On 02/02/2007, a new video of Ogün Samast — the shooter, has been released where he's taking pictures (holding a Turkish flag) with some Turkish Army officials and he is treated as a hero. [1]
Text which was remaining elsewhere (not yet with more citations which was added in my edit #8)
On February 1, 2007, the private Turkish television channel TGRT broadcast video footage of the man accused of shooting Hrant Dink posing proudly behind a Turkish flag, flanked by police officers of both military and security police, allegedly filmed in the police bureau of Samsun where he was taken after his arrest. In the background was a poster bearing the words of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk: "The nation's land is sacred. It cannot be left to fate." The video caused shock and consternation as commentators warned it was another sign of the growing power of Turkish ultra-nationalism, as the nation gears up for parliamentary and presidential elections later this year. Ismet Berkan, editor of the liberal newspaper Radikal, said that the release of the video was like killing Mr Dink a second time. It proved, he claimed, "that the murderer and his associates are not alone, that their supporters ... have penetrated all segments of the state." A police spokesperson said an investigation into the video footage and its leaking was under way.[82][83] Rumours of the existence of such footage had circulated for days, but had been denied by the police and the military. In an apparent act of retaliation to the broadcasting of the footage, the Turkish General Staff canceled the accreditation of TGRT, required for broadcasting.[84][85]. The general director of TGRT, Murat Akgiray, and the director responsible for the broadcasting, Bahattin Apak, have resigned.[86]
