Eren Keskin
“There are some people, whom you have cared a lot for in your life and despite the passing years, such people are never forgotten. I have also met with some people, who have left a mark in my life and a pain in my heart. One such person is Medet Serhat, that is our brother Medet as we have always called him. I think many people share these feelings with me that he is an unforgettable man,” writes Eren Keskin for Yeni Yaşam on the occasion of the anniversary of the killing of Medet Serhat, a well-known Kurdish lawyer known for advocating for Kurdish rights, who was shot dead on 12 November 1994 in Istanbul.
Our big brother Medet was killed on 12 November, 1994 by the counter-guerilla. No matter how much I tell you about him, no words would be enough to be able to tell who about who he really was.
He was a “Kurdi” man, a Kurdish aristocrat, according to me, a brave and elegant aristocrat, who was also quite militant. Those were the times when I had just started legal practice as a lawyer. His office was a meeting centre for the Kurdish lawyers then. We used to meet and prepare for important cases and days in his office. The small grill shop in the entrance of his office building was a place of leisure and chat for us after our meetings.
Big brother Medet was always cheerful. I have never met another person in my life as kind as he was. He was in the Kurdish movement since he was very young. He was arrested more than just a couple of times, subjected to torture, but he never lost his faith, not even once, that the Kurdish question would be resolved one day.
In 1993, Tansu Çiller, the then Prime Minister, issued a statement, saying, “We have the list of the Kurdish people, who supply aid to the PKK [Kurdistan Workers’ Party]”. This led to the killing of many Kurdish businessmen and many Kurdish intellectuals, one by one.
Brother Medet was the lawyer of Behçet Cantürk (a Kurdish businessman, who was murdered by ‘persons unknown’ on 14 January 1994) and he was affected quite deeply by his killing.
He was shot dead in his car as he was driving back from a wedding on 12 November, 1994. His wife, sister Yurdanur, was also present in the car and witnessed the moments of the murder and she too was also shot. Later, she identified the gunman as Tevfik Ağansoy, a partner of the fascist Alaaddin Çakıcı, a member of the Grey Wolves.
Years later, Ağansoy was also killed, probably by the order of Çakıcı in order to be silenced forever. Çakıcı was imprisoned on charges of this murder.
Let’s talk about today now. We all follow the statements of Mehmet Eymür, the former head of the counter-terror department of the Turkish intelligence service MIT and the mafia boss Sedat Peker. The structure what is called the “deep state” is not all that deep. The actors of the 1990s are back in harness. And all massacres that remain unsolved, are given impunity…
Mehmet Ağar, Alaaddin Çakıcı and their likes continue to enjoy respect after all the crimes they have committed.
