Slain journalist Abdi İpekçi commemorated on 45th death anniversary

ISTANBUL

A crowd has gathered in a ceremony to remember journalist Abdi İpekçi, who was killed in an armed attack 45 years ago.

Many people, including colleagues and İpekçi's family, attended the memorial ceremony at Zincirlikuyu Cemetery, with another group leaving flowers at the monument erected at the location where the journalist was shot dead on Feb. 1, 1979.

Delivering a speech at the gathering, İpekçi's daughter, Nükhet İpekçi İzet, called for the elucidation of unsolved murders in the country.

"We gather and speak on anniversaries, hoping that these types of crimes will come to an end and the truth will emerge. Numerous murders have remained unspoken for a long time. However, all these brutal crimes stand before us like a massive mountain, not just behind us," she said.

Mehmet Ali Ağca, who shot Abdi İpekçi near his home in Şişli and later escaped from prison, attempted another assassination in the Vatican and wounded Pope John Paul II in 1981. Many questions regarding Ağca's connections, his escape from prison and the forces behind the murder remained unanswered.

The Turkish Journalists' Association issued a statement on Abdi İpekçi’s 45th death anniversary, stating, "We continue to demand the removal of journalist murder files from dusty shelves and the establishment of a Parliamentary Investigation Commission on these assassinations."

Born in Istanbul in 1929, he finished high school at Galatasaray High School, one of the leading schools in the country, in 1948. He attended Istanbul University’s Law Department. His professional career started as a sports reporter in the daily Yeni Sabah, a daily published between 1938 and 1964. İpekçi joined the daily Milliyet in 1954 and became its editor-in-chief in 1959. Since the beginning of his journalism career, he penned dozens of articles.