Hezbollah member Cihan Yıldız may walk free if the murder case against him is dismissed due to the statute of limitations in relation to the 1993 killing of Mehmet Sincar, one of the early Kurdish deputies in Turkey’s parliament.
Yıldız was convicted of Hezbollah membership in 2013 but was released from prison in 2019 as part of a deal with Turkey and the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). The murder case against him will be dismissed 4 September 2023 if it does not conclude before then, due to the statute of limitations, news website Artı Gerçek reported.
The former Democracy Party (DEP) MP was visiting southeastern Kurdish-majority province of Batman, when he was shot to death 4 September, 1993. The only suspect, Yıldız, was not arrested until 2008 when evidence in an unrelated Hezbollah investigation emerged incriminating him.
The next hearing is scheduled to be held in Diyarbakır (Amed) 27 June.
Sincar’s wife Cihan Sincar, Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) Deputy Co-chair Meral Danış Beştaş, Diyarbakır Bar Association President Nahit Eren and Human Rights Association (İHD) Diyarbakır Branch President Abdullah Zeytun held a press conference 22 June to raise awareness and called for support.
The Gendarmerie Intelligence Organisation (JİTEM) and Turkey’s “deep state” are involved in Sincar’s murder, Beştaş said.
Prosecutors “do not move a finger” in JİTEM cases, she said. The Kurdish deputy also believes the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government has taken it upon itself to acquit perpetrators in Turkey’s period of extrajudicial killings, and those who have committed brutal murders and crimes against humanity.
“The parliament did not protect its own member. Because the victim was a DEP member, a Kurdish man, and a dissident,” Beştaş said.
Many other Hezbollah members were released from prison around the time of Yıldız’s release, and Beştaş believes this points to an “agreement” between Ankara and the Islamist fundamentalist terror group.
