Saturday Mothers meet for 1028th time, seek justice for Taşkaya disappeared under custody

Duvar English

Turkey's Saturday Mothers, a group who has been holding vigils for their relatives who disappeared or were killed in suspicious circumstances in the 1990s, held its 1028th gathering on Dec. 7 at Istanbul’s iconic Galatasaray Square.

The group sought justice for Hüseyin Taşkaya this week, who was forcibly disappeared under detention in 1993.

In a statement read by Ayşe Taşkaya, the group said then-42-year-old Hüseyin Taşkaya was living in Urfa’s Siverek province and father of four. 

Accordingly, Taşkaya was targeted both by the security forces and the Bucak tribe after criticizing the state’s intention to “transfer the (security) operations in the region entirely” to the tribe.

The 1997-dated Susurluk Report prepared by the Prime Ministry Inspection Board mentioned this intention, and said the members of the tribe appeared to be a “state within the state.”

After the threats, Taşkaya moved his family to Istanbul and started staying in his uncle’s home in Siverek.

The group said a convoy of 30 vehicles, consisting soldiers, police officers, and Bucak tribe members, came to the house and detained Hüseyin Taşkaya on Dec. 6, 1993. 

“His family applied to the gendarmerie, police, prosecutor's office and governor's office to ask about Hüseyin Taşkaya. Military authorities claimed that Taşkaya was handed over to the police shortly after detention. The police avoided responsibility by saying, ‘We don't have it, ask Sedat Bucak.’ Sedat Bucak, then-DYP MP, tribal leader, and chief village guard, said: ‘Our team took him but handed him over to the state. We don't know anything from now on, the state knows.’ All the family's attempts were unsuccessful, and no news was heard from Hüseyin Taşkaya again,” the group said. 

It added that the Siverek Chief Public Prosecutor's Office “did not fulfill its duty to investigate the incident and punish the criminals.” 

Accordingly, the prosecutor’s office considered the detention of Hüseyin Taşkaya, witnessed by his relatives and all the neighborhood residents, as “an abstract claim of the family” and closed the file. 

The group urged judicial authorities to seek and reveal the fate Taşkaya after 31 years. 

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.