A teenager has confessed to fatally shooting an Armenian journalist outside his newspaper office, a prosecutor said Sunday. Ogun Samast, who is either 16 or 17 years old, was caught in the Black Sea city of Samsun late Saturday, a day after Hrant Dink was assassinated in Istanbul.
According to the AP, Police said the suspect was captured following a tip from his father after his pictures were broadcast on Turkish television. On his part, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan hailed the swift work of police, saying "this is a lesson to those who want to shoot at freedoms ... to those who don't want calm to reign in Turkey."
Chief prosecutor Ahmet Cokcinar told The Associated Press that the teenager had confessed to killing Dink during initial questioning in Samsun. Until the arrest, most Turks assumed Dink, 52, was targeted for his columns claiming the killing of ethnic Armenians by Turks in the early 20th century was genocide.
Istanbul prosecutor Aykut Cengiz Engin told reporters that authorities were investigating whether Samast acted alone or had ties to a group. The suspect's uncle Faik Samast told private NTV television that he didn't think his nephew was capable of shooting Dink on his own. "He didn't even know his way around Istanbul," Samast said. "This kid was used."
