Marta Sömek 

 

ISTANBUL - Şimuni Diril was found murdered, while Hurmüz Diril has been missing for 570 days. Pointing out that there was no progress in the file regarding the murder of Şimuni, IHD Istanbul Branch Chairperson Gülseren Yoleri said: ‘’This incident threatened the Syriacs’ hope of returning to their villages, being together, living in fraternity and keeping their culture alive.’’

 

Thousands of people, mostly women and children, lost their lives as a result of genocides, unsolved murders and massacres. One of the peoples who were subjected to genocide is the Syriacs. Thousands of Syriacs were lost in the 1915 Sayfo Syriac Genocide. The situation in question continued with enforced disappearances and unsolved murders in the 1980s. Many Syriacs were subjected to forced migration due to genocide policies and these practices. After the 80’s, disappearances had decreased until today, so Syriacs have been coming to Turkey in the summer months with the desire to return to their lands in recent years. Because Hurmüz and Şimuni Diril, who gave them courage and hope, had established an ecological life by returning to the village of Kovankaya, where Syriac name is Mehre, in the Beytüşşebap district of Şırnak, which had been evacuated many times by the state.

 

On January 7, 2020, Şimuni and Hurmüz Diril were abducted, while there has been no effective search for exactly 570 days, 70 days later their children found Şimuni Diril murdered. Hurmüz Diril has been missing for 570 days. While this latest example of disappearance is interpreted as a ‘do not return’ message for the Syriacs people, it is seen as proof that the policies of genocide are kept alive.

 

We talked with Human Rights Association (IHD) Istanbul Branch Chairperson and rights defender Gülseren Yoleri, who has been fighting for the people who have been disappeared for years, about the abduction and disappearance of Hurmüz and Şimuni Diril.

 

‘An effective investigation has not been carried out’

 

Gülseren shared that one of the most intense areas of work of the IHD is executions, threats and disappearances in custody directly related to the right to life. She stated that many data have been revealed to date that these practices have taken place in a systematic way. Gülseren noted that the practice of impunity, which is intense today, has a very important role in preventing disappearances in custody, hiding the truth, and preventing the perpetrators from being revealed and punished. Gülseren, claiming that there was a systematic operation in custody from the first moment of the incident or execution until the closing of such files with impunity, said that those who lost people in custody or carried out the execution were not identified from the beginning, that even if they were identified by name, an effective investigation was not carried out against them, and that they were accused of the crime they committed. Gülseren added that there are many cases where a parallel sentence was not given.

 

‘Timeout for the protection of perpetrators’

 

Gülseren said: ‘’We know that the timeout is used very effectively, especially in such cases, to hide the truth and to protect the perpetrators.’’ She reminded that this situation did not exist in the penal code in Turkey in the 80s and 90s, but after 2004 the definition of ‘crime against humanity’ was accepted. Gülseren stated that disappearance under custody does not fall under the definition of ‘crime against humanity’ and added that it is still possible to close these files due to the statute of limitations in cases of disappearances that were committed in the past or that are still in question today. Gülseren also stated that in terms of the investigation procedure, many obstacles are still in force in revealing the truth due to the lack of effective investigation methods in crimes against humanity.

 

‘We know who are responsible’

 

Noting that the disappearance of Hurmüz and Şimuni was declared to the public and their family applied to the IHD, Gülseren said that there are two more Syriac disappearance cases, Yusuf Bilge Tunç and Hüseyin Küçüközyiğit, who are still missing. Gülseren said: ‘’We do not know how the incident took place, what role the state plays here, but we know whose responsibility it is for not conducting an effective investigation in the process of revealing the truth.’’ Gülseren also mentioned that the involvement of the state, the military or the police, paramilitary and contras supported by the state is in question in cases where no effective investigation is carried out.

 

‘Disappearances happen to the marginalized’

 

‘’Disappearances happen to those who are marginalized in this state,’’ Gülseren said and continued her words as follows: ‘’If we evaluate it with the policy of standardisation, we encounter such practices more intensely against people of different faiths, political identities and ethnic identities. We see that Armenians, Syriacs, Greeks and Kurds, because of all these ethnic identities, are tried to reduce their density in this country, and their existence in this country is tried to be erased and forgotten. People do not necessarily have to do anything against the state’s policy. By existing as an Armenian, a Kurd or an Alevi, the state already perceives these groups as a threat.’’

 

‘The state was caught rapped so many times…’

 

Stating that the struggle started by the Saturday Mothers had reduced the number of disappearances in custody towards the end of the 90s, Gülseren said: ‘’The state was caught rapped and the truth was revealed so much that at least there was a withdrawal from the commiting of new crimes.’’ Expressing that there is a more oppressive and totalitarian regime that emerged after the 2016 state of emergency, Gülseren added that it paved the way for the emergence of cases such as torture, disappearance in custody which are crimes against humanity.

 

‘It was carried out precisely to strangle hope’

 

Gülseren commented that an event that strengthened the desire of Şimuni and Hurmüz to return to the villages that had been evacuated many times by the state, to be a hope again, to return to the villages of the Syriacs at least in certain months of the year, to keep their culture and values alive, was eliminated at the very beginning: ‘’It was carried out precisely to strangle hope” she said.  Stating that the aim of the perpetrators is to prevent Syriacs from returning to their lands, Gülseren continued: ‘’We do not know if the perpetrator was the state. But there is a strong possibility that there are some forces associated with the state.’’

 

‘The lack of progress is quite remarkable’

 

Stating that there was a confidentiality decision in the investigation regarding the murder of Şimuni and the still missing of Hurmüz, Gülseren noted that there has been no progress so far. Gülseren said: ‘’We are talking about a period of almost two years. What are the facts in terms of both the absence of Hurmüz Diril, who was missing, and Şimuni Diril, who was found killed during this process? Who could be the perpetrators? It is quite remarkable that there has been no progress at this point.”