The Case of Mehmet Sincar: Perpetrators not elicited, the trial case about to expire

A press release was held at Diyarbakir Branch Office of Human Rights Association (IHD), related to the case, to be tried at Diyarbakir 6th High Penal Tribunal on September 6, of the assassination of Democracy Party (DEP) member of parliament (MP) Mehmet Sincar on September 4, 1993 in Batman. Joining the press release were IHD Diyarbakir Branch Chairperson Abdullah Zeytun, Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Group Deputy Chairperson Meral Danis Bastas, Mardin MP Pero Dundar, DEP former MP’s Ali Yigit and Nizamettin Toguc, and Mehmet Sincar’s spouse Cihan Sincar.

ASSASSINATED IN A TARGETTED PLOT

Stating that Mehmet Sincar was assassinated as a result of the systematic and commonly followed politics of the state, in a period of the crimes committed against humanity, IHD Branch Chairperson Abdullah Zeytun said “It was the period of crimes committed against humanity and he was assassinated in a targeted plot. The cases of both his and thousands of other peoples were run ineffectively. His trial case was submitted to the prosecutor’s office in March, but no case assessment has yet been presented to the court, despite 6 months passed by. In Turkey, there is an expiry period for trials. There is a no-charge and no-prosecution shield in Turkey, and the most important effect of that shield is unfortunately the trial expiry. The crimes against humanity are not to be subjected to any expiry. Indicating this reality, EHRT has ruled out the use of expiry in the cases related to torture and mistreatment. Turkey has not yet approved of and executed these universal criteria.”

WE KNOW THE MURDERERS

Mehmet Sincar’s spouse Cihan Sincar also said “There is a court case that has continued for 28 years, we have been waging this struggle for 28 years, we all have lost a friend of ours. Mehmet Sincar was assassinated by the system created by the state. Thousands of honourable Kurdish individuals were murdered. The murderer is not one person, the murderers are Tansu Ciller and many more names. All of them have been telling lies, there has been no justice any ways, for a long time. There is no justice in Turkey. If there were, there would not be any expiry. The murderer is the system itself, it is the state. Those murdered/assassinated were heroes of their peoples. They had lived for their honour and for their peoples. Our head is up and we will cherish them to eternity. The state also should be aware, all of them should be aware  that they are the criminals.”

PERPETRATORS NOT BEEN ELICITED

Reminding that they have issued public announcements about the assassination of Kurdish nationals, tortures in this context, expiry, and many other events, Bestas said “All those trial cases are important, however we think that Mehmet Sincar’s, him being a member of parliament, calls for a very discrete assessment. Yes, he was assassinated  while he was a member of the parliament. 28 years have passed since then, many things were talked about up to now, many things were told, but the trial for the assassination of a member of parliament was not resolved and the perpetrators have gone unelicited. From that day on, despite that political power, political parties underwent changes, however their concurrence on the politics of non-prosecution of Kurdish murdered/assassinated has persisted. Yes, on that day, AKP was not in power, however it continues to pursue the same mastermind in cooperation with Bahceli of today, Demirel and Tansu Ciller of yesterday  to make sure no charges are pressed and no prosecutions take place in the continuing trials today. 28 years have passed and our motions for investigation and questions at the parliament have been left unanswered and rejected following our demands for setting up investigative parliamentary commissions.”

POLITICS OF EXPIRY AND NON-PROSECUTION EXERCISED

Commenting that Mehmet Sincar case is a trial of an assassination, Bestas continued to say “The state of Republic of Turkey and all the past governments since then have brought the trial about the assassination of their own member of parliament, today, to be subject to expiry. It has not elicited the perpetrators. Instead of real perpetrators, a scapegoat Cihan Yildiz of Hizbullah was charged with the assassination, but no information nor any document were produced regarding the protection of the organizations in the state and the illegal underground organizations that the report about Kutlu Savas and the report of parliamentary investigative commission identified, consequently we are now face to face with the expiry and the closure of the current trial. The state secretaries of the period, together with Tansu Ciller, announced to the public that they had captured the perpetrators, however the words of Mehmet Agar in that period do still ring in our ears, he had said ‘They screwed up  the work almost done, let’s keep quiet for a while,’ and he had said that the perpetrators had not actually been caught.”

Reterating that the government pursue the politics of either expiry or non-prosecution on this kind of trials, Bestas continued her statement saying “Despite that Yildiz sentenced to life in prison, he was set free upon his lawyer filing a petition of appeal. We are face to face with unelicitation of perpetrators, conceal, and cover-up of crimes. A trial is up on September 6 and there is a possibility of expiry. The prosecutor has still not provided an assessment of the case. There is a document approved by the Supreme Court of Appeals, there is the EHRT’s ruling about it, but the prosecutor has not produced the case assessment. Non-prosecution and expiry have become a special shield to protect the murderers. In this country, those who murder are not prosecuted nor convicted. Despite that there are millions of documents in evidence, the perpetrators don’t get convicted, on the contrary they are awarded. Mastermind of assassins of Kurdish politicians continues its rein as the hostage-taking.” (Diyarbakır/EVRENSEL)