AHEAD OF COMMEMORATION
Reason for demonstration ban in Mardin: ‘Musa Anter’
* Photo: Mezopotamya Agency (MA)
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The Governor's Office of Mardin has banned protest demonstrations and events in Turkey's southeastern province for 15 days.
As the reason for the demonstration ban, the written statement of the Governor's Office has referred to the commemoration to be held at the grave of journalist and Kurdish scholar Apê Musa (Musa Anter) in Nusaybin district's Sitîlîlê (Akarsu) village today (September 20).
What happened? On September 20, 1992, Musa Anter attended the Culture-Art Festival in Diyarbakır, signing his books. An armed attack was launched against Anter and his nephew, journalist and writer Orhan Miroğlu. Anter lost his life while Miroğlu was wounded.
Arguing that the organizers of the commemoration to be held today have connections with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), the statement has read, "Musa Anter, publishing the newspaper named İleri Yurt, was killed in an armed attack launched in Diyarbakır's Seyrantepe neighborhood on September 20, 1992. As commemoration ceremonies will be held by the PKK/KCK terrorist organization and the people supporting it at his grave in Mardin/Nusaybin/Akarsu town and at the scene of the incident..."
Referring to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) as a reason for banning demonstrations as well, the Governor's Office has also recalled that former Justice Minister Mehmet Topaç was killed on September 29, 1994.
About Musa AnterAuthor, 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 on 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. |
(RT/SD)