Kurdish journalist Nurcan Baysal commemorated the anniversary of the assassination of Musa Anter, a journalist murdered by JİTEM, a paramilitary wing of the Turkish Interior Ministry’s Gendarmerie General Command.

According to an archived Today’s Zaman article from 2008, Turkey was found guilty of responsibility for Anter’s killing by the European Court of Human Rights, and forced to pay a 28,500 fine in 2006.

Yeni Yaşam Gazetesi, a pro-Kurdish newspaper, published extracts from a book of memories of Anter by people who knew him, and announced that they would be naming a journalism prize in his honor.

Anter is remembered as a pioneering Kurdish writer in Turkey, where he helped to fight against the state’s ban on Kurdish culture and language by publishing works in Kurdish. He was arrested in 1959 for publishing a poem in Kurdish, and in 1967 published a Kurdish dictionary.

Meral Daniş Beştaş, an MP from the People’s Democratic Party (HDP) from Adana attended a commemoration in Diyarbakir, where she spoke about Anter. "The governments have changed, the names of the perpetrators have changed, but the views of the wise Kurds have not changed," she said.

Reporter’s code: 50101