Turkey:A teenager has confessed to the murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, after his aunt and father saw pictures of him on television and contacted the police.
Ogun Samast, who is 16 or 17- years-old, was caught on Saturday night on a coach in the Black Sea city of Samsun, 32 hours after he shot Mr Dink outside the offices of his newspaper, Agos, in central Istanbul.
Following police confirmation that six other men had also been brought in for questioning, there was much speculation in the Turkish press yesterday that the murder was the work of a gang. But Muammer Guler, the Istanbul governor who headed the investigation, told daily newspaper Sabahhe thought that unlikely.
"The suspect went into Agos's office at midday but wasn't allowed to speak to Dink," he said. "He then waited outside up to the time of the murder, about two hours later. We don't think a professional would have behaved like this."
Samast reportedly told interrogators in Samsun that he killed Mr Dink "because he said Turkish blood was dirty". The phrase is a distortion of comments Mr Dink made in a 2004 article for which ultra-nationalists took him to court. Charged with "insulting Turkishness", he was given a six-month suspended sentence under article 301 of the penal code.
In the last editorial he wrote, Mr Dink referred to the trial as a turning point in his life. Because of it, he wrote, "a significant segment of the population . . . view Hrant Dink as someone 'denigrating Turkishness'.
"This is the punishment", he went on, referring to government ministers who had justified their refusal to get rid of the article on the grounds that "no one has ever been imprisoned because of it".
With many of the hundreds of well-wishers flocking to Agos carrying placards blaming the state for Mr Dink's murder, officials are on the defensive.
"Because he didn't request protection, he didn't get close protection," Mr Guler said yesterday, rejecting accusations the government didn't do enough to protect Mr Dink.
Prime minister Tayyip Erdogan meanwhile ordered police to provide 24-hour security for others - including Nobel prizewinner Orhan Pamuk - targeted under article 301.