Dowload PDF - Hakikat Adalet Hafıza Merkezi

110 Pages·2013·1.03 MB·Turkish

One of the foremost obstacles As the Truth Justice Memory Center, T
H
we aim to,
E

in the path of Turkey’s process U THE UNSPOKEN
N
■ Carry out documentation work
S
of democratization is the fact regarding human rights violations that P
O
have taken place in the past, to publish
K
that systematic and widespread and disseminate the data obtained, E
N
and to demand the acknowledgement
T
human rights violations are of these violations; R
U
T
TRUTH:
not held to account, and ■ Form archives and databases for the H
:

use of various sections of society; E
N
victims of unjust treatments F
O
■ Follow court cases where crimes
R
are not acknowledged and against humanity are brought to trial C
E
and to carry out analyses and develop
D
compensated. Truth Justice proposals to end the impunity of D
I ENFORCED
public officials; S
A
Memory Center contributes P
■ Contribute to society learning P
E
to the construction of a the truths about systematic and A
R
widespread human rights violations,
A
democratic, just and peaceful and their reasons and outcomes; N
C
and to the adoption of a “Never
E
present day society by Again” attitude, by establishing a S DISAPPEAR-
link between these violations and the
supporting the exposure of present day;
systematic and widespread ■ Support the work of civil society
organizations that continue to work
human rights violations on human rights violations that have
taken place in the past, and reinforce ANCES
that took place in the past the communication and collaboration
between these organizations;
with documentary evidence,
■ Share experiences formed in
the reinforcement of social different parts of the world regarding
transitional justice mechanisms, and
ÖZGÜR SEVGİ GÖRAL
memory, and the improvement initiate debates on Turkey’s transition
period.
AYHAN IŞIK
of access to justice for those
ÖZLEM KAYA
who were subjected to these
violations.
TRUTH JUSTICE MEMORY CENTER
THE UNSPOKEN TRUTH:
ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES
TRUTH JUSTICE MEMORY CENTER ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Tütün Deposu
Lüleci Hendek Caddesi 12 It would not have been possible to realize this study without the
Tophane 34425 İstanbul/Türkiye relatives of the disappeared, the human rights defenders and lawyers
[phone] who agreed to meet and carry out interviews with us. We would like
[email protected] to express our heartfelt gratitude to all relatives of the disappeared in
www.hakikatadalethafiza.org Cizre, İdil, Silopi, Istanbul and Diyarbakır who agreed to meet and share
their stories with us; to the Association of Solidarity and Assistance for
the Families of Missing Persons (YAKAY-DER) and the Mesopotamia
AUTHORS Solidarity with the Relatives of the Disappeared Association (MEYA-
Özgür Sevgi Göral DER); and to Welat Demir, Veysel Vesek, Rıdvan Dalmış, Nurşirevan
Ayhan Işık Elçi, Rüya Elçi, Yusuf Uygar, Ferhat Kabaiş, Ferhan Kaplan, Veysi Altay,
Özlem Kaya the BDP Cizre Provincial Director and administrators, the BDP Silopi
Provincial Director and administrators, Seven Kaptan, Cihan Sarıyıldız,
The subsection titled The Search of part B titled Abdülbasri Ekici, Ahmet Zıröğ, Naci Kültür, Zerrin Oğlağu, Sait Fındık,
Experiences of Relatives of the Disappeared of Tahir Elçi, Reyhan Yalçındağ, Eren Keskin, Meltem Ahıska, Hüsnü Öndül,
section VI titled Findings of the Field Study was Altan Tan, Meral Danış Beştaş, Mesut Beştaş and Emma Sinclair Webb
written by Özlem Kaya, the subsection titled who made this study possible with the support they gave us in Istanbul,
The Absence of a Grave was written by Ayhan Işık. Diyarbakır and Cizre.
The remainder of the report was written by
Özgür Sevgi Göral.
EDITORS
Meltem Aslan
Murat Çelikkan
Gamze Hızlı
TRANSLATION
Nazım Dikbaş
PROOFREADING
Meltem Aslan
Kiah Shapiro
DESIGN
Pınar Akkurt, BEK
PRE-PRESS
BEK
PRINTING
Mas Matbaacılık San. ve Tic. A.Ş.
Hamidiye Mahallesi Soğuksu Caddesi 3
Kağıthane 34408 İstanbul
T [phone]
http://www.masmat.com.tr/
Certificate No: 12055
A PUBLICATION OF
TRUTH JUSTICE MEMORY CENTER
ISBN: 978-605-85978-2-2
Truth Justice Memory Center would like to thank the Open Society
Foundation, Anadolu Kültür, Global Dialogue, Heinrich Böll Stiftung,
Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, Oak Foundation, Huridocs, MAS
Matbaacılık A.Ş., BEK, Bülent Erkmen and Yiğit Ekmekçi for their
financial and in-kind contributions for the publication of this report
and the realization of the research that formed the basis of this report.
THE UNSPOKEN TRUTH:
ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES
ÖZGÜR SEVGİ GÖRAL
AYHAN IŞIK
ÖZLEM KAYA
TRUTH JUSTICE MEMORY CENTER
“It is true that totalitarian domination
tried to establish these holes of oblivion
into which all deeds, good and evil,
would disappear, but just as the Nazis’
feverish attempts, from June, 1942, on,
to erase all traces of the massacres -
through cremation, through burning in
open pits, through the use of explosives
and flame-throwers and bone-crushing
machinery - were doomed to failure,
so all efforts to let their opponents
“disappear in silent anonymity” were in
vain. The holes of oblivion do not exist.
Nothing human is that perfect, and there
are simply too many people in the world
to make oblivion possible. One man will
always be left alive to tell the story.
Hence, nothing can ever be “practically
useless,” at least, not in the long run.
(...) For the lesson of such stories is
simple and within everybody’s grasp.
Politically speaking, it is that under
conditions of terror most people will
comply but some people will not, just
as the lesson of the countries to which
the Final Solution was proposed is that
“it could happen” in most places but it
did not happen everywhere. Humanly
speaking, no more is required, and no
more can reasonably be asked, for this
planet to remain a place fit for human
habitation.”
Hannah Arendt, Eichmann in Jerusalem:
A Report on the Banality of Evil, p.109
INDEX
8 INTRODUCTION
10 I. ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCE:
DEFINITION AND INTERNATIONAL
FRAMEWORK
14 II. BACKGROUND
23 III. ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES
IN TURKEY: A GENERAL OVERVIEW
26 IV. RESEARCH TOPIC AND METHODOLOGY
29 V. A FEW NOTES ON THE SPACE
34 VI. FINDINGS OF THE FIELD STUDY
A) The State’s Repertoire Related to
Enforced Disappearances
1) Denial
2) Threaths
3) Criminalization
4) Establishment of Institutional
Collaboration
B) Experiences of Relatives of
the Disappeared
1) The State
2) The Search – Özlem Kaya
3) Justice
4) Citizenship
5) Politics
6) The Absence of a Grave – Ayhan Işık
77 VII. EPILOGUE: “HE WAS SO SPECIAL,
HE WAS SUCH A PERFECT PERSON”
80 VIII. CONCLUSION AND
RECOMMENDATIONS
85 BIBLIOGRAPHY
88 BIOGRAPHIES
90 LIST OF THE DISAPPEARED VERIFIED
BY TRUTH JUSTICE MEMORY CENTER
106 ŞIRNAK PROVINCIAL MAP
INTRODUCTION
8 THE UNSPOKEN TRUTH: ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES
Truth Justice Memory Center [Hakikat Adalet Hafiza Merkezi] was established in order
to bring to light the human rights violations that have occurred during periods of conflict
and authoritarian rule, and from the perspective of transitional justice, to contribute to
a redressal of these violations. In order to redress the past, we believe that systemic
and systematic human rights violations must be documented according to international
standards. Suppressed alternative narratives in the areas where these violations have
taken place must be gathered and transmitted to various parts of society, and groups
that have suffered these violations must be assured access to justice. A redressal of the
past can only take place when human rights violations are brought to light, when the
perpetrators are tried, and when the damage caused by such violations are compensated
for through restorative justice mechanisms.
Within the scope of this approach, we decided to begin with a concrete type of human
rights violation. In this way we identified enforced disappearances as our field of study.
In the work we carried out with the Documentation, Law and Outreach groups, we met
with and interviewed relatives of the disappeared, lawyers, representatives of civil
society organizations, human rights defenders, and members of bar associations. We
sought to understand the emergence of, and the forms in which, the mechanisms and
patterns of the phenomena of enforced disappearance occur. Another equally important
aspect of our study was the effort to comprehend the experiences of the relatives of the
disappeared. The processes undergone and the experiences lived by these relatives is
the most fundamental issue this report attempts to address.
One of the most basic requirements for a redressal of the past and a restoration of justice
is the reconstruction of social memory that contains all systemic human rights violations.
Therefore, the work towards documentation and the formation of an archive must also
be seen as an effort to enter into circulation the narratives of relatives of the disappeared
whose voices have not been heard for a long time, which has lead to the expansion of
their pain, and to disseminate these narratives to broader social spheres.
This report is an effort to grasp the legal, political, and social mechanisms through
which the strategy of enforced disappearance is implemented. The report also tackles
the mechanisms and practices through which society’s silence and indifference towards
this continuing issue have been formed. Yet another significant focus of the report is the
process and experiences the relatives of the disappeared go through before and after the
enforced disappearance, and the meaning they attribute to them. The experiences of the
relatives of the disappeared within the scope of the strategy of enforced disappearance
also tell us important things about the state, justice, and citizenship in Turkey. This report
was written in order to aid in the broad dissemination of this information into society. It is
our sincere wish that it succeeds in doing so.
INTRODUCTION 9