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World Briefing

Police Chief Arrested in Turkey in Connection With 2007 Murder of Editor

ISTANBUL — A Turkish police chief accused of negligence in the 2007 murder of a prominent ethnic Armenian journalist was arrested on Monday after turning himself in to the authorities, exactly eight years after the journalist’s death.

The police chief, Ercan Demir, who was recently assigned to his post in the southeastern province of Sirnak, surrendered to the authorities after an arrest warrant was issued charging him with “voluntary manslaughter caused by negligence,” the semiofficial Anadolu News Agency reported.

The journalist, Hrant Dink, was shot outside the offices of his newspaper, Agos, on Jan. 19, 2007. Mr. Dink was a leading spokesman for Armenians in Turkey, and his death spurred mass rallies and public outrage over the country’s treatment of minorities.

At the time of the murder, Mr. Demir served as the intelligence police chief of Trabzon, where the young man convicted of killing Mr. Dink lived. Mr. Dink’s relatives have accused Mr. Demir of failing to act on intelligence tips before the assassination.

Mr. Demir has denied allegations that he neglected his duties and abused his position, Turkish media reported.

In 2012, a Turkish court rejected claims that Mr. Dink’s murder was an act of conspiracy by an illegal network within the Turkish state.

But this month two other officers, Ozkan Mumci and Muhittin Zenit, have also been arrested in connection with a renewal of the murder investigation.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 7 of the New York edition with the headline: Turkey: New Arrest in 2007 Murder. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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