WAN – Mehmet Salih Coşkun, co-chair of the Wan (Van) branch of the İHD, said that unresolved murder and disappearance cases closed under statutes of limitations should be reopened, adding that they are ready to support the work of the Department for the Investigation of Unsolved Murders.

 

Human rights defenders and relatives of the disappeared have been campaigning for the fate of those forcibly disappeared in custody from the 1990s to the present day to be uncovered and for those responsible to be identified and prosecuted. In this context, the period between 17 and 31 May has been marked every year since 1995 as the “International Week of Struggle Against Enforced Disappearances in Custody.”

 

Evaluating the struggle of relatives of the disappeared, Mehmet Salih Coşkun, co-chair of the Wan branch of the Human Rights Association (IHD), said that Turkey is “a country associated with the crime of enforced disappearances.” 

 

Pointing to the continuing policy of impunity in prosecutions related to enforced disappearances in custody, Coşkun said: “Since there has been no concrete judicial process on this matter, for the past 30 years people have been asking about the fate of the disappeared, from Galatasaray Square to Amed Koşuyolu and Êlih (Batman).”

 

Coşkun stated that the policy of impunity must be abandoned and that case files resulting in non-prosecution decisions or statute of limitations rulings should be reopened. Referring to the Department for the Investigation of Unsolved Murders, recently established under the Ministry of Justice, Coşkun said it remains unclear whether the department will examine cases concerning people forcibly disappeared in custody.

 

Coşkun noted that no statement has yet been made indicating that cases closed under statutes of limitations will be retried, but said they hope this will happen. “As the Human Rights Association, we are ready to support the work of this department,” he said.

 

Emphasising that statutes of limitations should not apply in cases such as enforced disappearances, Coşkun also said that Turkey should become a party to the United Nations convention on enforced disappearances and implement the rulings of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

 

Coşkun stated that Turkey must confront its past in order for the Peace and Democratic Society Process to advance. He said the fate of those forcibly disappeared in custody must be revealed, those responsible must be prosecuted, and the authorities should issue an apology.

 

MA / Lutfi Pala