ISTANBUL - Saturday Mothers asked about the perpetrators of Cemal Akar, who was tortured and murdered in custody 31 years ago.

 

Saturday Mothers, who come together every week in Istanbul Galatasaray Square to ask about the fate of their relatives who disappeared and were murdered in custody and to demand the prosecution of the perpetrators, carried out the 983rd of their action. 

In the action, which was also supported by human rights defenders, relatives of the disappeared walked to Galatasaray Square with carnations and photographs of the disappeared. In this week's action, Saturday Mothers asked about the perpetrators of Freedom and Democracy Party (OZDEP) Erzîngan Provincial Secretary Cemal Akar, who was tortured and murdered after being detained by plainclothes police in Erzîngan on February 23, 1993.

 

Human Rights Association (IHD) Co-Chair Eren Keskin, who read the press text at the protest, said that they came together to ask about the perpetrators of Akar, who disappeared in 1993. Reminding that Akar was also a member of the IHD, Keskin said: "On January 25, 1993, while Cemal Akar was getting off the service vehicle of the workplace where he worked, he was kidnapped in a vehicle with civilian license plates by people who were understood to be intelligence officers from their behavior, according to the statements of eyewitnesses. After the kidnapping, it was determined that Mahmut Yıldırım, codenamed Yeşil, who worked on behalf of National Security Organization (MIT) and Gendarmerie Intelligence and Anti-terror Unit (JITEM), was among the kidnappers."

 

'NO EFFECTIVE EFFORT WAS MADE'

 

Stating that Akar was detained and tortured many times before being kidnapped, Keskin said: “Cemal's family applied to Erzîngan and Dersim police departments and asked where their son was held. However, each time they were given the answer that Cemal was not taken into custody. IHD took initiatives before the government. However, state authorities did not make an effective effort to protect Cemal Akar's right to life and prevent his disappearance in custody. On February 23, 1993, a month after his abduction, Cemal Akar's lifeless body, severely tortured and shot in the head, was found near the village of Doğançık in Nazımiye. Akar, who was kidnapped from Erzingan, was brought here by passing through four security checkpoints on the 130 km highway. Under normal circumstances, it was impossible to pass these checkpoints easily, and this supported the claim that there were people with official IDs in the vehicle." 

 

CHAIN OF IMPUNITY

 

Drawing attention to the news published in the Özgür Gündem newspaper dated June 24, 1993, four months after the incident, Keskin said: “E.H., who was detained in Nevşehir Prison. The person named stated that he was confronted with Cemal Akar at Erzincan Police Department, after the interrogation there, they were taken together to Tunceli Police Department, after staying there for a few days, they were taken out to the field, and when they returned from the field, only he was put in the vehicle and he never saw Cemal Akar again from that moment on. he stated. Approximately five months after this news was published, Tunceli Governorship published a denial in the same newspaper, instead of investigating the allegations. The Cemal Akar file has been turned into a link in the chain of impunity without any effective investigation."

 

'WE WILL NOT GIVE UP'

 

On the 31st anniversary of his disappearance, Keskin once again called on the judicial and political authorities to fulfill their obligations to ensure justice in the Akar file and said: "No matter how many years have passed, we are proud to demand justice for all our disappeared for Cemal Akar and to remind that the state has to act within the norms of universal law. We will not give up."