Retired general sues murdered newspaper editor's lawyer for defamation

Read the article Who was Hrant Dink ? Reporters Without Borders today condemned the defamation suit which a controversial retired general, Veli Küçük, has brought against Erdal Dogan, one of the lawyers who represent the family of murdered Turkish-Armenian editor Hrant Dink. “This lawsuit against one of Dink's lawyers in the run-up to the start of the trial of Dink's alleged killers on 2 July in Istanbul is worrying,” the press freedom organisation said. “Six months after Dink's murder, those who defend him are still being harassed.” Küçük is demanding 10,000 Turkish lira (5,500 euros) in damages from Dogan. The case, which Dogan called “tragicomic,” is to come to trial on 18 September. The prosecutors investigating the Dink murder never felt the need to question the former general although the Dink family said he could be involved, Dogan said. When Dink was murdered in January, Dogan told journalists his client had felt very intimidated by Küçük's presence at one of the hearings in his trial in 2006 on charges of “humiliating Turkish identity.” A key figure in the 1996 “Susurluk” affair, which exposed close links between the security forces, organised crime and fascist death squads, Küçük has repeatedly been summoned to testify in court cases that have not always been resolved. Editor and columnist of the Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos, Dink was gunned down outside the his newspaper's office in Istanbul on 19 January.