Journalists Killed in 1992 - Motive Confirmed: Musa Anter

Ozgur Gundem
September 20, 1992, in Diyarbakir, Turkey

Anter, a prominent Kurdish writer who contributed columns to the daily Ozgur Gundem and the weekly Yeni Ulke, was shot and killed in Diyarbakir. Lured from his hotel by a telephone caller who asked him to help settle a property dispute, Anter and a friend set off in a taxi with an unknown man, described as between 25 and 30 years old. When they began to suspect that a trap was being set, they demanded to get out of the taxi. The man accompanying them also got out and, having walked in front of them, began shooting at them with a gun.

Anter was struck by four bullets and died soon afterward. The friend, hit by two bullets, was seriously injured. Amnesty International reported that a 14-shot 9 mm gun was used in the attack, which the group says occurred on the outskirts of the city near a police station and a manned traffic control point. Anter, who did not live in Diyarbakir, was visiting the city to sign books during a cultural festival. A previously unknown group, Boz-Ok, claimed responsibility for the killing, but editors at Yeni Ulke and Ozgur Gundem discounted the claim, blaming the state and counterguerrillas.