The Human Rights Association (IHD) and relatives of the disappeared continued their weekly protests in many cities to demand the discovery of the fate of those who disappeared in detention in the 1990s and the prosecution of the perpetrators.  

 

AMED 

 

IHD Amed (Diyarbakır) Branch and relatives of the disappeared met in front of the Human Rights Monument in Koşuyolu Park on the 823rd week of their protest. Many people participated in the protest carrying photographs of the disappeared.

 

Ali İhsan Demirtaş, one of the executives of IHD, read the story of Abdullatif Yağızay, who was disappeared on November 18, 1995 in Nisêbîn (Nusaybin) district of Mêrdîn (Mardin). Demirtaş stated that Yağızay lived in the rural neighborhood of Kurke and migrated to the district center in August 1995 due to heavy pressure.

 

Abdullatif Yağızay was taken away by plainclothes police officers in a blue car on November 18, 1995 Demirtaş said and added: “Upon the insistence of the Yağızay family, they were told that Abdullatif Yağızay was taken to Mardin Provincial Gendarmerie Command. The Nusaybin Chief Public Prosecutor's Office responded to the family's application by saying that Abdullatif Yağızay was released 3 days after he was taken into custody. When the family applied to the prosecutor's office again after no news was received from Abdullatif Yağızay, their petition was returned without being processed. No investigation was opened into the incident. All the family's applications remained fruitless. The family applied to the prosecutor's office again after there was no news from Abdullatif Yağızay and their petition was returned without being processed. For 26 years, there has been no effective investigation aimed at revealing the fate of Abdullatif Yağızay and punishing the perpetrators.” 

 

The statement ended with a sit-in protest. 

 

ÊLIH 

 

In Êlih (Batman), IHD and relatives of the disappeared gathered in front of the Human Rights Monument on Gülistan Street for the 659th week of their protest. Photographs of the disappeared were carried during the protest. Many representatives of civil society organizations also participated in the protest. At this week's protest, the fate of Ayhan Efeoğlu, who was detained by plainclothes police officers in Êlih on October 6, 1992 while he was a student at Istanbul Yildiz Technical University and was never heard from again, was asked. 

 

Melek Atalay, one of the executives of IHD branch, said: “Ayhan Efeoğlu was 25 years old and a 2nd year student at Yıldız Technical University. Ayhan Efeoğlu was arrested in front of his school on October 6, 1992 by plainclothes police officers with walkie-talkies and detained. Ayhan's mother Feriha Efeoğlu and father Osman Efeoğlu applied to the Istanbul State Security Court (DGM) prosecutor's office, the Presidency of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, and official and civilian institutions, asking about the fate of their son. According to the family, Ayhan Efeoğlu was taken into custody by the Political Branch and tortured for a while in Gayrettepe. According to eyewitnesses, one of those who detained Ayhan was a commissar named Fikret Işıkyakalar from the Anti-Terror Bureau. No progress was made in the investigation opened for Ayhan Efeoğlu; on January 21, 2008, the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office Civil Servant Crimes Investigation Bureau decided that the statute of limitations had expired, considering the alleged crime to be torture and ill-treatment, and therefore issued a decision of non-prosecution against the officers of the Istanbul Police Anti-Terror Branch Directorate who were suspects.”

 

COLEMÊRG

 

IHD Colemêrg (Hakkari) Branch and relatives of the disappeared gathered at Sanat Street in Gever (Yüksekova) district in the 149th week of their protest. They carried the banner “Find the disappeared, put the perpetrators on trial” and photographs of the disappeared. The protesters asked for the fate of Abdulselam Şahin, who was detained by soldiers in 1993 while he was working as an imam in Morê village of Gever and has not been heard from since then. 

 

“The state rulers are not responding to our call for truth and justice that we have been raising from Colemêrg for 149 weeks,” IHD Colemêrg Branch Co-chair Musa Bor said and told Şahin's story as follows: “43-year-old Abdüsselam Şahin, a father of 6 children, was first detained by soldiers in Çelê (Çukurca) district of Colemêrg while he was working as an imam for 9 years as a public employee. Şahin was taken to Yüksekova Gendarmerie Battalion and released after his statement was taken. Şahin moved with his family to Morê village in Gever due to the pressure he was under. On November 27, 1993, Şahin got into a Toyota car belonging to A.Ö. to go to the village he had moved to a few months earlier. There were three other people in the car besides Şahin and the driver. On the way to the village, the vehicle was stopped at a search point by special operations teams. Abdüsselam Şahin was detained after an identity check. Other people in the vehicle informed the Şahin family about the situation. The family tried to find out where Şahin was and were informed that he had been taken to Yüksekova Commando Battalion in a red Taurus car belonging to F.D. However, he has not heard from him.”

 

'LET THE PERPETRATORS BE TRIED'

 

Stating that Şahin's wife applied to the Yüksekova Chief Public Prosecutor's Office but no results were obtained, Bor said: “Abdüsselam Şahin's fate was not explained and those who lost him were not brought to justice. Unable to get results from domestic law, the family took the case to the ECHR in 2012. However, the ECHR rejected the application, contrary to the persistence of the crime of disappearance. It is a requirement of the law that our demand for the disclosure of Şahin's fate and the prosecution of the perpetrators be met.” 

 

The protest ended with a sit-in.