An Istanbul court is expected to deliver its verdict on Friday in the murder trial of Turkish-Armenian journalist, Hrant Dink, who was shot dead 14 years ago.

Only six of 76 defendants were in custody.

The accused include U.S. based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Turkey blames for orchestrating a coup attempt in 2016.

Dink, the editor-in-chief of the Armenian newspaper Agos, was shot dead outside his office in Istanbul on January 19, 2007, he was 53.

In 2012, ultra-nationalist sympathiser, Ogun Samast, who was 17 at the time of the murder, was sentenced to 23 years in prison.

However, the trials continue for others charged with wilful killing, violating the constitution and membership of a terrorist organisation.

The protracted legal process is attributed to the fact that the reason for his murder has never been fully settled.

At one point it came to light that Turkish security had knowledge of the plot but failed to take action.

Dink was a passionate advocate for better ties between Turkey and Armenia.

But he was frequently targeted for demanding the recognition of the massacre of Armenians at the end of the Ottoman Empire as genocide.

Ankara rejects the use of the term genocide to describe the mass expulsion and killings of as many as 1.5 million Armenians during World War I by the Ottoman Empire, of which Turkey is the successor state.