(Proverbs 11:31) If the righteous receive their due on earth, how much more the ungodly and the sinner!

---

MALATYA, Turkey, October 22 (Compass Direct News) – The head of Turkey’s police intelligence department was removed on Friday (Oct. 16) amid allegations that he failed to prevent the murder of the Christian editor of an Armenian weekly and the slayings of three Christians in this city in southeastern Turkey. Ramazan Akyurek is also accused of withholding evidence in those cases and improperly investigating the murder of a Catholic priest in 2006. After a Malatya trial hearing on Friday, prosecution lawyers in the case commended the removal of Akyurek for negligence but said it came too late. Akyurek has been placed in a different position within police headquarters in Ankara. Prior to the January 2007 murder of Hrant Dink of the Armenian weekly Agos, Akyurek reportedly received a report about the orchestrated plan to kill the editor. That clearly implied that he was one of the masterminds behind the murder, according to Erdal Dogan, one of the prosecuting attorneys in the Malatya case. While heading the investigation of the Dink murder, Aykurek allegedly not only witheld intelligence but also tried to affect the outcome of the trial, claiming in his investigation report that a group of “friends” planned to kill Dink because he offended Turkey. “This is a disaster,” Dogan said. “The same happened with the Malatya massacre. “We know he had information on all the developments of the massacre, but he didn’t act on it. He tried to cover it up. We know that they were following the movements of the killers.”