Per “Memoirs of Behçet Cantürk” penned by journalist Soner Yalçın and indictment bill prepared by the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office; born in the Lice district of Diyarbakır, the 40-year-old Behçet Cantürk, was a well-known businessman living in İstanbul. He had been taken into custody several times for various reasons, arrested and then released. A week before his enforced disappearance, his office on the Bağdat Avenue was raided by the police. Behçet and the people working for him were taken to the Yeldeğirmeni Police Station. They were released in two hours.

On 14th January 1994, Behçet left his office and called his wife to tell her that he was coming home, which was 10 minutes away from his work. However, hours passed and there was not any news from Behçet or his driver, Recep Kuzucu. The following day, on 15th January 1994, the tortured bodies of two dead men were discovered in Sakarya province’s Sapanca district. The bodies were identified as Behçet Cantürk and Recep Kuzucu. Cantürk had been killed with a single shot in the temple, while Kuzucu had been shot twice in the head and five times in the chest.

Behçet had received a mysterious phone call on his way home and driven to the Fenerbahçe Social Club. Behçet and Recep were taken from the Club by men in police vests and two cars. The records of the phone call has never been delivered to the court.

The killing of Behçet Cantürk was similar to the murders of other Kurdish businessmen that took place in 1994 after Prime Minister had said publicly “we know those businessmen aiding the PKK and we aim to do something about it”. Following the announcement, news regarding the existence of “a list of Kurdish businessmen to be assassinated” circulated in the media. Later, former intelligence and police officers who turned informants, admitted the existence of such a list. Cantürk and Kuzucu’s killings are included, alongside killings of other Kurdish businessmen, in the Ankara JİTEM case that began at the1st High Criminal Court of Ankara on 16th May 2014.