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Thenewanatolian-Photos released yesterday showed a mysterious ex-army member linked in reports to Friday's slaying of Hrant Dink as well as the 1996 Susurluk scandal with the gunman in last year's deadly Council of State shooting.
A news agency released photos showing Veli Kucuk together with Alparslan Arslan, the gunman who killed one judge and wounded four others last May.
Speculations regarding the murder of Dink, an Armenian-origin Turkish journalist, have been growing, raising further questions, while the media has been looking into the killer's possible link with a notorious ex-general, Kucuk. However, photos released by a pro-PKK media organ, the Firat News Agency, formerly the Mesopotamia News Agency, showed Kucuk with some other important figures.
Kucuk's name entered into Dink's murder investigation when the late writer's lawyers told officials that Kucuk had threatened Dink. They also also said that Ogun Samast, who confessed to the murder, was threatened by circles close to Kucuk.
In a photo taken two years ago Kucuk was seen with gunman Arslan at the Azerbaijan Congress held in Stockholm. After the bloody Council of State attack, Kucuk said he didn't knew Arslan. He also said after Dink's murder that he had no connection with the murder or suspect.
In another photo, Kucuk was seen with Muzaffer Tekin, said to be the mastermind of both the Council of State and daily Cumhuriyet attacks, and Association of Lawyers' Union head Kemal Kerincsiz, a high-profile ultranationalist figure known for filing complaints against writers and journalists, including Dink.
Analysts and security experts warned against possible irrelevant conspiracy theories and said such claims about Kucuk should be looked into calm.
Furthermore, the news agency claimed that Kucuk was organizing nationalist circles in Azerbaijan and established a murder network against Armenians. The agency said it based this claim on information obtained in 2001 from Turan A., the nephew of Azerbaijan's then Interior Minister Siyavuz Mustafa . The news also accused Turkey's Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) of illegally training soldiers with Kucuk in Azerbaijan.
Deputy asks for state protection for Kucuk
Meanwhile, Young Party (GP) deputy head and Istanbul Deputy Emin Sirin wrote letters to the premier and Interior Minister Abdulkadir Aksu asking why the government had not provided state protection to retired Gene. Kucuk.
In his letter, Sirin praised the decision to provide state protection for people who have been on trial under controversial Turkish Penal Code (TCK) Article 301 which is on "insulting Turkishness."
"I heard that the government also provided protection and an armored vehicle to Fener Greek Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomeos," he said. "I also believe necessary measures were taken considering possible targets such as Turkish Armenians' Patriarch Mesrob Mutafyan and politicians."
Sirin claimed that some media circles are pointing fingers at Kucuk after Dink's murder, asking, "Kucuk, who served his country, was removed from his home, losing his protection as well. Now why doesn't the government provide any protection to Kucuk?"
Related link :
www.firatnews.com