Turkey’s ‘Saturday Mothers’ gathered at İstanbul’s Galatasaray Square for the 696th week demanding justice and truth for their disappeared children. This week’s gathering was dedicated to Süleyman Cihan, who disappeared in custody on July 29, 1981.
According to a report by pro-Kurdish Fırat news agency (ANF), lawyer Gülseren Yoleri, the chair of Human Rights Association (İHD) İstanbul branch, told the story of Süleyman Cihan, who was 31, father of two and was living in İstanbul when he disappeared.
Yoleri said that “Cihan had been taken into custody and many witnesses testified that. After 85 days of insistent search it was learned that Süleyman Cihan had been killed under torture and buried in the backyard of the prison, as an unknown person.”
Yolseri reminded that a false document was signed by prominent police officers stating that Süleyman Cihan had committed suicide by jumping from the 6th floor of the building where he had been taken for interrogation.
In fact, he was tortured for several months according to the statements of many witnesses. Having lost his life as a result of the heavy torture, his ‘suicide’ was staged, but his body was thrown from the sixth floor of the building after he had already died.
Yoleri said that Süleyman Cihan’s family applied to Kadıköy Chief Prosecutor again in 2012 to reopen the file. Reminding that the Cihan’s parents have died without getting justice for their son, Yoleri stated that after 37 years the search for justice and truth is continuing.
Meanwhile, İHD Diyarbakır Branch and relatives of the disappeared people organized the weekly sit-in at the Koşuyolu Park Life Memorial Monument. It was the 494th sit-in to demand justice and truth for the disappeared people.
Raci Bilici, İHD deputy co-chair, İHD Diyarbakır Branch executives, relatives of the disappeared people and human rights activists joined the gathering. This week’s action was dedicated to Nihat Aydoğan, whose life tragically changed when he was taken into custody on November 20, 1994.
Abdullah Zeytun, the chair of İHD Diyarbakır Branch, reiterated the demand for justice and the truth. “As advocates of the right to life, we know that the search for truth and justice will never stop, no matter the circumstances. The current political situation makes this search difficult, but our struggle will continue,” said Zeytun.
Nihat Aydoğan disappeared after being detained in 1994. His story was told by Hasan Yalçın, lawyer and member of the İHD Diyarbakır Branch Disappeared Commission. Yalçın said that the soldiers and village guards under Midyat District Gendarmerie Headquarters raided Nihat Aydoğan’s house on an November morning in 1994 at 5 am.
“20-30 soldiers and village guards entered the house and took Aydoğan from his bed and beat him up in front of his children. They blindfolded Aydoğan and tied his hands. Aydoğan’s daughter, aged 12, became tongue-tied after witnessing this violence.”
Yalçın stated that Aydoğan was subjected to all kinds of torture and inhuman treatment in Mardin Central Gendarmerie Command for 15 days. “After 15 days, the gendarmes made Aydoğan call his village representative and said, ‘They are leaving me, I am coming home’. However, after this call nobody heard from him. Halime Aydoğan, Nihat’s wife, getting no news from her husband went to Mardin Gendarmerie Central Command and asked about him”.
She was told that he had been released and that he had probably gone to the mountain, so she should ask there. Halime Aydoğan wrote to the Midyat Chief Prosecutor’s Office as a last resort to know the fate of her husband. But the prosecutor’s office gave no answers”.
Yalçın said that Halime Aydoğan and her young children received no help. “On the contrary, after a while, the villagers told Halime Aydoğan that she and her children should leave the village.”
According to information given by Yalçın, Halime Aydoğan went and settled with relatives in İstanbul, but didn’t give up searching for her husband. Nihat Aydoğan was 32 when he disappeared in custody. 24 years have passed and no news has been learned about his fate.
The post ‘Saturday Mothers’ gather for 696th time in İstanbul to demand justice for disappeared children appeared first on Stockholm Center for Freedom.
from Stockholm Center for Freedom https://stockholmcf.org/saturday-mothers-gather-for-696th-time-in-istanbul-to-demand-justice-for-disappeared-children/
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