Four more suspects arrested in Dink probe

As part of an ongoing investigation by the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, seven suspects in total were detained and sent to the Istanbul 2nd Court of Peace.        

The court ordered the arrest of four of the accused for “being members of the Fethullahist Terror Organization (FETÖ).”

The four included the former gendarmerie commander of Trabzon, Col. Ali Öz; gendarmerie intelligence officer Sgt. Veysel Şahin; Sgt. Ecevit Emir from the Istanbul provincial gendarmerie command; and gendarmerie officer Adem Sarıgöl.        

The three other suspects were released pending trial. The number of arrested suspects in the case has now reached 14.      

Dink, 52, was shot dead with two bullets to the head in broad daylight outside the offices of Agos in central Istanbul on Jan. 19, 2007.   

Ogün Samast, then a 17-year-old jobless high-school dropout, confessed to the murder and was sentenced to almost 23 years in jail in 2011.   

But the case grew into a wider scandal after it emerged that security forces had been aware of a plot to kill Dink but failed to act.

Relatives and followers of the case have long claimed government officials, police, military personnel and members of Turkey’s National Intelligence Agency (MİT) played a role in Dink’s murder by neglecting their duty to protect the journalist.

Turkey’s top court in July 2014 ruled that the investigation into the killing had been flawed, paving the way for the trial of other police officials.