Proposal for Investigation of Unsolved Murders Dismissed!

The proposal for a Parliamentary Investigation in relation to the bones found in a mass grave in Diyarbakır was dismissed by noting that the "cheque law was going to be discussed" in parliament instead. The Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) had submitted the proposal to parliament in order to "investigate all aspects concerning the bodies found during the excavations made in the area of the İç Kale former prison in the Sur district of Diyarbakır".

The excavation was carried out right next to a building that had been used as headquarters of the clandestine gendarmerie's intelligence and counterterrorism service JİTEM in the 1990s. Excavations in the quarter of Saraykapı had started on 11 January in the neighbourhood of the Diyarbakır Closed Prison and the Courthouse. Bones and skulls belonging to 26 persons were found.

The proposal was submitted on 23 January. Before it was considered at the Tuesday session (31 January) of the Parliamentary General Assembly, BDP Diyarbakır deputy Altan Tan said in the assembly that he had followed the excavation himself, went there and personally investigated the scene. He also pointed to the circumstance that the bodies were found "by coincidence" during archaeological excavations.

"Government officials and civil servants should have commented on the issue immediately. We noted that these excavations were not done as the result of work related to the subject. The skulls emerged as the result of work done by the Ministry of Culture", Tan indicated.

"The public was told 'We investigate a place where bodies are supposed to be in case we get according information, we carry out excavations and, look, we reveal the bodies'. This statement does not reflect the truth", Tan criticized.

Tan reminded that several criminal complaints had been filed related to the region in Diyarbakrı where the excavation took place and that written and oral proposals had been submitted earlier.

"This area is known as the former head office of JİTEM in Diyarbakır. It is known as a place where hundreds of people were taken to from home or even from the middle of the street in the 1990s. They were never heard of again; they were tortured and never seen again. Unfortunately, these bodies emerged during restoration excavations, although [people from] Diyarbakır and the area gave voice to their crying and laments about this issue for years".

"These questions have to be answered: Whom do these bones belong to and what happened? Where are the people who disappeared? Why are certain people not being asked any questions like Ünal Erkan, the governor during the state of emergency in this region at the time; Hayri Kozekçoğlu; ministers at the time like Mehmet Ağar , dozens of prosecutors, judges, governors, deputies and people who were ministering this region?" Tan questioned.

"The cheque law will be discussed"

Also Republican Peoples' Party (CHP) Istanbul deputy Sezgin Tanrıkulu spoke on the subject at the session. He claimed, "I know that area very well. It was the headquarters of JİTEM. I knew Fikri Özgen who disappeared well. He was brought to the JİTEM headquarters but back then I was not able to bring the prosecutor there. His mother is still struggling to find him but we are not even able to establish a commission over here".

"I hope we will not talk about this again but establish a commission in the real sense and clarify all unsolved murders in Turkey", Tanrıkulu said.

Justice and Development Party (AKP) Kırıkkale deputy Ramazan Can and AKP Isparta MP Recep Özel reminded that "the General Assembly was going to discuss the cheque law" and declared that they did not support the proposal but would vote against it. As a result of the vote, the proposal to establish a research commission was rejected. (AS/VK)