DİYARBAKIR - The IHD Diyarbakır Branch and the relatives of the disappeared asked about the fate of Fahri Balyeci, who was never heard from again after he was detained in 1996.

 

The Human Rights Association (IHD) Diyarbakır Branch and the relatives of the disappeared carried out the 651st of their actions online, with the slogan ‘’Let the missings be found, the perpetrators prosecuted’’. This week’s action is given place to the story of Fahri Balyeci, who was never heard from again after he was detained around the vegetable market in Diyarbakır on September 26, 1996.

 

Derya Yıldırım, a member of the IHD Diyarbakır Branch Board, told the story of Fahri Balyeci. Derya stated that Fahri Balyeci, who is married and has five children and lives in the Hazro district of Diyarbakır, was constantly called to the Hazro Gendarmerie Command because of his brother who joined the PKK, and was subjected to the imposition of spying. Derya mentioned that he was arrested after being detained for 45 days in 1994, and spent 19 months in prison.

 

No news for 25 years

 

Stating that Fahri Balyeci was followed by the gendarmerie for a long time after he was released, Derya continued:

 

‘’Balyeci was detained near the vegetable market in Diyarbakır Yenişehir district. The next day, his family started looking for Fahri and learned that he had been detained in the around of the old vegetable market. A person who did not want to be named because he was afraid of disappearance at that time, said that he saw Fahri at Gendarmerie Intelligence and Anti-Terror Unit (JITEM) in Diyarbakır, that he was kept standing, sometimes blindfolded and sometimes open, and tortured. Thereupon, Fahri's family, who were sure that he was taken into custody, applied to the District Governor of Hazro, the Prosecutor's Office, the Gendarmerie Command and the Diyarbakır State Security Court Prosecutor's Office, but received no response from any institution. Thereupon, Fahri Balyeci's older brother Abdurrahman Balyeci applied to the IHD on November 1, 1999. Upon the founding of human bones in the excavations started in İçkale, which was used as a prison for a while in Diyarbakır's Sur district and known as the center of JITEM, in January 2012, the Balyeci family applied to IHD again and requested a DNA test. Fahri Balyeci has not been heard from since September 26, 1996.’’