DİYARBAKIR - Relatives of disappeared asked about the fate of Vasfi Öztürk, who was disappeared in Kulp, in front of the Koşuyolu Park Life Monument.

 

The 657th of the weekly sit-ins organized by the Human Rights Association (IHD) and relatives of the disappeared with the slogan ‘’Let the disappeareds found, and the perpetrators prosecuted’’ was held in front of the Diyarbakır Koşuyolu Park Life Monument. IHD and relatives of the disappeared joined the statement. Relatives of the disappeared this week asked about the fate of Vasfi Öztürk, who was disappeared on June 1, 1994, in Uzunova (Cumar) village of Diyarbakır’s Kulp district. Derya Yıldırım, a member of board of the IHD Diyarbakır Branch and a lawyer from the Relatives of the Missing Committee, shared the story.

 

‘The policy of impunity has been implemented’

 

Before the story of Vasfi Öztürk was shared, IHD Diyarbakır Branch Chairperson Abdullah Zeytun said: “Unsolved murder crimes, which became the policy of the state in the 90s, were committed. Unfortunately, a systematic impunity policy was implemented against these systematic crimes. Today, we are here again to remind the disappeared and not to make them to be forgotten.’’

 

‘He was kept in custody for 25 days’

 

Derya stated that a raid was made by the soldiers carrying out operations in the village of Uzunova and the surrounding area, and that three houses were set on fire and burned in the raid. Pointing out that the villagers named Vasfi Öztürk, Cembeli Tuncer and Efendi Şen in the Salkım hamlet of the village were detained by the soldiers, Derya stated that several more neighboring villages were raided on the same day. Derya said: ‘’Cembeli Tuncer, son of Vasfi Öztürk’s aunt, and Efendi Şen, who were detained in the village school for one night, were released in the morning. Vasfi Öztürk, on the other hand, is taken by a military helicopter with his hands and eyes tied, and it is said that he will be taken to Kulp. However, some eyewitnesses state that Vasfi Öztürk was at the Lice Gendarmerie Station and was tortured. He was kept in custody in Lice Gendarmerie Command for 25 days. Vasfi Öztürk, who is the father of seven children, will never be heard from again.’’

 

‘He was not one of the wanted persons’

 

Derya stated that the family applied to Kulp Gendarmerie Command, Lice Gendarmerie Command, Diyarbakır Central Gendarmerie Command, Diyarbakır State Security Court, Diyarbakır Governor's Office and State of Emergency Regional Governor's Office, asking about the fate of Vasfi Öztürk. Emphasizing that there was no result despite all the family's attempts, Derya said: ‘’Diyarbakır Governor's Office of State of Emergency responded to the family's application on October 14, 1994, such as: ‘In your petition dated September 26, 1994, which you submitted to the State of Emergency Regional Governorship and was devolved to our Governorship; As a result of the investigation made on the subject, it was mentioned that Vasfi Öztürk was detained by the jendarmerie with a friend in the village of Uzunova in Kulp district and you never heard from them again; It has been understood that your son, Vasfi Öztürk, was not detained for any reason and that he was not one of the wanted persons’.’’

 

‘No matter how many years have passed, our eyes are on the door’

 

Lastly, Derya shared the statements of Vasfi Öztürk’s spouse, Layiha Öztürk, as follows: ‘’They burned three houses and then the detentions began. They left all other than my spouse. They took him to Kulp by helicopter. I was three months pregnant. After the news of my husband's detention, we went to the police station in Kulp. There they fired us and said, ‘We do not know such a man’. We took out a picture of my husband and show it to everyone with my mother-in-law. Those who saw him in Lice said that he was tortured. They fired us at the police station in Lice, too. We could not ask anywhere again, and news of him did not come. Years have passed, but his last words, his last glances are still in my mind, right before my eyes. No matter how many years have passed, our eyes are on the door; We said ‘maybe he will come’. But it has been 27 years. We did not hear from him, nor he has a grave. When my children went to the cemetery when they were children, they said, ‘Why doesn't our father have a grave too?’ But now they are all grown up, they all know the truth.’’