Saturday Mothers/People gathered at Galatasaray Square for the 1011th time to ask for the fate of their relatives who disappeared and were murdered in detention and to demand the prosecution of the perpetrators. Many human rights defenders also attended the demonstration. At this week's demonstration, the perpetrators of Özgür Gündem newspaper reporter Ferhat Tepe, who was murdered after being detained in Bedlis 31 years ago, were asked.

 

Setenay Eren, a relative of the disappeared, read Tepe's story. Eren pointed out that Tepe was abducted in 1993 by armed men with walkie-talkies and described the process as follows: "After his abduction, a person telephoned the family's house and told them that they had abducted Ferhat Tepe on behalf of the Turkish Revenge Brigade and that his father İshak Tepe had to resign from his party and pay 1 billion liras for his release. İshak Tepe, who was DEP Bitlis provincial chair at the time, shared with the public that the voice of the person he spoke to on the phone resembled that of Tatvan Brigade Commander Korkmaz Tagma, who had recently threatened him in a meeting."

 

FOUND IN THE CEMETERY OF THE DEAD

 

Reminding that Tepe's lifeless body was found 13 days later in the cemetery of the orphans in Xarpêt, Eren said: "However, according to official records, Ferhat had gone swimming in Lake Hazar, about 400 kilometers from where he was abducted, but drowned because he could not swim and was found by fishermen. But Ferhat Tepe's body showed signs of severe torture. In addition, there were 14 witnesses who saw him being abducted and who described seeing him being interrogated under torture at the Diyarbakır Gendarmerie Regiment Command. Despite this, domestic remedies have not yielded any results."

 

ECHR CONDEMNS TURKEY

 

Stating that Tepe's family then applied to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and the Constitutional Court (AYM), Eren continued as follows: "The ECHR found that there were 'astonishing deficiencies' in the Ferhat Tepe investigation. The ECHR condemned Turkey, stating that the government did not cooperate with the ECHR, prevented access to necessary information, documents and witnesses, and did not conduct an effective criminal investigation. In its decision dated June 16, 2016, the Constitutional Court, to which the family finally appealed, ruled that the prosecutor's office did not give a concrete instruction to expand the investigation in the case of Ferhat Tepe, did not take steps to shed light on the incident, did not show due diligence in the collection of evidence and prolonged the investigation, and ruled a violation of rights on the grounds of ‘lack of effective investigation’. However, it prevented the reopening of the case on the grounds of statute of limitations. As a result, as the ECtHR noted, the 'deliberate judicial resistance to conducting an effective investigation' in domestic law has continued to this day. The judicial process has resulted in impunity for those who tortured Ferhat Tepe to death and for those who lost his body.

 

Impunity practices, which are a widespread problem in Turkey, cause the existing domestic remedies to offer no solution to the relatives of the disappeared. The purpose of an effective investigation is to ensure accountability and create a deterrent effect on criminals. The state's failure to fulfill its obligation to conduct effective investigations paves the way for similar crimes to be committed today and in the future. No matter how many years pass, we will not stop demanding justice for Ferhat Tepe, for all our missing persons, and reminding the state that it must act in accordance with universal legal norms."

 

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