The sixth hearing in the case, at the İstanbul Criminal Court yesterday, saw for the first time the testimony of Coşkun Iğcı, Hayal's uncle, who says he tried to dissuade Hayal from his plans to have Dink murdered but was unable to do so and thus informed gendarmerie officers, who told him they were already monitoring Hayal. Dink was shot dead outside the offices of the Agos newspaper in İstanbul in January 2007. Police arrested the suspected gunman, Ogün Samast, and his alleged associate, Hayal.

Seventeen-year-old Samast was charged with murdering Dink and membership in a criminal group. The first five hearings were closed to the media because suspect Samast was a minor at the time. Hayal, aged 26, was also detained for providing Samast with money and a gun, and threatening Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk, who, like Armenian-Turkish newspaper Agos' editor-in-chief Dink, stood trial under Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code (TCK). "It was my duty as a citizen," said Iğcı, referring to his informing the officers.

Iğcı said he tried to dissuade Hayal from the murder plot for about one-and-a-half months until October 2006, but never saw him again after that. When asked how many times he spoke with gendarmerie officers about the issue, Iğcı said he has known the gendarmerie officers since 2004 and saw them four or five times.

When he heard the news of Dink's assassination, Iğcı said he guessed it was Hayal's plot. He said he had known Hayal since childhood and that it was not hard to believe that he could commit such a murder. Iğcı also said he did not know Dink but spoke to the officers to protect Hayal. He added that he was relieved when he heard Samast was the alleged perpetrator.

Murder trial or comedy scene

Erhan Tuncel, another suspect linked to the Dink murder, also appeared in court. He was previously charged with being a member of an armed criminal group formed to commit crime and inciting premeditated murder.

The suspects seemed relaxed during the trial, shocking the public with their not-so-serious remarks. At one point Hayal's lawyer, Fuat Turgut, asked Tuncel if he knew a woman he met with often in Eski?ehir was an Israeli and Tuncel, stunning the courtroom audience, responded with a joke: "I've just found out that she was the daughter of the Israeli president."

When Turgut wanted to ask Samast a question, Samast said, "Do not make me talk to that crazy man." Turgut asked him if he called Hayal on the day of the murder and asked if Samast would kill everybody at Agos and if Hayal replied by saying, "Don't do it, there are innocent people." Samast replied by saying that he had neither asked such a question nor had Hayal given such a reply.

Samast surprised spectators at another point during the hearing. When asked if a person who called him in front of the Agos newspaper was Turkish-Armenian writer Etyen Mahçupyan, he answered: "No, it wasn't him. Jennifer Lopez called me."

When Hayal took the stand he first greeted the members of the press and the "leader of the Turkish nation Muhsin Yazıcıoğlu," who is in reality leader of the ultranationalist Grand Unity Party (BBP): "Dear Muslims and dear Alperens [BBP ultranationalist youth organization], be relaxed. We will have this situation continue until the BBP comes to power."

At the hearing, Hakkı Bahadır Cihan, the founder of the Trabzon Alperen Association, who was detained and released, also testified. He said he had no ties to Dink's murder and that Tuncel was not accepted into his association because he had contact with civilian police officers. As Cihan said these words, Tuncel asserted that how Cihan headed the association with "his little brain" was questionable.

In addition to defendants Samast, Tuncel, Hayal, Zeynel Abidin Yavuz, Ersin Yolcu, Ahmet İskender, Mustafa Öztürk and Tuncay Uzundal, who are all under arrest, other suspects who had been released pending trial -- Iğcı, Erbil Susaman, Veysel Toprak and Salih Hacı Salihoğlu -- were present at the hearing. Nineteen suspects, eight of whom are in prison, are being tried in the case.

Hrant Dink's wife, Rakel Dink, her daughter, Delal Dink, Hrant Dink's brother, Orhan Dink, and his attorneys were all in attendance at yesterday's hearing. Heavy security measures were in place around the court.

European Parliament member Cem Özdemir, Justice and Development Party (AK Party) deputy, Ayşenur Bahçekapılı, Republican People's Party (CHP) deputy Şahin Mengü, writer Adalet Ağaoğlu, journalist-writer Cengiz Çandar, journalist Ece Temelkuran, writer Yavuz Baydar, director Sırrı Süreyya Önder and several foreign media representatives were also at the hearing.

Özdemir said before the hearing that those working against racism and discrimination were standing by each other's sides, adding, "The vision of a democratic, secular, bright and European Turkey, backed by Hrant, has not yet materialized." The trial began in July 2007. Prosecutors have demanded a prison term of 18 to 24 years for Dink's suspected assassin and life sentences for two key suspects, Hayal and Tuncel, for inciting to murder.

'It's been a year - what has happened?'

Dink's friends sought the attention of the public before the sixth hearing of the murder case started, with the call "To the court for Hrant, for justice! It has been one year. What happened?"

They gathered at Beşiktaş Square yesterday morning and brought to mind that it had been 535 days since Dink was killed and 534 days since his alleged killer was caught, but that nothing had really been accomplished in the last five hearings.

They criticized the trial process and said, "We will be at the court again for Hrant, for justice."

TODAY'S ZAMAN