January 19, 2012

Dink verdict: Border between state and deep state fades away

İhsan Yılmaz

Five years ago, in my column on Jan. 21, 2007, a few days after Hrant Dink’s assassination, I wrote, “Turkey desperately needs to quash the deep state, mythical or real.

The usual suspects, including retired bureaucrats, could and should be effectively surveilled, prosecutors can and should be as courageous and vigilant as they were in prosecuting Dink and many others who threatened Turkishness or the Turkish state by expressing their opinions. The government can and should overcome Şemdinli syndrome.” Unfortunately, the recent court verdict on the Dink case only confirmed that we have been miserably disappointed in regard to all of the above expectations.