Five police officers may be investigated in connection with Hrant Dink murder

The Turkish interior ministry has asked the judicial authorities to investigate five police officers attached to the Security Directorate in Istanbul on suspicion of failing to take the threats against newspaper editor Hrant Dink seriously and failing to protect him. Dink, who was of Armenian origin, was gunned down in January 2007. The five policemen – Bahadir Tekin, Özcan Özkan, Volkan Altinbulak, Ibrahim Pala and Sevki Eldivan – are alleged to have been remiss in not investigating threats that had been made against Dink for more than a year and for not tapping the phones of those suspected of being responsible. Pala and Eldivan are accused of failing to provide Dink with protection. The five police officers are expected to appeal against the request for an investigation. Reporters Without Borders nonetheless regards the request as a modest step forward and hopes that the investigation will go ahead. It also hopes that other Turkish officials will be investigated for their role in Dink’s murder. Born in 1954, Dink waged a determined campaign for Turkey to recognise the Armenian genocide. He was prosecuted many times in connection with his work as a journalist and was targeted by judicial officials and ultranationalists in the months prior to his death. He was gunned down on 19 January 2007 in the Istanbul district of Sisli, just a few meters from the entrance to Agos, the weekly newspaper he created in 1996.