Memorial to murdered journalist Uğur Mumcu vandalized in Ankara

Mert Gökhan Koç – ANKARA

A memorial built to commemorate assassinated Turkish journalist Uğur Mumcu has been attacked in Ankara, with unknown assailants stealing numbers and letters from the memorial just days before the 24th anniversary of his murder.

Cab drivers at a taxi rank nearby told daily Hürriyet that the incident occurred a few days ago and that they found the letter “A” and numbers “1, 2, 3, 4, 9” on the ground at the memorial, which stands at the place in which he was killed.

Commenting on the attack on her father’s memorial, Özge Mumcu Aybars said she hoped to find the stolen pieces by Jan. 24, the date Uğur Mumcu will be commemorated. 

“The writings from the memorial of an unsolved murder have been stolen. I hope we can complete the missing pieces by the commemoration,” Mumcu, who was 11 years old when her father was killed, wrote on her Twitter account. 

Commemorations are held each year on Jan. 24 in front of the spot where Mumcu was murdered. 

Efforts to apprehend the suspects responsible for the vandalism are continuing in Ankara. 

On Jan. 24, 1993, Mumcu was killed by an alleged extreme Islamist organization that placed a bomb under his car on Ankara’s Karlı Street – now known as Uğur Mumcu Street. 

Mumcu, a staunchly secularist investigative journalist for daily Cumhuriyet, was well-known for his articles against fundamentalism, terrorism and corruption.