DİYARBAKIR - The IHD and the relatives of the disappeared demanded that the perpetrators of Mikdat Özeken, who was executed at Yüksekova Battalion Command in 1994 and whose body could not be found, be tried.

 

The Human Rights Association (IHD) Diyarbakır Branch and the relatives of the disappeared carried out the 655th action online, with the slogan ‘’Let the missing be found, let the perpetrators be prosecuted’’. In the action, it was demanded that the perpetrators of Mikdat Özeken, who was executed on September 27, 1994, at the Battalion Command, where he was taken by soldiers in Karlı village of Yüksekova district of Hakkari, and whose body has not been found until today, be found.

Describing the events based on the statements of Mikdat Özeken’s brother İrfan Özeken, IHD Diyarbakır Branch Secretary Ferhat Berkpınar stated that the soldiers under the command of Yüksekova Battalion Commander Mehmet Emin Yurdakul raided Karlı Village on September 27, 1994, and that confessor Kahraman Bilgiç also participated in the raid. Ferhat noted that soldiers took Miktad Özeken and Münir Sarıtaş, who went to the village from Yüksekova to collect winter wood, with them during the raid.

 

Execution in battalion

 

Ferhat Berkpınar, who stated that all the villagers were rounded up in the square during the raid, said that around 75-year-old Abdulkerim Yurtseven was accused with the ‘’helping to organization’’, he was tortured, and his ribs and back bones were broken. Ferhat Berkpınar stated that Yurtseven, Özeken and Münir Sarıtaş were later taken to the Yüksekova Battalion Command by being put in the vehicle. Ferhat continued: ‘’Abdulkerim Yurtseven dies on the way. According to İrfan Özeken’s expressions, his brother and brother’s friend were tortured heavily so that they witnessed this incident and not to speak, and they were executed in a battalion with the thought that if they were released, they would tell about the incident.’’

 

Mother was threatened

 

Ferhat Berkpınar, who stated that Mikdat Özeken’s mother went to the Battalion Command and received a response that ‘’We sent your son to the Hakkari Brigade Command’’, said that after 10 days of insistence, the Hakkari Brigade Command replied, ‘’Your son is in the Yüksekova Battalion Command’’. Reminding that the woman went to Yüksekova Battalion Command again, Ferhat said that Battalion Commander M. Emin Yurdakul told Mikdat Özeken’s mother and threatened her as ‘’I killed your son by burning him in this cauldron. If you come again, I will burn you in the same cauldron.’’ 

 

ECHR sentenced Turkey

 

Ferhat Berkpınar stated that confessor Kahraman Bilgiç received 10,000 Mark (money) from the family on the condition that he hand over Mikdat Özeken and left Yüksekova, and that Turkey was sentenced to pay compensation in the case that was brought to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).