Background
Mehmet Sincar was born in 1953 in the village of İkipınar in Mardin. He was a member of parliament for Mardin from the Democracy Party (DEP). In 1993 unsolved killings in south-eastern Turkey were among the main issues in the region’s political tension.
What happened
On 4 September 1993 Sincar travelled to Batman to look into the killing of two DEP party council members, Habip Kılıç and Hikmet Kılıç. While he was walking through the city centre with Leyla Zana, Hatip Dicle, Nizamettin Toğuç and party council member Metin Özdemir, around 18:00 on Elma Sokağı in the Çarşı neighbourhood, they came under fire.
Sincar was shot eight times and died; Metin Özdemir was also killed. A curfew was imposed on the city and people were detained. Soon afterwards government ministers announced that the gunman had been caught.
Investigation and where it stands
The Turkish Revenge Brigade claimed the attack. Some people later arrested for Hizbullah membership said they had confessed to it, yet the case was never clarified. In the Ergenekon indictment a secret witness made claims related to the killing; they did not lead to a proven court finding.
After the file was closed, his widow Cihan Sincar said she would apply to the European Court of Human Rights. Sincar is buried in Kızıltepe, Mardin, and is remembered each 4 September both at his grave and at the spot in Batman where he was shot.