Three university students kidnapped by people who described themselves as police

Duvar English

Three university students from the “Ankara Students Solidarity” collective were on Feb. 18 kidnapped by people who described themselves as the police.

The students were later in the day released, after being battered and threatened.

The Ankara Police headquarters denied having detained any university students and said that they do not have any information with regards to the incident. 

Students Uğurcan Baynal, Sena Bademli and Ali Berke Ayduğan were kidnapped in front of their houses on Feb. 18 afternoon.

Prior to being kidnapped, the students wrote on their collective's WhatsApp group that people who described themselves as police officers were carrying out criminal record checks (GBT) on them. The students were later pulled into civilian cars.

After being released, the students held a press conference at the Ankara branch of the Human Rights Association (İHD), saying they had been threatened by the police.

"After I left my home, three police officers tried to conduct GBT on them. They later took me near to their vehicle saying they wanted to ask me something and then pulled me to the vehicle by force...They have threatened me with death. They said, 'Tell your friends, we will take them as well,'" Ali Berke Ayduğan said. 

Ayduğan was later left at an empty field in the Gölbaşı district after having been battered.

Another kidnapped student Uğurcan Baynal also told about his experience, saying the "implementations of the 1990s are still valid." 

"We have been kidnapped and threatened under the pretext of GBT. They said to me, 'You are at the center of certain incidents and we will all collect you,'" Baynal said. 

After behind held for a certain period of time, Baynal was later left at an empty field in the Pursaklar district.

Another kidnapped student Sena Bademli on the other hand was left at a place in the Sincan district, after similarly being threatened.

Nisan Çıra, a friend of the kidnapped students, also took the floor during the press conference, saying her friends had been told by the police "not to attend Boğaziçi University protests." 

"Our friends have been held for hours and then threatened with the statement of 'You will not again participate in Boğaziçi protests.' This attack targets the struggle of autonomous-democratic university struggle and the will of the youth," Çıra said, referring to the protests against President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's appointment of a party member as a rector to Istanbul's Boğaziçi University. 

Lawyer Sercan Aran said that they had previously contacted officials of the Ankara Police headquarters with regards to the kidnappings, who told them that no detention order had been issued for the three university students in question.

"When we contacted them, they told us that no detention process had been undertaken for the kidnapped three students. Afterwards, each of our friends has been released. We have now initiated a legal process and are filing a complaint at the Ankara Chief Public Prosecutor's Office," lawyer Aran said. 

Earlier in the day, the Ankara branch of the Workers' Party of Turkey (TİP) released a statement with regards to the kidnappings, saying on its Twitter account: “We have received the news that our executive Ali Ayduğan was tortured by police officers who kidnapped him and he was pushed out of the car in Gölbaşı.”

Lawyer Gönen told Gazete Duvar that Ayduğan will receive a medical report documenting the violence imposed on him.

“I called my client when he was abducted by the police; they did not allow him to talk on the phone, and later had him turn it off. After about an hour and a half, Ali reached to me and told me that he was left at an empty field in Gölbaşı. We immediately went to get him and saw that he had been battered,” Gönen said.

The lawyer said that kidnappers had threatened Ayduğan with statements such as “You are very sticking out,” “We would kill you,” “Do not stand out so much” and “We also know your friends and will take them.” “He is in good health now, but his knee cap is hurting as he was violently pushed out of the car,” Gönen said.