JINHA

NEWS CENTER – As on every Saturday in Turkey, Human Rights Association (İHD) and the loved ones of missing peopletook to the squares in cities including Amed (Diyarbakır in Turkish), Batman, Cizre, Yüksekova and Izmir. Their demands are that the fates of the missing be explained, the perpetrators of these crimes be tried and that the decision to declare these crimes past the statute of limitations be lifted.

In Amed, the action continued for a 314^th Saturday, with the support of members of the Peace Mothers Parliament. The story of a missing person was told to the crowd, as occurs every week—in this case, the story of MikdatÖzeken, arrested in 1994 by soldiers under YüksekovaBattalion Commander Mehmet EminYurdakul and disappeared while in custody. NigarKocaman, a member of İHD Committee for the Disappeared, noted that given soldiers' confessions to taking part inMikdat's murder, Commander Yurdakul and all others responsible should be tried. The action concluded with a five-minute sit-in in memory of the disappeared.

In Batman, as loved ones of the disappeared and İHD members gathered at YılmazGüney Park, İHD Branch Chair Mehmet Bağatır noted that they would continue gathering every week, as they did on this, the 314^th day of their action, until the guilty were found. Mehmet also noted that the current proposed "Internal Security Package" law in Turkey was laying the foundation for more murders like this. As in Amed, the action ended with a five-minute sit-in.

The Saturday Mothers gathered in Cizre, in Şırnak province, along with members of the groups Mesopotamia Association for Aid and Solidarity to Loved Ones of the Disappeared (MEYA-DER), Association for the Research and Development of the Kurdish Language (KURDÎ-DER), İHD, and 23 people recently released from jail in the infamous KCK case that targeted Kurdish civil society.

This week, Yusuf Duman cried as he told the story of losing his younger brother, M. NezirDuman, abducted from his private car in 1993 in the Midyat district of Mardin Province while traveling to the region of Hexet. M. Nezir was never found, but the family is certain that members of secretive Turkish state intelligence organization JİTEM were behind the abduction. "If nothing else, let them give us his bones so we can say a prayer over his grave," said Yusuf.

In the Yüksekova region of Hakkari province, a sit-in with the photographs of the disappeared was held for the 46^th week at Sanat Street. İHDYüksekova Representative MuhyettinÜnal called for solidarity with the Kurdish youth SamanNaseem, facing execution in Iran. İHDYüksekova Director TayyupCanan called attention to the risks of crimes passing the statute of limitations without any interest by the state.

Families and supporters also gathered this week outside EskiSümerbank in the Konak neighborhood of Izmir.Musa Karbadağand Neriman Birlikler,co-chairs of the Association for Aid and Solidarity to Loved Ones of Prisoners (TAYD-DER), joined citizens to call attention to the plight of sick prisoners, in the wake of the death this week of AbdülsametÇelik, a prisoner who was released too late to receive treatment for his illness and died soon after leaving prison. Ali Aydın, Aegean region representative for İHD, said that refusing to release sick prisoners until they died was a form of the death penalty. 

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