Turkey: Disappeared Trade Unionist id SAA03962; Wed, 8 Oct 1997 18:15:51 -0400 Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit source:Press Agency Ozgurluk 02 Oct 1997 DUZGUN TEKIN; TRADE UNIONIST AND DELEGATE FROM THE SECOND SECTION OF THE TEXTILE UNION SECTION OF THE CONFEDERATION DISK AND A REVOLUTIONARY WORKER On October 21, 1995, he left his relatives' house in the Gunesli Evren district to go to work. After that, nobody heard anything more of him. Before his disappearance on October 21, he told his family that a civilian vehicle with the licence plate 34F6676 had been following him. There has been no trace of Duzgun Tekin since October 21, 1995. The counter-guerrilla state which was exposed by Susurluk made him disappear. Like all its other crimes, it refuses to admit to this one. "I lost consciousness and did not know what I was saying. I wanted to die. Now I know that I will not die, until I have found my son. Even if I only find his bones, I will lay them out and bury them with my own hands. We should not have left our village. Why did we come. I will continue. Let us dig everywhere and search everywhere. If we find Duzgun, we will perhaps find all the others. Let us dig in other places also. I always look at the TV. I have trouble understanding it, but nonetheless I look at the news every hour. Recently it showed the 'dogs' [ie. the police] beating up a boy. The boy was covered in blood. I could not sleep for three days. For three days I felt pain. I thought of my son. The boy had given the victory sign with his hand. I love you all - the fallen, the prisoners, the disappeared - they are all my children. Help us to find all the Duzguns. The cruelty must end." MAY 27, 1997 The confessions made by Kasim Acik in Gebze prison recently have shed some light on the path that the revolutionaries who have struggled for the disappeared have been following. After an interrogation of Acik in Gebze and his admission that he was a counter-guerrilla agent, he was punished. The confessions of the counter-guerrilla agent also shed some light on the case of Duzgun Tekin, who disappeared in 1995. After he stated that Duzgun Tekin was first murdered and his body brought to the rubbish dump at Cadirkent, Acik drew a sketch of the plot of land on which, according to his information, several people who disappeared and whose bodies had not been found were murdered. Accordingly the Platform for Rights and Freedom made an appeal to the public, to revolutionaries, to democrats, to all progressive people and to the press and then headed for Cadirkent after permission had been received to start digging there. In front of the metro in Aksaray, where the buses were to set off, there were representatives of various democratic associations, trade unionists, lawyers and also Duzgun's family. More than 100 members of the Platform for Rights and Freedom, as well as unionists from the DISK/textile branch, the DISK general workers' section, Sen-Sen, members of the IHD (Human Rights Association), DMP and media people set off for Kirklareli at 10:15. The convoy of two busses, a large bus and private cars was stopped by the gendarmerie at about 13:42. The gendarmes said to the HHB (People's Law Office) lawyer Behic Asci that disinterments could only take place in the presence of a state attorney. After about 20 minutes the state attorney came and we set out with a gendarmerie escort to Cadirkent. It is 14:30. A large plot of land with large and small piles of rubbish, dismembered animal carcasses and, nevertheless, flowers and grass growing everywhere. On one hand, the smell of carrion, on the other the scent of flowers. The first impression was that this would be a good place to bury people in a shallow grave. Especially if it was done by the counter-guerrillas who run the state. Nothing could be heard or seen... It is hard to judge where and how to start digging, since Cadirkent is so big and impenetrable. The mothers are agitated, they have tied red bands around their foreheads. This time there is a difference - on the bands are written in yellow the names of the disappeared. The cries of woe of the disappeared are etched onto the brow of each mother. "I am Duzgun", "I am Ali", "I am Aysenur", "I am Ayse"... Mother Elif climbs out of the car with her son Duzgun's photo in her hand. She looks around. She cries out: "My Duzgun! Somebody has made my son disappear. I have been looking for my son for 17 months... My son...The state has made him disappear... The state tortures, makes people disappear and then throws the murdered onto the rubbish heap. Why, what is this cruelty for. She turns to the soldiers, "Tell me, what do you say to your mothers?" Then she turns to the journalists: "Take pictures and send them to Europe. The head of state and the president should see it. Here I am looking for my son." The families carried signs in their hands with the inscription "You will not succeed in dealing with the Duzguns by making them disappear", "The Susurluk state is responsible for disappearances", "A reckoning will be demanded for the disappearances and massacres". The workers from Belediye-Is , the trade union of local government workers, brought banners with the inscription: "Disappearances and massacres will not make the Duzgun Tekins die out" and "We will let Duzgun Tekin, who disappeared in police custody, live on in our struggle - he will be immortal". People dispersed on the plot of land and began to search with the help of a mechanical digger. This place, described by an agent of the counter-guerrillas, is a cemetery. Many people were murdered here. Rohe Harman and Ali Hasan Ay, who in 1995, a month after Duzgun Tekin was abducted by the contraguerrillas, were themselves abducted and were fortunate enough to escape, gave a description of ground which fits this place. It is also worth mentioning that bases of JITEM, the Turkish military's intelligence service, are there, and it carries out its activities in the nearby town of Tekirdag. People who were tortured in Tekirdag but managed to escape with their lives also describe this place. The bases in Tekirdag also show the relevance of Cadirkent. "IF NOT ALIVE, THEN I WILL FIND HIS CORPSE " "Since he 'disappeared', I have been looking for my son. I have been everywhere and knocked on every door. I asked the state authorities, but they said they did not have him. I come from Dersim and every week I go with the mothers of the disappeared to Galatasaray. I am looking for my son, I have never tried hard enough. 'If not alive, then I will find his corpse,' I think to myself. Bands of killers, secretive organisations have murdered my son and thrown him on a rubbish heap somewhere. It is a great pain to me. I raised my children in poverty and want and they grew up with bare feet and without clothing. We worked hard and Duzgun went to school. We could not let him continue in school because we had no money. I would not have harmed a hair on his head but now I am searching for his bones on a rubbish dump. 'Ah, what cruelty', I feel deep pains inside me. On the day he disappeared I did not know what to say or do. My son is there. Ciller should be hanged. She had my son murdered and thrown on a rubbish heap. 'Bring me tools to dig with, my son is here,' I told the state attorney and the soldiers. 'We have no information,' they said. 'If you don't know, then who does know?' Can a mother leave her child? If not alive, then I will find his corpse. We will find them all, all the 'disappeared'. They belong to us. All those who fell belong to us. The state always murders the revolutionaries. It tortures, burns villages, kills and throws the corpses on the rubbish heap." Press Agency Ozgurluk The Struggle for justice, democracy and human rights in Turkey and Kurdistan http://www.ozgurluk.org mailto:ozgurluk@xs4all.nl mailinglists:petidomo@ozgurluk.xs4all.nl ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= nytlab-10.08.97-18:16:17-21187