Slain journalist Uğur Mumcu commemorated on 31st death anniversary

ANKARA

A commemoration ceremony was held for journalist Uğur Mumcu on Jan. 24 to mark the 31st anniversary of his death in a bomb attack, with unanswered questions still lingering over his murder.

An influential journalist, researcher and writer, Mumcu was killed in the capital Ankara in 1993. A bomb was planted under his car, which was parked in front of his house and exploded when he started the engine.

Hundreds of people including politicians, journalists and his family members gathered at the ceremony on the street that was named after him following the assassination.

The crowd laid flowers to the memorial and lit candles in the street with placards reading “We will not forget.” The memorial also featured a minute’s silence in memory of the journalist.

Mumcu’s widow, Güldal Mumcu, as well as his children Özge Mumcu and Özgür Mumcu, were present at the ceremony along with the crowd.

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) leader Özgür Özel also attended the ceremony.

Another commemoration ceremony took place in front of Mumcu's house in the Ayvalık district of the Aegean city of Balıkesir. During the ceremony, poems written by the journalist were also recited.

As a prominent writer for the daily Cumhuriyet, he investigated controversial issues, such as the PKK terrorist organization and Islamist fundamentalists, for which he had received many death threats.

Though many claims have been put forward about his death, none were able to be proved, and the journalist’s death remains unsolved to this day.

Apart from his identities as a writer, journalist and a researcher, Mumcu was an avowed secularist, a faithful pursuer of modern Türkiye’s founder Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’s reforms and revolutions, a strong figure against imperialism and a defender of human rights.