Musa Anter
{{short description|Kurdish writer and activist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Musa Anter
| nickname = Apê Musa ("Uncle Musa")
| birth_name = Şeyhmus Elmas
| image =
| caption = The tomb of Musa Anter
| birth_date = 1920
| birth_place = Nusaybin, Diyarbekir vilayet, Ottoman Empire (now in Mardin Province,
| death_date = {{death date and age|1992|9|20|1920|df=y}}
| death_place = Diyarbakır, Turkey
| death_cause = Assassination by gunshots
| occupation = Writer, political activist
| notable_works = Ferhenga Kurdî
| party = People's Labor Party
| spouse = {{Marriage|Ayşe Hanım|1944}}
}}
Musa Anter (1920 – 20 September 1992), also known as "Apê Musa" ({{langx|ku|Apê Musa}}, literally "Uncle Musa"), was a Kurdish writer,{{cite book|title=The Kurdish Nationalist Movement: Opportunity, Mobilization and Identity|isbn = 9780521850414|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T0ryM_xe9UIC&q=musa+anter+kurdish&pg=PA135|access-date=18 March 2016|last1 = Romano|first1 = David|date = 2 March 2006| publisher=Cambridge University Press }}{{cite book|author=A. Hunsicker|title=The Fine Art of Executive Protection: Handbook for the Executive Protection Officer|publisher=Universal-Publishers|year=2007|isbn=978-1-58112-984-7|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nxDyGK-iLiYC&q=%22Dissident++Kurdish-Turkish+Activist+and+Writer%22&pg=PA67|page=67}} journalist and intellectual. Anter was assassinated by Turkish JITEM in September 1992.{{cite book|author=David Romero|title=The Kurdish Nationalist Movement: Opportunity, Mobilization, and Identity|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2006|isbn=978-0-521-85041-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T0ryM_xe9UIC&q=%22Musa+Anter+%28a+Kurdish+nationalist+intellectual+mysteriously+murdered+in+1992%22&pg=PA135|page=135}}{{cite web|url=https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/192000/eur440931992en.pdf|title=Kurdish Writer Musa Anter, 74, Murdered|author=Amnesty International|date=September 1992|access-date=20 September 2019}}{{cite web|author=Duvakli, Melik|date=27 August 2008|title=JİTEM's illegal actions cost Turkey a fortune|url=http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=151355|work=Today's Zaman|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120606143652/http://www.todayszaman.com/newsDetail_getNewsById.action?load=detay&link=151355|archive-date=6 June 2012|url-status=dead|access-date=9 December 2015}}
Early life and education
He was born in the Eskimağara (Zivingê) village in Mardin Province.{{Cite journal|last=Mango|first=Andrew|author-link=Andrew Mango|date=1994|title=Turks and Kurds: Review Article|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4283686|journal=Middle Eastern Studies|volume=30|issue=4|pages=975–997|doi=10.1080/00263209408701034 |jstor=4283686 |issn=0026-3206}} His name after the Surname Law was Şeyhmus Elmas, after Sheikh Şeyhmus, and Elmas meaning Diamond in Turkish. However, he rejected it and wanted to be called Musa Anter.{{Cite web|last=Küçüksari|first=Gülsüm|date=2016|title=In the Shadow of Secularism: Kurdish Ulema and Religious Nationalism from Sheikh Said to Hizbullah|url=https://repository.arizona.edu/bitstream/handle/10150/623166/azu_etd_15180_sip1_m.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y|access-date=23 July 2020|website=Repository of the University of Arizona|publisher=The University of Arizona|page=94}} He was born into a respected family and after the death of his father, his mother became the Muhtar of the village who communicated with the tax collectors. His birth date is not known; he was first registered as born in 1924, and then in 1920, but based on his mother's account, who said that Anter was born after the Armenian genocide, Anter assumed to have been born in either 1917 or 1918.{{Cite book |last=Anter |first=Musa |url=https://www.skytower.org/~ernstjtremel/downloadableKurdishFiles/MAnterFIX.pdf |title=Meine Memoiren |year=2005 |pages=27 |language=de |translator-last=Tremel |translator-first=Ernst |trans-title=Musa Anter:Hatılararım |orig-date=1991}} He completed his primary education in Mardin, and then studied at junior and senior high school in Adana. During his high school studies, the Dersim rebellion led by Seyid Riza was going on, which lead to some frictions with his Turkish classmates following which he was shortly detained. By 1941, he left for Istanbul to study Law.Mango, Andrew (1994). p. 978 While studying, he was able to run a catering business for the mostly Kurdish students of the Dicle and Firat student halls. During his time at the university, he had often been to Syria during his summer holidays and came into acquaintance with Kurdish nationalist intellectuals{{cite web|first=Ahmet B.|last= Ercilasun|date=21 July 2010|title=Gaflet|trans-title=Heedlessness|url=http://www.yg.yenicaggazetesi.com.tr/yazargoster.php?haber=14162 |work=Yeniçağ [New Age]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131227105809/http://www.yg.yenicaggazetesi.com.tr/yazargoster.php?haber=14162|archive-date=27 December 2013|url-status=dead|access-date=9 December 2015|language=tr}}Küçüksari, Gülsüm (2016), p. 96 such as Celadet and Kamuran Bedir Khan, Kadri and Ekrem Cemilpaşa, Dr. Nafiz, Nûredin Zaza, Nuri Dersimi, Qedrîcan, Osman Sabri, Haco Agha and his son Hasan, Emînê Perîxanê's son Şikriye Emîn, Mala Elyê Unus, Teufo Ciziri and Cigerxwîn.{{cite book|last=Anter|first=Musa (1992, digitized 2007)|title=Hatıralarım|year=1992|volume=2|publisher=Doz Basım ve Yayıncılık|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E-8tAAAAIAAJ&q=Kamuran+Bedirhan%22|page=123|language=tr}} In 1944, he married Ayşe Hanım,{{Cite web|title=Who's who in Politics in Turkey|url=https://tr.boell.org/sites/default/files/ays-tarihvakfi-18x24-boll-r7-eng.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191115005654/https://tr.boell.org/sites/default/files/ays-tarihvakfi-18x24-boll-r7-eng.pdf|archive-date=15 November 2019|access-date=23 July 2020|website=Heinrich Böll Stiftung|pages=184–185}} the daughter of {{Interlanguage link|Abdurrahim Rahmi Zapsu|lt=Abdurrahim Rahmi Zapsu|tr||WD=}}.Küçüksari, Gülsüm (2016), p. 76 Ayse was a member of a noble Kurdish family and had studied in a German school in Istanbul. At one moment, he even helped to organize an event for the German Ambassador to Turkey Franz von Papen. Following his military service in the Turkish army, he settled in Diyarbakir, where he became a manager of a Hotel nearby the NATO military base.
Professional career and Kurdish political activism
Anter actively promoted the use of the Kurdish language with his journalistic work, which caused him quite some turmoil during his lifetime.Küçüksari, Gülsüm (2016), p. 95 During the 1950s, he established three media outlets: Şark Mecmuasi, (1951), Şark Postasi (1954) and İleri Yurt (1958).{{Cite book|last=Yilmaz|first=Özcan|title=La formation de la nation kurde en Turquie|publisher=Graduate Institute Publications|year=2015|isbn=978-2-940503-17-9|pages=86|language=fr}} Anter was arrested in 1959, after publishing the Kurdish-language poem Qimil in the newspaper İleri Yurt. His arrest provoked a wave of Kurdish protests, in the aftermath of which a trial against fifty Kurdish intellectuals began, known as the "{{Interlanguage link|Prozess der 49|lt=Case of the 49|de||WD=}}".{{Cite book|last=Orhan|first=Mehmet|title=Political Violence and Kurds in Turkey: Fragmentations, Mobilizations, Participations & Repertoires|date=16 October 2015|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-42044-6|pages=46–47|language=en}} He eventually served some time in prison but was soon released due to an amnesty. In 1963, Musa Anter and 23 other intellectuals were arrested and sentenced to 3 years for allegedly having attempted to establish an independent Kurdish state. He was released in 1964. In the General elections of 1965 he was an independent candidate for Diyarbakir but was not elected.Mango, Andrew (1994). p. 979 In 1970, he was one of the charged in the trial of the Revolutionary Cultural Eastern Hearths (DDKO) members.{{Cite book|last=Gunes|first=Cengiz|title=The Kurdish National Movement in Turkey: From Protest to Resistance|date=11 January 2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-58798-6|pages=43|language=en}} Three years after his release, he settled in Aksaru, a village in the Nusaybin district. Following the coup d'etat in 1980, he was shortly jailed for "Kurdish propaganda" in Nusaybin. In June 1990, he was one of the eighty-one founding members of the People's Labour Party (HEP).{{Cite book|title=Activists in Office|last=Watts|first=Nicole F.|publisher=University of Washington Press|year=2010|isbn=9780295990491|pages=64}} He later supported the establishments of the Mesopotamian Cultural Center in 1991 and the Kurdish Institute in Istanbul in 1992.
Death
Anter was shot on 20 September 1992 in an incident in which Orhan Miroğlu was also seriously injured.{{Cite web|title=Amtlich geschützter Terror|url=https://www.focus.de/politik/ausland/tuerkei-amtlich-geschuetzter-terror_aid_151721.html|access-date=22 January 2021|website=FOCUS Online|language=de}} Ümit Cizre claimed that Abdülkadir Aygan, a former member of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) who had surrendered in 1985,{{cite book|author=Ümit Cizre|title=Democratic Oversight and Reform of the Security Sector in Turkey: 2005/2006 Status Report|publisher=LIT Verlag Münster|year=2007|isbn=978-3-03735-234-2
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jiydwRhDKQ4C&pg=PA244|page=244}} who had been posteriorly recruited as part of the first staff of the JİTEM (the Turkish Gendarmerie's Intelligence and Counter-terrorism Service), reported having been part of a JİTEM unit and, alongside a "Hamit" from Şırnak, had assassinated Musa Anter.{{cite news
|url=http://www.sabah.com.tr/2008/08/25/haber,C3735BB84B9D496D963C3646A8B0A5EB.html|title=Suikastların adresi hep JİTEM'e çıkıyor|date=25 August 2008|work=Sabah|language=tr|first=Ferhat|last=Ünlü|quote=Sonra da bildiğiniz gibi Şırnaklı Hamit infaz etti Anter'i. [Then, as you also know Şırnak Hamid Anter was executed.]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081025080512/http://sabah.com.tr/2008/08/25/haber,C3735BB84B9D496D963C3646A8B0A5EB.html|archive-date=25 October 2008|url-status=dead|access-date=9 December 2015}} The former Major of the Turkish army Cem Ersever claimed that the murder was facilitated by Alaattin Kanat, a former PKK member who was shortly released during the time of the assassination.
Özgür Politika and Zaman (now-defunct Gülen movement newspaper) claimed that the perpetrator was PKK defector Murat İpek, who had allegedly received orders from the Turkish state's contract killer Mahmut Yıldırım (alias "Yeşil"),{{cite news|title=Susurluk|date=11 February 1997
|url=http://www.ozgurluk.org/contrind/brochu/part2.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19980214111302/http://www.ozgurluk.org/contrind/brochu/part2.html|archive-date=14 February 1998|work=Ozgur Politika|url-status=dead|access-date=8 December 2008|language=tr}} or Yeşil himself.{{cite news|author=Melik Duvakli|date=3 January 2009|title=JİTEM behind Anter and Aydın murders, claims Kurdish group|url=http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=163093&bolum=101|quote=In a statement to the Diyarbakır Police Department in 1994, PKK informant Muhsin Gül said both Aydın and Anter were killed by Mahmut Yıldırım...|work=Today's Zaman|access-date=9 December 2015}}{{dead link|date=February 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} After long investigations, Turkish Gendarmerie Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism was found guilty of Anter's assassination by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in 2006, which sentenced Turkey to a fine of 28,500 Euros. A Diyarbakır court in 2013 allegedly charged four individuals with Anter's murder, including Mahmut Yıldırım (alias "Yeşil") and Abdülkadir Aygan.{{cite web|title=JİTEM list provided in Anter murder trial to be kept confidential
|url=http://todayszaman.com/news-328485-jitem-list-provided-in-anter-murder-trial-to-be-kept-confidential.html
|work=Today's Zaman|date=8 October 2013|access-date=9 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131030194747/http://www.todayszaman.com//news-328485-jitem-list-provided-in-anter-murder-trial-to-be-kept-confidential.html|archive-date=30 October 2013|url-status=dead}}
Legacy
He is viewed as an important and influential Kurdish poet and author.Küçüksari, Gülsüm (2016), pp. 94–97 He wrote for numerous publications such as İleri Yurt, Deng, Yön, Özgür Gündem, Dicle-Firat, Barış Dünyası amongst others and was also the author of a Kurdish-language dictionary.Orhan, Mehmet (2015), p. 59 In 1997, the Turkish Human Rights Association (IHD) supported a peace initiative called the Musa Anter Peace Train.{{Cite book|last=Watts|first=Nicole F.|title=Activists in Office: Kurdish Politics and Protest in Turkey|date=18 November 2010|publisher=University of Washington Press|isbn=978-0-295-99050-7|page=150|language=en}}
Works
Birîna Reş, 1959
Qimil, 1962
Ferhenga Kurdî (Kurdish Dictionary), 1967
Hatıralarım (My Memories), First Edition, 1991
Hatıralarım (My Memories), Second Edition, 1992
Çinara Min, 1999
Personal life
Musa Anter and Ayşe Hanım married in 1944. His wife was a descendant of Bedir Khan Beg{{Cite book|last=Henning|first=Barbara|title=Narratives of the History of the Ottoman-Kurdish Bedirhani Family in Imperial and Post-Imperial Contexts: Continuities and Changes|date=3 April 2018|publisher=University of Bamberg Press|isbn=978-3-86309-551-2|pages=122|language=en}} and related to the AKP politician Cuneyd Zapsu. He was the father of three children.{{Cite web|last=Gazetesi|first=Evrensel|title=76 tanınmış isim Apê Mûsa ile olan anılarını yazdı|url=https://www.evrensel.net/haber/413301/76-taninmis-isim-ap-m-sa-ile-olan-anilarini-yazdi|access-date=30 November 2020|website=Evrensel.net|language=tr-TR}}
References
{{Reflist|2}}
External links
- [http://cmiskp.echr.coe.int/tkp197/view.asp?action=html&documentId=811811&portal=hbkm&source=externalbydocnumber&table=F69A27FD8FB86142BF01C1166DEA398649 ECtHR judgment]{{in lang|fr}}
- Ahmet Alış, [https://web.archive.org/web/20120326024807/http://www.birikimdergisi.com/birikim/makale.aspx?mid=661&makale= "Üç Devrin" Tanığı: Modern Kürt Siyasi Tarihinin İçinden Musa Anter'i Okumak], Birikim, 20 September 2010. {{in lang|tr}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anter, Musa}}
Category:Assassinated Kurdish journalists
Category:20th-century Kurdish writers
Category:Assassinated Turkish journalists
Category:Istanbul University alumni
Category:Istanbul University Faculty of Law alumni
Category:Turkish Kurdish people
Category:Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights
Category:European Court of Human Rights cases involving Turkey