Turkish officer remanded in custody over Dink murder

By Murat Kaya and Muhammed Enes Can

ISTANBUL (AA) - A Turkish gendarmerie officer was remanded into custody in Istanbul late Tuesday as part of an investigation into the 2007 assassination of Armenian journalist Hrant Dink.

An Istanbul criminal court ordered the arrest of Sergeant Abdullah Dinc on charges of "attempting to abolish constitutional order, intentional killing and being member of the FETO organization."

Headed by the U.S.-based preacher Fetullah Gulen, the Fetullah Terrorist Organization is held responsible for the July 15 coup attempt, which claimed more than 230 lives and injured nearly 2,200 people.

Dinc is one of the two gendarmerie officers among a total of 27 people, who have been detained as part of the investigation into the Dink murder case.

On Tuesday, Turkish journalist Ercan Gun was also taken into custody in Istanbul in connection with an ongoing probe into 2007 assassination of Hrant Dink.

One of the founders of the bilingual Turkish-Armenian Agos newspaper, Dink was killed in broad daylight outside his office in Istanbul on Jan. 19, 2007.

His murder sparked widespread protests and led to speculation about the involvement of far-right groups and claims of a cover-up.

Ogun Samast, from Trabzon on Turkey’s Black Sea coast, was jailed for 23 years in 2011. Samast, who was aged 17 years at the time of the killing, claimed he killed Dink for "insulting Turkishness".