Political responsibility will not end

Today, it is absolutely certain that Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was victim to a murder that could have been easily prevented. 

Just like Gabriel García Márquez Marquez’s novel “Chronicle of a Death Foretold,” everybody knew who was going to be killed and who would commit the murder. 

According to stories recently published in a pro-government newspaper, the reason why the murder was not prevented was that “parallel policemen” were looking to secure important positions in the police intelligence agency. They wanted this in order to implement the Ergenekon plan that they had prepared. 

It’s no secret that the murder of Hrant Dink could have been prevented, and the authorities in the Trabzon and Istanbul security department did not raise a finger to prevent his murder. 

We have known this from the very first day. At the time, the head of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government - which did not grant permission for an investigation into the authorities in question, thus preventing the enlightenment of the murder - was Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
 
Investigation into potentially responsible officials was not permitted and, moreover, those responsible even received promotions. Some became governors; some became police chiefs; some were promoted to top positions in the security department. One was even made a cabinet minister by Erdoğan. 

I don’t remember how many times I wrote in those days to say investigation permits should be granted in order to solve this murder. 

Shortly after this, the wave of Ergenekon cases started and the “political prosecutor” of them was none other than Erdoğan, the person who had blocked the investigations into the Dink case. 

Of course, as he holds power right now, no prosecutor will question his responsibility in these incidents.

However, it should not be forgotten that his political responsibility for these incidents will not stop following him wherever he goes.

A very interesting case 

Meanwhile, the indictment in the “conspiracy case,” in which Fethullah Gülen is among the defendants, has been accepted by the court and the proceedings will begin in January. 

The prosecutor is claiming that the Dec. 25, 2013, bribery and corruption investigations were a conspiracy to topple the government. I wonder why this case is not merged with the Dec. 17, 2013, graft investigation case, because at the base of both cases is the accusation that a conspiracy was plotted against the government. Maybe this merging will take place as the case proceeds; we will see. 

The most interesting aspect of the case will be the evidence that the prosecutor submits, such as the notorious phone conversation about “zeroing the money.” In it, a father tells his son to “zero” the money, but the son cannot reach the cash after trying to distribute it all day long. Then the other sibling steps in to help, etc...

At the mentioned hour and day, the signals of the cell phones were determined. Now, since the office of the prosecutor is claiming that this was a conspiracy, I am guessing he will submit some documents. It was also claimed by experts at the time that this wiretap was a fabricated one. 

I had asked before: Would a similar conversation, let’s say between Republican People’s Party (CHP) head Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and his son, be fabricated? 

There are other taped phone conversations of course. The bidet to be installed at the villa, the money for the pool, a businessman who will be made to sit on laps because he did not bring enough money; they all need to be proven fake.

It will really be an interesting case. Let us all watch…