Tel-Chai Nation: Turkish teen murdered an Armenian journalist

The hatred in Turkey for Armenians is still present, as the following report can tell:

Police on Saturday detained a teenager suspected of slaying an ethnic Armenian journalist, acting on a tip from the boy’s father after his picture was broadcast on Turkish television, senior officials said. Ogun Samast, who is either 16 or 17, was caught on a bus in the Black Sea city of Samsun, said Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He was traveling, apparently from Istanbul back to his hometown of Trabzon, said Istanbul Gov. Muammer Guler.

Samast was wanted in connection with the killing of Hrant Dink, a 52-year-old editor of the Turkish Armenian newspaper Agos. Dink was gunned down Friday outside his newspaper’s office in Istanbul.

Most Turks assume Dink was targeted for his columns saying the killing of ethnic Armenians by Turks in the early 20th century was genocide. Nationalists consider such statements an insult to Turkey’s honor and a threat to its unity, and Dink had been showered with insults and threats.

Ahem. It WAS genocide, more on which is noted below. The teen has now confessed to the crime:

ISTANBUL, Turkey (AP) - The teenage boy suspected of fatally shooting an ethnic Armenian journalist confessed during initial questioning that he killed the man, a local prosecutor told a state-run news agency on Sunday.

Ahmet Cokcinar - a prosecutor in the city of Samsun, where the boy was caught - told the Anatolia news agency that the teenager confessed to killing Hrant Dink.

Ogun Samast, who is either 16 or 17 years old, was caught Saturday after police acted on a tip from the boy's father after his picture was broadcast on Turkish television, senior officials said.

Samast was caught on a bus as he was apparently traveling from Istanbul, where the shooting took place, back to his hometown of Trabzon, Istanbul Gov. Muammer Guler said.

[...]

Turkey's relationship with its Armenian minority has long been haunted by a bloody past. Much of its once-influential Armenian population was killed or driven out beginning around 1915 in what an increasing number of nations are calling the first genocide of the 20th century.

Turkey acknowledges that large numbers of Armenians died but vehemently denies it was genocide, saying the overall figure is inflated and the deaths occurred in the civil unrest during the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.