New detention warrants issued upon footage in Dink murder case

The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office issued warrants on March 21 for the detention of eight people in the ongoing investigation into the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, demanding their apprehension for publishing provocative photos with the convicted murderer after the 2007 killing.

Police detained journalist Muammer Ay and Murat Bayrak, Yüksel Avan, Birol Ustaoğlu, Yakup Kurtaran and Ahmet Çetiner in simultaneous operations conducted in six provinces. The search for the other two suspects is ongoing.

The eight were sought for publishing images and footage of murderer Ogün Samast in front of a Turkish flag shortly after his apprehension in the Black Sea province of Samsun.

Prosecutor Gökalp Kökçü from the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office's Terror and Organized Crime Bureau issued warrants for the footage published on Jan. 20, 2017, which shows Samast in front of a saying by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of modern Turkey.

"The homeland is holy, it can't be left to its destiny," reads the saying by Atatürk. 

The prosecutor initially linked Dink's murder case to the Ergenekon case, which was later dropped. A number of judges and prosecutors who pursued the Ergenekon case have subsequently been investigated due to alleged links to U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gülen, who is widely believed to have been behind the July 2016 failed coup attempt. 

In the note sent to the Court of Peace on duty, the prosecutor's office said the footage of Samast with the Turkish flag "was designed to create a base for the Ergenekon operations by creating the perception that nationalists were behind the murder."

The prosecutor's office also demanded arrest warrants for Gülen,...