Who is Uğur Mumcu?

Uğur Mumcu (22 August 1942, Kırşehir - 24 January 1993, Ankara), Turkish journalist, researcher and writer. On 24 January 1993, he was assassinated in front of his house on Karlı Sokak in Ankara, when a bomb was thrown into his car and died.

Family

His mother was Nadire Mumcu and his father was Hakkı Şinasi Bey, Land Registry and Cadastre officer. Uğur Mumcu was born on August 22, 1942 in Kırşehir, the third of four siblings.

He had a son (Özgür) and a daughter (Özge) from his marriage to his wife Şükran Güldal Mumcu (Homan).

In memory of Uğur Mumcu, a foundation called Uğur Mumcu Investigative Journalism Foundation was established by his family in October 1994.

His wife, Şükran Güldal Mumcu, entered the 23rd Term of Parliament as İzmir Deputy and served as the Deputy Chairman of the Turkish Grand National Assembly between 10 August 2007 and 7 June 2015.

His brother, the Deputy Chairman of the Workers' Party, Av. Some of Ceyhan Mumcu's interviews about Uğur Mumcu have been collected in a book titled My Brother Uğur Mumcu.

Education life

Mumcu was a very active student who studied primary education in Ankara Devrim Primary School and secondary education in Ankara Bahçelievler Deneme High School. He graduated from Ankara University Faculty of Law in 1961, where he started his university education in 1965 as a lawyer. While he was still a student, he received the Yunus Nadi Prize for his article titled "Turkish Socialism" published in Cumhuriyet Newspaper on August 26, 1962. In 1963 he was elected president of the student association at the faculty. Between 1969-1972, he worked as the assistant of Administrative Law Professor Tahsin Bekir Balta at Ankara University Faculty of Law.

Military period

While he was preparing to do his military service, he was taken into custody with the words "the army must be vigilant", which he used in an article on March 12, "insulting the army" and "establishing the domination of a social class over other social classes". Mumcu, who remained in Mamak Military Prison with many intellectuals for nearly a year, was sentenced to 7 years in prison for this case. However, this decision was overturned by the Supreme Court and Mumcu was released. Although he had to do his military service as a reserve officer after this incident, he completed his military service in Patnos district of Ağrı between 1972-1974 as an officially defined “objectionable infantryman”. While doing military service in Patnos under severe conditions, zamstomach bleeding due to his longstanding ulcer.

Journalism era

Uğur Mumcu, who worked as a columnist in Yeni Medya newspaper, started to write regularly in his column titled “Observation” in Cumhuriyet since 1975. Same zamHe was currently working at Anka Agency. In March 1975, he published his book The Criminals and the Strong, consisting of his articles. In the same year, his book Furniture File, which he prepared with Altan Öymen, was about the imaginary furniture export of Yahya Demirel, Süleyman Demirel's nephew.

After 1977 he started writing only for the Republic. He wrote in his column titled “Observation” until November 1991. In 1977, the books Sakıncalı Piyade and Bir Pulsuz Petekçe were published. The following year, he adapted his work Sakıncalı Piyade to the theater together with Rutkay Aziz. He staged the play 700 times in Ankara Art Theater. In 1978, his book “Our Elders” was published, in which he tells the life stories of the celebrity, his political past with a richness of humor.

In 1981, Arms Smuggling and Terror, written to reveal the relationship of terrorism to arms smuggling and to warn the public on this issue, was published. In the same year, after Mehmet Ali Ağca's attempt to kill the Pope, he concentrated on his studies and research on Ağca.

Due to the increase in terrorist incidents in Turkey in 1979 and prior to March 12 period, after which reflect their experiences in their own words the youth leaders and armed noted that a place can not be reached with the action of the book Dead End was published. In 1982, the Ağca File, followed by a compilation of articles titled Freedom without Terrorism was published. He interviewed Ağca in prison in 1983. He participated in the preparation of the Aydınlar Petition, which was presented to the Presidency and the Parliament by a group under the leadership of Aziz Nesin in 1984, but Kenan Evren accused the signatories of "treason"; He wrote the play Without Anything, which tells about the torture inflicted on intellectuals during the 12 September period; He published the book Papa-Mafya-Ağca.

His books Rabıta and September 1987, which are considered a great success in terms of investigative journalism in 12; One of his most important researches, the Kurdish-Islamic Revolt 1991-1919, was published in 1925.

He left the newspaper in 1991 with İlhan Selçuk and approximately eighty Cumhuriyet newspaper employees. He was unemployed for a while. Mumcu, who wrote for Milliyet newspaper between February 1 and May 3, 1992, returned to Cumhuriyet on May 7, 1992, following the change of administration in Cumhuriyet newspaper.

Mumcu wrote an article titled "Mossad and Barzani" on January 7, 1993. In this article, Barzani touched on the connections between the CIA and Mossad and ended his article as follows:

"If the Kurds are fighting for independence against colonialism, what is the CIA and MOSSAD doing between Kurds?" "Or is the CIA and MOSSAD fighting an anti-imperialist war and the world is not aware of this war?"

In his article titled Ultimatum in Cumhuriyet newspaper dated January 8, 1993, he wrote in his forthcoming book that he would explain the connections between intelligence organizations and Kurdish nationalists. Ceyhan Mumcu, his brother Labor Party Deputy Chairman, wrote in a statement he sent to the press that Uğur Mumcu had a meeting with the Israeli envoy before the murder. Mumcu, whose journalistic life was full of success, was investigating the deep dimensions of the police-mafia-politics network before he died in the bomb attack on January 24, 1993. It is alleged that Abdullah Öcalan investigated that he worked for the National Intelligence Organization for a while as the reason for his death.

The assassination of Uğur Mumcu

Uğur Mumcu was assassinated and lost his life in the explosion of a C-24 type plastic bomb placed in his car in front of his house on Karlı Sokak in Ankara on January 1993, 4. It was alleged that the experts who investigated the scene immediately after the assassination could not find any evidence, and the evidence that was scattered around by the explosion and had to be collected with tweezers was swept away.

Assassination; Organizations such as the Islamic Movement, İBDA-C and Hizbullah took over. It has also been alleged that the Mossad and the counter guerrilla were behind the assassination. Ümit Oğuztan, one of the defendants in the Ergenekon Case, claimed in his statement in the indictment that Mumcu was killed due to his investigation of the weapons taken to the Kurdistan Democratic Party leader Celal Talabani, whose serial number was deleted. In addition, his brother Ceyhan Mumcu stated that when the Mossad and Barzani relationship emerged in his own research, the Israeli ambassador insisted that he wanted to meet with his brother Mumcu one on one, although Uğur did not accept a single meeting.

During his visit to Mumcu's wife Güldal Mumcu, Prime Minister Süleyman Demirel, Deputy Prime Minister Erdal İnönü and Interior Minister İsmet Sezgin stated that “solving the murder is the duty of honor of the state” and almost promised honor (1993). Perpetrators of the assassination could not be caught.

Awards

• 1962 Yunus Nadi Award (with the article titled "Turkish Socialism")
• 1979 Turkish Law Institution Lawyer of the Year Award
• 1979 Contemporary Journalists Association Journalist of the Year Award
• 1980, 1987 Sedat Simavi Foundation Mass Communication and Journalism Award
• 1980, 1982 and 1992 Istanbul Journalists Association Award (in the field of analysis)
• 1983 Istanbul Journalists Association Award (in the field of interview and serial interview)
• 1984, 1985 and 1987 Nokta Magazine's Top Journalist of the Year Award
• 1987 Istanbul Journalists Association Award (in the current articles category)
• 1987 Cumhuriyet Newspaper Exemplary Journalist Award (for the Rabıta Incident)
• 1988 Cumhuriyet Newspaper Bulent Dikmener News Award
• 1993 Nokta Magazine Peak Press Honor Award
• 1993 Journalists Association Press Freedom Award

works 

Books written about 

• Value, Sure. Uğur Mumcu and March 12, The First Step of Turning Back. Uğur Mumcu Investigative Journalism Foundation Publications, Ankara 1996.
• Gerger, Adnan. Who Killed Uğur Mumcu? Imge Publishing House, Ankara 2011.
• Mumcu, Ceyhan. My brother Uğur Mumcu. Resource Publications, Ankara 2008.
• Mumcu, Güldal. Passing Through Me Zammoment. Uğur Mumcu Investigative Journalism Foundation Publications, Ankara 2012.
• Special, Love. Good luck! - The Story of a Revolutionary. Bilgi Publishing House, 3rd edition, Ankara 2003.
• Özsoy, Ali; Fırat, Gökçe; Yaman, Honor. Sol's Honor: Uğur Mumcu. Forward Publications, Istanbul 2009.
• Uğur Mumcu Investigative Journalism Foundation. Murder of Uğur Mumcu. Uğur Mumcu Investigative Journalism Foundation Publications, Ankara 1997.
• Tüleylioğlu, Orhan. I am Uğur Mumcu. Uğur Mumcu Investigative Journalism Foundation Publications, Ankara 2011.
• Tüleylioğlu, Orhan. Uğur Mumcu is Immortal. Uğur Mumcu Investigative Journalism Foundation Publications, Ankara 2012.
• Mumcu, Güldal. "Passing Through Me Zammoment ”Publisher: UM: AG Researcher Journalism Foundation, Ankara 2012.

Documentaries about 

• Wall Documentary Uğur Mumcu Section (2009) Prepared by Günel Cantak
• Snowy Street - Uğur Mumcu Documentary (2010) Director: Ali Murat Akbaş

Songs composed about 

• Let It Be Ugur - Selda Bağcan
• I am valiant my lion- Zülfü Livaneli