democratic Left Party (DSP) in the Parliament.

The subcommittee, which had been working for months to determine the responsibility of the public employees in the Dink murder, declared in its 180 page report that the police and the gendarmerie were at fault in Dink’s murder.

According to the report, the officials did not investigate what they received thoroughly, did not take the necessary measures, although they were in a position to know what dangers were present, and did not look into the reports by Coşkun İğci in enough detail, though he was a registered informant for the Gendarmerie Provincial Command. At the end, one of our citizens named Hrant Dink lost his life.”

“There is a problem in the Gendarmerie - Police collaboration”

Ocaktan said that they made various proposals at the end of the report. To the question that what he thought about that even though permission to have an investigation about the gendarmerie officials was granted, the same was not done for the police chief, his answer was that they did not make personal accusations in the report.

The Report points out to the problems in the intelligence sharing between the police and the gendarmerie organizations and criticizes the methods regarding the assignment of the informants. (EÖ/TB)

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