Saturday Mothers commemorate first known forced disappearance in Turkey  

Ferhat Yaşar / Gazete Duvar

Saturday Mothers, the families of those who disappeared under custody since the 1980s, on Sept. 14 gathered at Istanbul’s Galatasaray Square in their 1,016th week of protest.

The protestors gathered asked about the fate of Cemil Kırbayır, who was detained the day after the September 12 military coup and later killed, with his body never recovered.

Since 1995, the Saturday Mothers have staged a sit-in at Galatasaray Square, demanding answers about their loved ones who disappeared in custody and calling for the prosecution of those responsible.

The statement at this week's gathering was read by İkbal Eren, the sister of Hayrettin Eren, another victim of enforced disappearance.

Kırbayır was the first known case of forced disappearance in Turkey after the coup of 1980. 

A 26-year-old student from Kars Teaching Institute in eastern Turkey, Kırbayır was taken from his home in the village of Okçu by security forces on September 13, 1980, one day after the coup. 

He was initially brought to the 247th Infantry Regiment in Göle, where he stayed for about a week, before being transferred to the Kars Police Department and then to the Kars Teaching Institute, which had been turned into a detention center.

During his detention, Kırbayır’s family regularly visited the detention centers, providing for his needs and receiving written messages from him, stating, “I’m okay, I got what you sent.” 

However, on October 8, when the family returned, they were told that their son escaped.

Complaints filed by his father, İsmail Kırbayır, and the Turkish Bar Association yielded no results, and Kırbayır was never seen again. 

On February 5, 2011, the Saturday Mothers, including 103-year-old Berfo Kırbayır, met with then-Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at Dolmabahçe Palace. Berfo Kırbayır shared her story, telling Erdoğan, “Find my son before I die.” 

Following this meeting, Erdoğan instructed the formation of a parliamentary commission, chaired by Deputy Zafer Üskül, to investigate the case. The commission unearthed documents from the period and interviewed numerous witnesses who had seen Kırbayır during interrogation, as well as the officers from the police and intelligence service involved. After thorough work, the commission prepared a 350-page report.

The report documented that Cemil Kırbayır had died under torture while in custody, and that his body was disposed of by the state officials responsible for his death. The report officially confirmed that Kırbayır had disappeared while in custody, and it was filed as a criminal complaint with the Kars Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office. 

However, the government lacked the courage to confront this crime against humanity. After a decade of uncertainty, the case was closed due to the statute of limitations. 

Appeals by Human Rights Association lawyers to reopen the case and bring the suspects to trial were rejected. Those responsible for Kırbayır’s death were neither prosecuted nor punished. 

The statement continued, “Berfo Ana and Fatma Kırbayır left us a legacy: no matter what the legal rulings, we will continue to search for our lost loved ones. We will never stop searching for Cemil and the others who disappeared in the torture chambers of the September 12 coup.” 

The protesters promised that they would not stop demanding justice for Cemil Kırbayır and all their disappeared no matter how many years passed, “We will continue reminding the state of its obligation to act per universal legal norms," they concluded. 

On September 12, 1980, the military coup carried out by the Turkish Armed Forces left deep scars across the country. During the coup period, heinous crimes were committed, some of which have yet to heal. One of the most brutal practices of the coup was the disappearance of individuals while in custody.

(English version by Ayşenaz Toptaş)