Kürşat Yılmaz, who is a mob boss in Turkey, stated that in 2005, the Gülen movement—which is led by US-based Turkish cleric Fethullah Gülen, had proposed to him to kill Istanbul Armenian journalist Hrant Dink.

Testifying before the prosecution, Yılmaz added that the Gülen movement also wanted that he become their mob, according to Cumhuriyet (Republic) daily of Turkey.

“İsmail E., the FETÖ [Fethullah Gülen Terrorist Organization] imam [cleric], mentioned Armenian journalist Hrant Dink. ‘He’s trying to create an Armenian lobby [in Turkey]. He’s putting the country into a difficult situation; this man must be killed. If you hand over the person that will commit the murder, you won’t be hurt,’ he said,” noted the mob boss. “When I didn’t accept, they plotted something against me and my lover.”  

Hrant Dink, the founder and chief editor of Agos Armenian bilingual weekly of Istanbul, was gunned down on January 19, 2007 in front of then office of Agos.

In 2011, the perpetrator, Ogün Samast, was sentenced by a juvenile court to 22 years and ten months for the murder. 

After long court proceedings and appeals, however, a new probe was ultimately launched in this murder case, and regarding numerous former and serving senior Turkish officials’ complicity in this assassination.