Ogün Samast, the perpetrator of the 2007 murder of Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, and whose recent release from prison has sparked controversy in Turkey, has reportedly asked a court in the Turkish province of Trabzon to change his name, according to Turkish media reports. Samast’s new name and reasons for the change are not yet known, but it seems likely that he is seeking to avoid being linked to the crime, for which he spent 16 years in prison. Despite his release, he now faces a new sentence of between 5 and 10 years in prison after the prosecution filed new charges for alleged links to a terrorist organisation.
The case of Ogün Samast, who was released from prison because he was a minor when he murdered Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, is reminiscent of that of an even better known convict: Ali Mehmet Ağca, who, according to recent reports in the Turkish press, has changed his surname to “Aslan” (“Lion” in Turkish). Ağca was responsible for the 1981 assassination attempt of Pope John Paul II, a crime for which he was sentenced to life imprisonment in Italy and, after his release, served further 10 years in Turkey for a murder charge, until his release from prison in 2010.
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Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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