URFA - Yusuf Serhat Bucak, one of the directors of the newspaper, describing the murdered Özgür Gündem newspaper reporter Hüseyin Deniz, stated that his friends were targeted because they revealed the truth, and said: "Those who shot Hüseyin 30 years ago are the ones who arrested the journalists today."

 

It has been 30 years since Özgür Gündem Newspaper reporter and writer Hüseyin Deniz was murdered in the middle of the street in the Ceylanpınar district of Urfa on August 9, 1992. Deniz, the nephew of the Kurdish scholar Apê Musa (Musa Anter), worked as a teacher in Siverek and Nusaybin for many years, and spent 3 years in Diyarbakır Prison during the September 12 military coup. The Kurdish language and folklore studies that Deniz started in these years continued later on. In 1991, he published the book "Gotinên Peşiyên Kurdan" consisting of Kurdish proverbs. Deniz, who is a member of the International Writers' Union PEN, published articles in many newspapers and magazines, especially in Yeni Ülke, Cumhuriyet, 2000'e Doğru, Welat and Özgür Gündem Newspaper. Deniz, who became the Ceylanpınar correspondent when Özgür Gündem Newspaper started its publication life on May 31, 1992, also wrote articles for the newspaper's forum column.

 

Deniz, who was injured as a result of an armed attack on the street on August 9, 1992, was taken to Diyarbakır with his family's initiatives as he didn't get examine enough in Urfa State Hospital; however, Deniz lost his life before reaching Diyarbakır State Hospital.

 

THE MURDERERS WERE NOT REVEALED

 

Musa Anter, who is the uncle and colleaque of Deniz, wrote on his column about Deniz on Özgür Gündem Newspaper, dated August 13, 1992, after Deniz's murder. Ape Musa Anter was murdered by JİTEM members in Diyarbakır while he attended to the Culture and Art Festival on September 20, 1992, 38 days after he wrote this article. As in the other "unsolved murders", the murderers of both Anter and Deniz were not revealed. After the murder remained unsolved for 2 years the weapon was caught on an Hezbollah member Mehmet Şah Bakır. Bakır was held responsible for the murders and was tried with a life sentence in 2001. The sentence was overturned by the Supreme Court on July 2, 2002. The Diyarbakır Heavy Penal Court released Bakır on November 2, 2004. The case has still not concluded as Bakır disapeared after that date.

 

Yusuf Serhat Bucak, who was the director of Özgür Gündem Newspaper at the time of Deniz's murder, told the Mesopotamia Agency(MA) about his colleaque Hüseyin Deniz.

 

Stating that Deniz was a calm, and a man of few words and he liked to research, Bucak said: "Deniz's relations with his students were good. Deniz spoke to them in Kurdish and he was arrested on September 12 and held in Diyarbakır Prison. After ten years, Deniz started to wrote culture and art news stories for Özgür Gündem Newspaper. Deniz wrote on murdered journalists and asked in his article who was going to be the next? In that time, we organised a sit-in for the murdered journalists and Deniz participated in the sit-in but we took the news that Hüseyin had been shot just after it. Deniz was not properly treated in Urfa State Hospital and lost his life before reaching Diyarbakır State Hospital.

 

'THE FUNERAL CEREMONY TURNED INTO AN UPRISING'

 

Stating that the remains of Deniz was taken to Ceylanpınar despite the police and gendarmerie's blockade, Bucak said: "The large crowd welcomed Deniz in Ceylanpınar. The straws of wheat were burnt, the fire were rising and Ceylanpınar was shining. Deniz was laid to rest at night. The funeral ceremony turned into an uprising in Kurdistan. Thousands of people came to the funeral ceremony and Deniz was laid to rest with slogan 'martyrs never die'. After the ceremony, the uprising continued."

 

THE STATE JUST CHANGED TACTICS

 

Stating that Deniz and other journalists were shot because they revealed the truth, Bucak said: "Todays the state just changed tactics, it targets journalists and arrests them. The journalists face heavy prison sentences. They try to suppress us and silence us. The free press continues to grow every day despite they silence us. I have never forgotten them nor did the Kurdish people. We will never forget them."

 

MA / Emrullah Acar