DİYARBAKIR - Making a statement regarding the ‘International Week of Struggle Against Disappearances in Costudy of May 17-31’, the IHD Disappearance Commission announced that the seek for justice and truth will continue until the fate of the disappeared is revealed even after a thousand years.

 

A press release was held in the association building by the Human Rights Association (İHD) Diyarbakır branch Disappeared Commission on the ‘International Week of Struggle Against Disappearances in Costudy of May 17-31’. Commission members and İHD Diyarbakır branch Chair Abdullah Zeytun attended the press release.

 

Abdullah Zeytun, who spoke first, said that in the 90’s there was a gross human rights violation in Turkey and that the crimes that took place at that time were rewarded by acquittal. Abdullah stated that they have been fighting with the relatives of the disappeared for years in every field and that they will continue this struggle.

 

‘We came together to ask the perpetrators to account’

 

Then, Fırat Akdeniz, a member of (İHD) Diyarbakır branch Disappeared Commission, read the statement. Fırat said that they have requested to reveal the fate of the disappeared in custody with various commemorative activities within the scope of the ‘International Week of Struggle Against Disappearances in Costudy’ since 1995. Fırat stated that as human rights defenders, they came together to draw attention to the disappearances in custody that have continued in these lands since 1915, to stand in solidarity with the relatives of the disappeared and to call the perpetrators to account.

 

In the continuation, Fırat reminded how the struggle of the relatives of the disappeared was experienced and made the following statements:

 

“Forcibly disappeared should not be a matter of numbers anymore in these lands. While they were living with us as someone’s mother, father, daughter, son, wife or child; they were taken from their homes, streets and workplaces. The relatives of the disappeared have been pursuing the fate of their losses with an endless will for a quarter of a century and continue this struggle today with the same determination. Today, the relatives of the third generation disappeared shoulders this struggle. Even after a thousand years, our seek for justice and truth will continue until we reveal the fate of our losses. As of today, the action for relatives of the disappeared, which reached its 842nd week in Istanbul and 640th week in Diyarbakır, continues uninterruptedly. Although our outdoor sit-in activity could not be held due to the continuing Covid-19, justice is demanded for our disappeareds with the stories of disappearance shared on social media every week.”

 

Saying that they called for human rights defenders, Fırat listed the followings:

 

“* First of all, the fate of those who were forcibly disappeared should be found out, and the state should open all archives to find those who were forcibly disappeared and to reveal the perpetrators of those who were killed as a result of unsolved murders.

 

* Mass graves should be duly opened within the framework of the ‘Minnesota Protocol’ and the perpetrators should be accountable before the judiciary.

 

* We invite the government to sign the ‘International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance’ and to fulfill the requirements of convention.

* We remind that Turkey must be a party to the Rome Statute, which established the International Criminal Court.

 

* In the time period we are in, unfortunately, many massacres and disappearance cases experienced in the past, as in the last case of Cemil Kırbayır, have unfortunately expired today. We call upon the members of the judiciary to abandon the systematic policy of impunity, to conduct an effective trial on all cases of disappearance that, according to international documents, are crimes against humanity, and to ignore the statute of time-out for these crimes in accordance with international conventions.

 

* We demand the establishment of a ‘Confrontation with the Past and Truths Investigation Commission’ in order not to experience similar suffering in these lands again, to reveal the truths and to establish social peace.”