ERBIL, Kurdistan Region -- A man who has been charged with murdering Kurdish writer Musa Anter, Hamit Yildirim, was arrested on June 29.
Anter, known in the Kurdish community as Uncle Musa, was born in the town of Nusaybin in the Mardin province of southeastern Turkey in 1920. He was a graduate of Istanbul University and spent 12 years of his life in prison for political activities, including protesting against the Dersim massacre and anti-government writings.
Anter was also a member of the founding committee of the Revolutionary Eastern Society of Culture, People’s Labor Party (HEP), the Cultural Center of Mesopotamia and the Kurdish Institute in Istanbul.
On Sept. 20, 1992, Anter and journalist Orhan Miroglu were assaulted in an armed attack in Diyarbakir. Anter was killed; Miroglu survived with injuries. The assault took place in the heart of Diyarbakir but was listed under "anonymous crimes" and forgotten.
Rumors circulated about the killer and it was said that he lived in Sirnak, but Hamit Yildirim (Dijwar) was not captured by authorities until nearly 20 years after the crime was committed.
Miroglu told Rudaw the story of how Yildirim was captured: "This murderer was arrested with the help of two journalists who compared his current picture with ones from 1992 and discovered his identity and that he was using a different name."
Anter’s eldest son, Anter Musa Anter, was relieved that his father’s murderer had been found but also worried other culprits involved in the plot would get away with their crime.
"Justice cannot be served by simply arresting the killer. I hope a trial will include former Turkish President Suleiman Demirel and former Prime Minister Tansu Ciller," said Anter's son.
Emin Aktar, Miroglu’s lawyer, found it strange that the murderer was arrested just a few months before the case was to be closed. "All those involved in planning the murder need to be interrogated. This case does not end with the arrest of the person who pulled the trigger. I believe the investigation will take a lot of time," said Aktar.
Kurdish citizens in Turkey have often criticized the state for failing to capture Anter’s murderer, yet had little reaction to the announcement of an arrest.
Miroglu believes the authorities will not dig deeper into the case without pressure from the public. "People like Dijwar will not admit their crimes easily because, according to their way of thinking, even if they are the actual killers they have done it for the state and the state should be held accountable for the crime," said Miroglu.
He added, "The public needs to consider this case as their own and should organize protests in order to pressure Dijwar to confess."
Miroglu went on to criticize the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) and Kurdish intellectuals. "When Dijwar was transferred from Sirnak to Diyarbakir, there was not even a single Kurd in front of the court. The BDP did not adopt the case as its own because the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) carried out the arrest and therefore the BDP was not pleased."
Miroglu believes the attitude of the state towards this case will be different. "The AKP government does not want to reveal all the crimes that took place in Kurdish regions because some of the culprits served the government. A judge in Diyarbakir told me that, though it was true that they committed a crime, they also served the state," he said.
Recently, people close to the Fethullah Gulen group claimed that Anter had ties with the Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MIT) and was therefore assassinated by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
These sources also said that Cemil Işık (Hogir), a former PKK member who later joined the Gendarmerie Intelligence and Fight against Terrorism (JITEM), prepared the plot with Dijwar to murder Anter. Hogir was then murdered by the PKK in Europe.
These events are described in a book titled “Uncle Musa: A Solved Unsolved Murder,” by Ercan Gun, a Kurdish journalist from Mardin and member of the Gulen group.
Regarding these claims, Anter's son said, "In the 1990s, the PKK demanded money from my father, but he refused to pay. They immediately released an announcement where they alleged that my father was a member of the MIT."
Miroglu, currently writing his own book where he tries to answer claims that Anter was an MIT member, said, "Ercan Gun did not write his book. It was written by the police and security agencies and published under his name. A police officer who wrote that book came to me once and told me that he was writing a book about Anter but since he was a member of the security and not allowed to write such a book, he would publish it under the name of Ercan Gun."
Miroglu suspects the Gulen group’s attempt to distort Anter’s past is really the work of a few individuals inside the group who are trying to manipulate the story for their own benefit.
"In the 1970s, some people like Uncle Musa, Tarik Ziya Ekinci, Edip Karahan and Canip Yildirim wrote about the Kurdish identity. They were often arrested by the MIT and questioned about the endgame of this Kurdish identity talk and documented everything. Uncle Musa talked about this in his diaries," Miroglu explained.
Emre Taner, a former MIT adviser, said he learned about the Kurdish issue from the books of Anter. Taner said his conversations with Anter showed him the reality of the Kurds.
"The MIT sent a letter to the court where Anter's case is being processed which read 'Anter is a person whose views we have benefited from but it is a big mistake and injustice to consider him an MIT agent,’" added Miroglu.
