VZCZCXRO7360
PP RUEHIK
DE RUEHIT #0403 2951659
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 221659Z OCT 09
FM AMCONSUL ISTANBUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9297
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY

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