Turkish media under spotlight on anniversary of İpekçi assassination

The journalist’s daughter, Nükhet İpekçi, who has remained silent since the release of her father’s gunman, Mehmet Ali Ağca, on Jan. 18, broke her silence on Sunday to the Star daily, saying the assassination should be reinvestigated in light of recent developments exposing dark structures within the state. She also complained about the media’s attitude on the İpekçi case. “They all made us watch the arrest of the hit man and his accomplices and how they were made into heroes. This case should not be closed until the chain of command in the murder and those who were protected and ran away are found. I am one person who was obliged to watch Ağca for years. As the realities in the depth of the murder are not investigated, the hit man, used by others, is being brought under the spotlight and we are being fooled this way. Some in the media have lent substantial support to this game,” İpekçi said.

What İpekçi refers to is in fact an ongoing investigation into Ergenekon, a clandestine organization plotting to overthrow the government. The investigation, which is itself already related to several murders and terrorist attacks in the recent past, has been a source of hope for families of those who were believed to have been killed by the deep state but whose murders remained unsolved. Questions still linger concerning the murders of many other important figures in society, and the masterminds and motivations behind these murders remain unclear, which increases the calls for the elimination of secrecy over such murders because they remain as dark stains on Turkey’s history.

Star daily columnist Mehmet Altan told Today’s Zaman that failing to shed light on the background of the assassination for 31 years despite there being plenty of clues is related to the Turkish media’s insincere attitude. “Former Nationalist Movement Party [MHP] leader Alparslan Türkeş said at the time that the assassination was an operation of the deep state. If the media really wants it, nothing can remain unsolved. Turkey’s ‘White Turk’-style journalism, which has dominated the Turkish media for years, handles issues without ‘bothering’ the deep state. The media shapes public opinion in a country, but the Turkish media is shaped by some dark hands,” Altan says. He also adds that this style of journalism has started to be challenged by some other alternatives, such as the liberal Taraf daily, which has been exposing works of the deep state.

On Feb. 1, 1979, Turkish journalist İpekçi was assassinated by Ağca. İpekçi was serving as the chief columnist of the Milliyet daily at the time of his assassination and was well known for his strong stance on peace and freedom of thought. His murderer, who is also the man who shot and injured Pope John Paul II, was released from prison on Jan. 18 after more than 29 years behind bars. Since the brutal assassination, debates on İpekçi’s murder have centered on hatred toward his murderer, yet fell short of addressing the masterminds behind the still controversial assassination.

“Ağca’s release was a critical point for the media. It is not just about saying ‘I do not show him as a hero.’ We should now think about what the role of the media in the darkness left behind the assassination for 30 years is. We have been doing nothing but mourning for 30 years,” Sabah daily columnist Haşmet Babaoğlu said in one of his recent columns.

“Why was İpekçi murdered? Was it really Ağca who killed İpekçi? Who was behind the assassination? These should be discussed,” journalist Nazlı Ilıcak said in televised remarks yesterday. Indeed, for many the shooting is one attributed to “deep state” elements. Hasan Fehmi Güneş, who was the interior minister when İpekçi was assassinated, also recently said the murder was part of a process leading to the Sept. 12, 1980 military coup. “The İpekçi murder was one of the most traumatic events leading to Sept. 12,” he said, as quoted by CNN Türk. Güneş added that İpekçi’s assassination was one of the biggest acts that justified the Sept. 12 coup. “People ask why İpekçi was killed. If files from the investigation are reviewed, we will see that some dark forces sought to murder a person like İpekçi because his assassination would shake the country up. İpekçi was a well-respected member of the media whose words were taken seriously,” he also said.