Kurdish Journalist Musa Anter commemorated on 28th anniversary of his assassination

Click to read the article in Turkish

Kurdish journalist and writer Musa Anter, widely known as Apê Musa, was commemorated on the spot where he was murdered in the southeastern province of Diyarbakır 28 years ago, on September 20, 1992.

The commemoration ceremony held in front of Musa Anter Monument was attended by several people, including Anter's family members, journalists and politicians from the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), Evrensel newspaper reported.

Speaking at the event, Anter's son, Dicle Anter, said that his father's struggle still continued. "My father is resting in peace. Because the seeds he planted have bloomed, grew and followed his path. The number of his students have increased."

Noting that Anter's murderers have not been found in 28 years, HDP deputy Meral Danış-Beştaş said they were protected by the state.

Dicle-Fırat Journalists' Association Co-Chair Serdar Altan said Anter was a guide with his journalism and personality.

Mesopotamia Women Journalists' Platform Chair Ayşe Güney said, "It is a great honor for us to inherit his legacy, to be his inheritor and to walk on this path he opened."

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 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/VK)