TODAY.AZ / Politics

Turkish PM: "Killing of Armenian was attack on nation"

21 January 2007 [02:59] - TODAY.AZ
Turkish police on Saturday arrested the suspected killer of a prominent Turkish-Armenian writer who had angered nationalists with articles referring to a Turkish "genocide" of Armenians, government sources said.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan pledged to tackle "provocateurs" he said were behind the killing of Hrant Dink, editor of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian weekly Agos and Turkey's best known Armenian voice abroad. He was shot in broad daylight as he left his office in Istanbul on Friday.

Police named the arrested man as Ogun Samast and released a picture of him, showing a young man with a trimmed beard and white hat. They gave no details of the arrest. Official sources and local media had earlier given his name as Samas.

"I am declaring once more as an answer to provocateurs who have blood in their hands that bullets fired at Hrant Dink were fired at all of us," Erdogan told his AK Party.

"We are aware of our responsibility as the government and we're making this a priority ... Hrant Dink was a son of this land."

Newspapers criticised the government for failing to protect Dink despite a series of threats made against him. They said racism and nationalism, which is on the rise ahead of elections in May and November, were ultimately to blame for his death. Reuters

URL: http://www.today.az/news/politics/35248.html

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