Saturday Mothers meet for 1029th time, seek justice for Demir and Akipa murdered under custody

Ferhat Yaşar / DUVAR

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 1029th gathering on Dec. 14 at Istanbul’s iconic Galatasaray Square.

The group sought justice for İbrahim Demir and Agit Akipa this week, who were murdered under gendarmerie detention in 1991 in the eastern Şırnak province.

In a statement read by Gönül Sonbahar, the group said 36-year-old Demir and 39-year-old Akipa were living in the Çukurlu village of the Şırnak province as the latter was also the village head (“mukhtar”).

As they were coming back from the İdil district, they were stopped and detained by the gendarmerie. 

After their families sought information from them, the station commander told them “We have never seen them.” A soldier secretly directed the families to “go to the caves.”

On Dec. 13, 1991, the dead bodies of the two were found tortured, blindfolded, and bound in a cave whose entrance was blocked with stones.

In the investigation, the İdil Chief Public Prosecutor's Office concluded that the Infantry Company Commander First Lieutenant and the related privates and conscripts in the Ağaçlı hamlet were suspects of “manslaughter.” 

However, the Dargeçit District Governor’s Office did not grant permission for an investigation, “which prevented the suspects from being put on trial.”

“In 2011, the families filed another criminal complaint to the İdil Chief Public Prosecutor's Office through their lawyer Tahir Elçi. The prosecutor's office launched a new investigation and applied to the relevant institutions to access the file. However, all institutions reported that they did not have any files, information, or documents in their archives. Then, the İdil Chief Public Prosecutor's Office launched an investigation against the Dargeçit District Governor’s Office officials who had lost the file for 'misconduct in office'. However, the investigations did not yield any results and the file was closed on the grounds of statute of limitations,” the group said.

They requested the state and judiciary to conduct an effective investigation and prosecution.

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.

(English version by Alperen Şen)