Saturday Mothers meet for 1035th time, seek justice for Tanış and Deniz disappeared 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 1035th gathering on Jan. 25 at Istanbul’s iconic Galatasaray Square.

The group sought justice for Kurdish politicians Serdar Tanış and Ebubekir Deniz, who were forcibly disappeared under custody in 2001 for “insisting on democratic politics.”

In a statement read by Sebla Arcan, the group said 25-year-old Tanış and his friends wanted to open the district branch of the pro-Kurdish HADEP in 2000 in the Silopi district of the eastern Şırnak province.

They faced threats from Şırnak Provincial Gendarmerie Regiment Commander General Levent Ersöz and Silopi District Gendarmerie Station Commander Captain Süleyman Can, who said, “HADEP cannot (exist) in my region, I will never allow it.”

Nevertheless, they opened the district branch on Jan. 3, 2001.

In late January, Tanış was requested to come to the Silopi Gendarmerie Command. 

“Serdar Tanış went to the command together with district executive Ebubekir Deniz and they were never heard from again,” the group said.

“The command announced that they had not seen Tanış and Deniz for five days. After public pressure, Şırnak Governor Hüseyin Başkaya stated that (the duo) had come to the command on Jan. 25, but left after staying for half an hour,” they added.

Meanwhile, the father Şuayip Tanış said Ersöz also threatened him by saying, “Your son must give it up, or it will not be good for you all.”

“The case was closed with a decision of non-prosecution in 2015 without an effective investigation. The appeal against the decision of non-prosecution was rejected by the Cizre Criminal Court of Peace. Upon this, the families applied to the Constitutional Court on Aug. 17, 2015. On July 18, 2019, the Constitutional Court rejected the application on the grounds of the statute of limitations, without taking into account that the crime cannot be time-barred due to its specific and continuous nature,” the group added.

“However, in 2005, the ECHR had concluded that the state was responsible for Tanış and Deniz's disappearance and unanimously convicted Turkey, stating, ‘We regret that no thorough judicial review or independent investigation was carried out by the domestic courts.’ However, Turkey did not fully implement the ECHR ruling and only paid compensation,” the group stressed.

The group urged all authorities and the state to act within universal norms of law and demanded an effective investigation process.

Meanwhile, Ebubekir Deniz’s daughter Ceylan Deniz sent a letter and said she has been waiting for her father for 24 years.

“I am Ceylan Deniz, who can't get out of childhood and always stays 5 years old. Even if centuries pass, we will never give up our cause until the perpetrators are held accountable and the fate of our disappeared is revealed,” she said.

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.

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