Background
Uğur Mumcu was born on 22 August 1942 and became one of Turkey's best-known investigative journalists, writing for the daily Cumhuriyet. For years he published document-based pieces on intelligence services, arms smuggling and political violence. His work drew both a wide readership and strong hostility. According to reports at the time of his death, he was looking into alleged links between the state intelligence service and the PKK.
Trained as a lawyer, Mumcu was known for a careful style that cited its sources. In the tense political climate of the early 1990s, that made him a prominent target of criticism.
What happened
On 24 January 1993, Mumcu got into his car on Karl Sokak, the street in Ankara where he lived, and a bomb attached to the vehicle exploded, killing him. The explosive was reported to be C-4 plastic explosive. The attack shook the country, and the killing is remembered as the first in a series of suspicious deaths in 1993.
Several groups claimed responsibility in the aftermath, but which of these claims, if any, was accurate remained a subject of dispute for years.
Investigation and trial
For years the inquiry produced no result. An operation launched in Istanbul on 17 January 2000 led to what became known as the Umut case, which dealt with Mumcu's killing together with the murders of Muammer Aksoy, Bahriye Üçok and Ahmet Taner Kışlalı. The Ankara State Security Court convicted some defendants of membership of an illegal organisation and of involvement in the killings, and the Court of Cassation later upheld the convictions. The rulings addressed those who prepared and planted the bomb, but the people who ordered the attack were never identified.
His family, press-freedom groups and colleagues continue to say that the real decision-makers behind the murder have not been brought to light.
Legacy
Every year on 24 January, people gather on Karl Sokak to remember him. A foundation in his name aims to carry on his tradition of investigative journalism. Despite the convictions, the case is widely counted among Turkey's unresolved political assassinations.
Decades on, the question of why the inquiry stopped short of the people behind the attack remains on the agenda of lawyers and journalists alike.