By Murat Kaya, Muhammed Enes Can and Mustafa Hatipoglu</p> <p>ISTANBUL (AA) – Turkish prosecutors on Thursday appealed a court order for the release of suspects in the 2007 murder of Hrant Dink, a prominent Armenian-Turkish journalist.</p> <p>The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office has asked an Istanbul court to have the defendants re-arrested.</p> <p>Early Thursday, an Istanbul High Criminal Court ordered the conditional release of two suspects in the murder.</p> <p>Ercan Gun and Muharrem Demirkale were released with a travel ban abroad, while the court ordered the continued detention of Ramazan Akyurek and Ali Fuat Yilmazer.</p> <p>Other suspects in the case include U.S.-based Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) leader Fetullah Gulen, FETO-linked former prosecutor Zekeriya Oz, former Zaman daily Editor-in-Chief Ekrem Dumanli, and journalists Adem Yavuz Arslan and Faruk Mercan.</p> <p>They are all charged with premeditated murder and attempting to overthrow the constitutional order. </p> <p>Dink, editor-in-chief of the Armenian-Turkish newspaper Agos, was killed outside his office on Jan. 19, 2007. </p> <p>In 2011, Ogun Samast was sentenced to 23 years in prison for the killing. Samast, who was 17 years old in early 2007, claimed he killed Dink for “insulting Turkishness.”</p> <p>Although Samast is the only person to be jailed for the murder, speculation on the involvement of others has persisted.</p> <p>Last year, FETO — which plotted the defeated coup of July 15, 2016 in Turkey — was officially tied to the case.</p> <p>A 120-page indictment said soldiers and police involved in the Dink murder later played an active role in the defeated coup.</p> <p><br>
*Writing by Dilara Hamit
