Trial over Kurdish politician Mehmet Sincar’s assassination adjourned until 2022

* Photo: Mezopotamya Agency (MA)

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Democracy Party (DEP) MP Mehmet Sincar was killed in Turkey's Kurdish-majority southeastern province of Batman on September 4, 1993 while he was making inquiries about the unidentified murders.

The trial over his assassination continued at the Diyarbakır 6th Heavy Penal Court yesterday (September 6).

Cihan Yıldız, the single defendant of the case who is not arrested and a member of Hezbollah, did not attend the hearing.

As the court board was on leave, a different court board and prosecutor held the trial. The temporary court board indicated that they had limited time and requested defense as to the expiry of statutory limitations. The court board also stated that they would like to listen to them if there were any statements different from the ones that had been made before.

Indicating that s/he was temporarily handling the file and could not examine it, the prosecutor requested time for examining the file.

Cihan Sincar, the spouse of the late MP, spoke at the hearing and said that they would not make a statement as the actual court board was not present, adding that they would make a statement at the final hearing.

Warning about statutory limitations

Diyarbakır Bar Association Chair Nahit Eren, also a lawyer of the Sincar family, referred to the change of court board and stressed that the file was notified 6-7 months ago for the opinion as to the accusations.

Noting that the court board has just been appointed to the file, Eren asked how they knew that it was close to the expiry of statutory limitations. Demanding that the trial be finalized as soon as possible, he said:

"We want justice to be served. There is no ground as to the violation of Cihan Yıldız's right to a fair trial. The ground put forward for his retrial is not mentioned in the case file. The case file was not even seen at the military court. But it was said that 'it had happened at the military court' and this was cited as a ground. It was not a military jurisdiction."

Lawyer Nahit Eren demanded that the next hearing would be held at an early date, considering the statutory limitations.

Request for criminal complaint

Taking the floor at the hearing, lawyer Büşra Kaya also underlined that even though there was no definitive judgement in the trial that had been going on for 7-8 years, only the shooter is put on trial, but the ones who were behind the murder and its perpetrators have not been identified.

Kaya said, "It must be known that it was not an isolated murder, but a murder committed in the 90s and a political murder. There is a Susurluk Report that will reveal the organization behind all these. This report was submitted to the President. The real perpetrators have not been reached in this file. In the reports no. 1 and 2 of the National Intelligence Organization, there are numerous documents and information as to the committal of the murder."

Recalling that former Interior Minister Mehmet Ağar was the Director General of Security in 1993-1995, Kaya said, "The trial of the Gendarmerie Intelligence and Anti-Terror Unit (JİTEM) continues in Ankara. It is impossible to say that it has nothing to do with this murder. It is also not possible to say that the then governor had no knowledge of this murder."

Reiterating that "only the shooter is standing trial in the court case," Kaya raised concerns that  "though the case is concluded, justice will not be done." She demanded that the prosecution be extended and the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) reports and the Susurluk Report be added to the file. She also requested that a criminal complaint be filed by the prosecutor's office and the court against the authorities of the time.

Not giving a judgement as to the lawyers' request for a criminal complaint against Mehmet Ağar and the other officials of the time, the court board has rejected the request for arresting defendant Cihan Yıldız. The next hearing of the case will be held on February 14, 2022.

HDP's Danış Beştaş: No justice for the Kurd

Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Spokesperson Ebru Günay, Group Deputy Chair Meral Danış Beştaş, MPs Pero Dündar, Feleknas Uca and Semra Güzel as well as several NGO representatives followed the hearing. Making a statement in front of the courthouse after the hearing, Meral Danış Beştaş recalled that there is no arrested defendant in the case:

"This court case has continued till today with a single perpetrator who has not been arrested. And that perpetrator is not arrested pending trial. This Parliament has been making no efforts to reveal the powers behind his massacre, its perpetrators, the deep state relations, the counter-insurgency links or how he was killed by getting organized."

Noting that they have followed several cases at the courthouse, she said, "There is no justice for the Kurd at these courthouses. No justice is done here for those defending the language, life and culture of Kurds."

What happened?

Democracy Party (DEP) Mardin MP Mehmet Sincar went to Turkey's Kurdish-majority southeastern province of Batman to investigate the unidentified murders of Party Assembly members Habip Kılıç and Hikmet Kılıç. On September 4, 1993, he, together with DEP Batman Provincial Organization executive Metin Özdemir, was killed in an armed attack.

The murder was first claimed by the Turkish Vengeance Brigades (TİT), but it remained as an unidentified murder for seven years.

With the documents obtained during the raids on Hezbollah in İstanbul in 2000, detentions began; six defendants were held accountable for the assassination ot Sincar. Cihan Yıldız, the only defendant of the murder case, was caught in Austria in 2008 and extradited to Turkey.

No effective judicial process had been underway till then and the file was merged with the Hezbollah Main Trial. But the file of defendant Cihan Yıldız was separated from the others in 2010.

On the grounds that there was military judges at the State Security Courts and there was therefore no fair trial, a European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruling paved the way for retrial.

Like several defendants put on trial in the Hezbollah case, defendant Cihan Yıldız benefited from this ruling as well. Yıldız, the only defendant of the Sincar Case, was released from prison in March 2019.

Kutlu Savaş, in the Susurluk report that he submitted to Mesut Yılmaz, wrote that in his statement while he was arrested in Diyarbakır Prison in 1994, Muhsin Gül stated that 'they had killed MP Mehmet Sincar in Batman by planning and acting together with Alaattin Kanat, Mesut Mehmetoğlu, İsmail Yeşilmen and Green code-named Ahmet Demir and after this incident, Kanat said to him that 'he had a guaranteed, signed document'."

The person mentioned as Ahmet Demir in the Susurluk report was the Green code-named Mahmut Yıldırım. Mehmet Sincar went to Batman to make inquiries about the killing of Habip Kılıç. Following his assassination, his spouse Cihan Sincar encountered Kanat in the police vehicle of the MP at the airport and at the Security Directorate.

Cihan Sincar made an application to be involved in the Ergenekon case, but the court rejected this request in October 2008. (KÖ/SD)

* Sources: MA, BBC Türkçe