Step by step to expiry of statutory limitations in Musa Anter murder case

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Merged with the main trial over the Gendarmerie Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism (JİTEM) Organization, the trial over the murder of Kurdish journalist Musa Anter will be held in Ankara today (March 23).

Ahead of today's hearing, a press conference was held at the Human Rights Association (İHD) Ankara Branch yesterday.

The press conference was attended by Muse Anter's son Dicle Anter, Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Bingöl MP Erdal Baydemir, İHD Co-Chair Öztürk Türkdoğan, Health and Social Service Laborers' Union (SES) Chair Selma Atabey, HDP Ankara Provincial Co-Chair Pakize Sinemillioğlu and İHD Central Executive Board member Nuray Çevirmen.

The politicians and rights defenders raised concerns that the statute of limitations in the Musa Anter case will expire in September 2022.

For this reason, there was a banner in the conference hall that read, "There are no statutory limitations for crimes against humanity".

Speaking at the press conference, Nuray Çevirmen recalled that it has been almost 30 years since Musa Anter was massacred on September 20, 1992. Çevirmen raised concerns that in these 30 years, the case has been "prolonged as a manifestation of the policy of impunity despite the open confessions and clear evidence". She also made a call for attending the hearing to be held at the Ankara 6th High Criminal Court today.

'It has its founders and personnel, but no JİTEM'

Taking the floor afterwards, Musa Anter's son Dicle Anter said, "Solving this murder means solving all unidentified murders in Turkey".

Noting that a murder committed by the State and the JİTEM have not still be made official, Anter added, "The legal dimension is still there in the trial. They say it has its founder and personnel, but there is no JİTEM". Recalling that there have been several confessions over the course of the trial, Anter stated, "Lastly, even Ayhan Çarkın said a lot, but no one paid any attention. There is no reaction, it is very grave on the part of society".

Anter underlined that the "expiry of statute of limitations in the Musa Anter case is a crime against humanity" and added, "The trial over the killings by the hand of the state must not end in statutory limitations. These need to be disclosed by the state itself. If [President Recep Tayyip] Erdoğan says, 'Solve the Anter murder', it will be solved tomorrow. But no one has the courage".

'Truth commissions should be established'

Drawing attention to the policies of impunity in Turkey, İHD Co-Chair Öztürk Türkdoğan said, "We can resolve these policies by establishing truth commissions and by facing the past. The massacre of Apê Musa coincided with the onset of the dark period. This murder was a harbinger of that period. Our responsibility is to not let it end in impunity."

Stressing that the murder of journalist Musa Anter is a crime against humanity, Öztürk Türkdoğan added, "It is a murder committed for political purposes. For this reason, it has no statute of limitations or duration on our part. The perpetrators will be revealed sooner or later.

The course of the trial

The indictment lodged against 11 defendants over the JİTEM in 1999 and the indictment lodged against five defendants in 2005 were merged in 2010. The "JİTEM Main Trial" and the trial over the murder of journalist Musa Anter, which began in 2013, were thereby merged.

Afterwards, the trial over the killing of Ayten Öztürk heard by the Elazığ 1st High Criminal Court was merged with the Musa Anter case and JİTEM Main Trial. Öztürk was abducted in front of her house with a "White Toros" vehicle in Dersim in 1992 and it was alleged that she was tortured to death by Mahmut Yıldırım, who is known with the code name "Yeşil" (Green).

As former JİTEM hired gun Abdülkadir Aygan pointed at Hamit Yıldırım as the perpetrator before the merging of the cases, he Yıldırım detained on June 29, 2012. Hamit Yıldırım was arrested on July 2, 2012. He was released after spending five years behind bars.

About Musa Anter

Author, journalist and activist. Assassinated in the southeastern Diyarbakır city in 1992.

On September 20, 1992, Musa Anter attended the Culture-Art Festival in Diyarbakır, signed his books. An armed attack was launched against Anter and his nephew, journalist and writer Orhan Miroğlu in Cumhuriyet Neighborhood. Anter died, Miroğlu was wounded. The attack was allegedly conducted by Gendarmerie Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism Organization (JİTEM), a controversial wing and intelligence agency of the gendarmerie.

It was during the 1937-38 Dersim Revolt that he was taken into custody for the first time. He was among the founders of Revolutionary Eastern Culture Hearths, the Labor Party of People, Mezopotamya Cultural Center and İstanbul Kurdish Institute.

After leaving the Faculty of Law in the third year, Musa Anter started writing for Şark Postası and Dicle Kaynağı. He was imprisoned in 1959 because of his Kurdish poem "Qimil/Kımıl" published in the İleri Yurt newspaper. Anter was also faced with life imprisonment in the lawsuit known as 49s. He was arrested in 1963, sent to exile in 1967 and imprisoned after the military coups in 1971 and 1980.

Throughout his life, Anter wrote for İleri Yurt, Dicle-Fırat, Barış Dünyası, Deng, Yön, Azadiye Welat, Yeni Ülke, Özgür Gündem, Rewşen and Tewlo. He also published seven books and one Kurdish-Turkish Dictionary.

Born in Mardin in 1920, Musa Anter completed his secondary and high school education in Adana and studied law at İstanbul University.

(HA/SD)