Background
Hüseyin Deniz was born on 6 February 1956 in a village of Nusaybin district in Mardin. After graduating from the Bolu Teacher School he taught in Siverek and Nusaybin from 1975. He was detained after the 12 September 1980 coup, spent three years in Diyarbakır Prison and lost his teaching post.
He later devoted himself to Kurdish language and folklore and in 1991 published a collection of Kurdish proverbs. His writing appeared in several newspapers and magazines. When he was killed he was Özgür Gündem's correspondent in Ceylanpınar and wrote its Forum column. He was a nephew of the writer Musa Anter.
What happened
On 9 August 1992, Deniz, aged 36, was shot in Ceylanpınar, in Şanlıurfa province, as he walked to his brother's shop. Witnesses said two people kept watch while a third fired.
He was taken to Urfa State Hospital. When kidney failure set in, his family asked the governor for a helicopter; the request was first accepted but the transfer never materialised. On 10 August he was taken by ambulance to Diyarbakır and died on arrival at the hospital.
A few days later, on 13 August 1992, his relative the writer Musa Anter mentioned him in his column; Anter himself was killed in Diyarbakır on 20 September that year.
Investigation and legal proceedings
According to the family's lawyer, police reached the scene late and drew a sketch and report but took no witness statements, although the street was crowded. A shell casing, glasses and a slipper were found at the scene.
In 1994 the pistol used was reportedly found with Mehmet Şah Bakır, described as a Hizbullah member. In 2001 Diyarbakır State Security Court No. 4 sentenced Bakır to life imprisonment; the Court of Cassation overturned the verdict on 2 July 2002. The retrial continued at the Diyarbakır Heavy Penal Court, which on 2 November 2004 allowed him to be tried without detention. A separate application by Bakır to the European Court of Human Rights ended in a friendly settlement in 2006. The family's compensation application was rejected by the governorship in 2005, and the administrative court case they filed was reported as unresolved.
Where it stands today
No final conviction has been reached in the courts over Hüseyin Deniz's death. He is commemorated each year in Ceylanpınar and is remembered among the journalists killed in the 1990s, as well as for his work on Kurdish culture.