DİYARBAKIR - Asking the fate of Mehmet Mehdi Akdeniz, who was detained with five other people in Kulp district and could not be heard from for 27 years, the relatives of the disappeared emphasized that they will not give up on their demand for justice.

 

The Human Rights Association (IHD) Diyarbakır Branch and the relatives of the disappeared carried out the 653rd of their actions online with the slogan ‘’Let the missings be found, the perpetrators prosecuted’’. In the action, the fate of Mehmet Mehdi Akdeniz (22), who was detained by soldiers in the raid on the village of Kerra in Diyarbakır’s Kulp district on February 20, 1994, was asked.

 

IHD Diyarbakır Branch executive Yakup Güven, who tells the story of the disappeared Mehmet Mehdi Akdeniz, according to the statements of his mother Mevlüde Akdeniz; The village of Kerra, where the family resided, was raided on February 20, 1994, and its citizens were forced out by the soldiers. Noting that Mehmet was taken to the village while he was in the village's Sesveren (Gerger) hamlet mosque, Yakup continued: ‘’Soldiers gather all the villagers in the village square, regardless of women, children or the elderly. Some houses are set on fire by soldiers. A soldier reads the names of six people from the paper in his hand. 18-year-old İrfan Akdeniz, 22-year-old Mehmet Mehdi Akdeniz, 22-year-old Ziya Çiçek, 35-year-old Faik Akdeniz, 35-year-old Mehmet Şirin Allahverdi, 40-year-old Halit Akdeniz are beaten by soldiers in front of all the villagers. They are then taken away from the crowd by being taken behind one of the houses in the village. The soldiers, who were in the village for two hours, then took six people with them and walked to a neighboring hamlet, one and half kilometers away, and got on the vehicles there and went to Kulp district.’’

 

‘We did not see Mehmet again after five days’

 

Noting that Halit, İrfan, Mehmet Şirin and Ziya were released after 18 days of the six detainees, Yakup stated that the detainees said that they were held together with Mehmet in Kulp District Gendarmerie Command for five days and that they were tortured intensely. Expressing that those who were released did not see again Mehmet, who was taken to the Silvan District Gendarmerie Command five days later, Yakup stated that Faik Akdeniz, one of the six people, was arrested and put in Diyarbakır E Type Closed Prison.

 

Same response to applications

 

According to the witness statement, Yakup stated that Mehmet was taken to Diyarbakır Provincial Gendarmerie Command after being held in Silvan for a week and continued: ‘’Akdeniz is seen with Kuddusi Adıgüzel and Mirza Ateş, who were disappeared in custody at Diyarbakır Provincial Gendarmerie Command. After this date, there will be no more news about Mehmet Mehdi Akdeniz. His family made applications to the Diyarbakır State Security Court at various times. Written responses are usually not given to petitions. However, in the written response to one of their petitions on May 11, 1994, it is stated that ‘’His name was not found in the examination of our surveillance records’’. After this, the same verbal response is given to the ongoing written applications.

 

Finally, Yakup underlined that despite the unlawful ban of the Diyarbakır Governor’s Office, they will not give up on their demand for justice, which they continue uninterruptedly every week, demanding that the fate of disappeared be revealed and their perpetrators be found and prosecuted.