Nine years on: No solid steps taken in Hrant Dink assassination

No solid legal steps have been taken in the nine years since Armenian-origin journalistHrant Dink was assassinated outside his office in Istanbul on Jan. 19, 2007, as thousands of people gathered to commemorate the late Agos editor-in-chief on the anniversary of his death. 

The large crowd filed past the military museum in the ?i?li district at around 1:30 p.m. on Jan. 19 to walk toward the Agos office building to read a statement at the site where Dink was shot dead by triggerman Ogün Samast nine years ago.

Accompanied by water cannons and armored vehicles, police took intense security measures along the route of the march as well as around the office of weekly Agos in ?i?li's Osmanbey neighborhood. 

A poster reading "we are here Ahparig, with longing, anger and determination!" was placed on the outer walls of the office building. "Ahparig" means "my brother" in Armenian.

In legal terms, only one lawsuit has been filed into Dink's assassination, while an ongoing investigation was launched separately against 26 public officials into negligence at the time of the killing. None of the 26 probed officials, including former and current police chiefs, have yet been tried.

Relatives and followers of the case have claimed government officials, police, military personnel and members of Turkey's National Intelligence Agency (M?T) played a role in Dink's murder by neglecting their duty to protect the journalist.

When Dink was murdered, the 26 officials were on duty in police departments in Istanbul, Ankara and the Black Sea province of Trabzon, from which Samast came to Istanbul before shooting the prominent journalist in the head nine years ago. Samast was sentenced to 22 years and 10 months in prison after being tried in...