Saturday Mothers meet for 1034th time, seek justice for Canan tortured to death 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 1034th gathering on Jan. 18 at Istanbul’s iconic Galatasaray Square.

The group sought justice for Abdullah Canan this week, who was tortured to death under custody in 1996.

This week’s meeting saw the participation of main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) lawmaker Sezgin Tanrıkulu, and CHP’s former Istanbul branch head Canan Kaftancıoğlu. 

In a statement read by Gülseren Yoleri, the group said 43-year-old Canan was a businessperson, living in Hakkari’s Yüksekova district. 

Together with his seven relatives, he filed a criminal complaint against Yüksekova Mountain Commando Battalion Commander Major Mehmet Emin Yurdakul regarding “widespread violations of rights in the region, which also targeted his family.” 

Yurdakul first asked them to withdraw their complaints, then threatened Canan in front of witnesses. 

After a few days, Canan was detained while going to Hakkari province. His family appealed to all local and national authorities, but his detention was denied. 

“On Feb. 21, 1996, the severely tortured dead body of Abdullah Canan was found by villagers. Canan had been killed with seven bullets fired at close range and left bound hand, foot, and mouth near a highway,” the group said. 

Then his family filed a criminal complaint against Major Yurdakul, accusing him of Canan’s death. 

“In his statement to the prosecutor, Kahraman Bilgiç, a confessor who served in the Yüksekova battalion, told in detail that Abdullah Canan was interrogated under torture in the battalion and was killed by Company Commander Captain Nihat Yiğiter on the instruction of Yurdakul,” it added. 

“Colonel Kamber Oğur (confessed) that he had seen Abdullah Canan in the infirmary at the battalion headquarters in February with his head wrapped in a bandage. An investigation was opened by the Diyarbakır State Security Court’s Prosecutor's Office against Kahraman Bilgiç, Major Mehmet Emin Yurdakul, Captain Nihat Yiğiter and First Lieutenant Bülent Yetüt. They were charged with the premeditated murder of Abdullah Canan. However, on Nov. 12, 1999, the Hakkâri High Criminal Court acquitted the defendants on Nov. 12, 1999, which was upheld by the Court of Cassation,” the group stressed. 

Meanwhile, the European Court of Human Rights found Turkey's approach to domestic law “baffling” and unanimously ruled that the right to life had been violated on substantive and procedural grounds in 2007.

The group urged all authorities and the state to act within universal norms of law and demanded Canan’s perpetrators be punished.

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.