Worker Gökhan Güneş tells what happened during his six-day abduction
Photo: İHD
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Returning home after being kidnapped on January 20, electrical worker Gökhan Güneş has held a press conference at the Human Rights Association's (İHD) İstanbul office to tell what happened in those six days.
He said that the people who kidnapped him tortured him for days and referred to themselves as "the unseen."
CLICK - Abducted in İstanbul, worker Gökhan Güneş returns home
The perpetrators of the incident have yet to be identified despite security camera footage showing Güneş's abduction in İstanbul's İkitelli district.
Güneş said his abduction was resembling the forced disappearances in the 1990s and expected such incidents to continue.
"On January 20, I left home a bit later to go to work. I was alone. At around 12 o'clock, I got on the bus. There were four people waiting at the bus stop on the sidewalk," said Güneş.
"One of them said something like 'Excuse me.' I turned around and they all swooped down on me. Meanwhile, their number was increased by two or three. They tried to get me into the vehicle. I resisted. I tried to pull myself back. To break my resistance, they gave me an electric shock with a shocker.
"When I came to myself, I was in the car. They put a black rag over my head and were pulling my head down.
"Then we got into another car. They brought me somewhere. I was never able to see where that place was. No locations, addresses, names were stated.
"They systematically tortured me. They inflicted violence on me by giving electric shocks, beating and occasionally pouring cold water on me. This happened while I was in underwear or naked.
"Sometimes, I was in the parts they call 'the graves,' where you can only stand up. I was confined in this section while I was blindfolded and handcuffed behind the back.
"Threats continued during this period. There were also threats of rape.
"I was expecting to be released a day before, I felt that they were getting ready for that. But they didn't release me that day.
"They threatened me like, 'Would you work with us? You should... you should cooperate.' They asked, 'Do you know who we are?' In response to my words that 'You are intelligence officers,' they didn't say 'yes' or 'no'. They said things like 'We are the unseen.'
"It was morning. I thought it was night when I was put into a car while blindfolded.
"They put my clothes on and sprayed perfume on me. The person whom they called 'the chief' said, 'for your information, I didn't take away anything, just took the SIM card.' He didn't tell why.
"I was put in the car. They put a veil on my head and a sack on it. They removed [the sack] before dropping me off. They pulled my head down and dropped me off the car. They said, 'Walk forward, don't ever look back.'
"After going a little distance, I uncovered my eyes. They covered my eyes with cotton and wrapped them with tape. My phone wasn't there, I couldn't find transportation. It was morning, I thought it was night. I took a taxi and came to my family's home.
"The reason for these attacks is my identity. These attacks were carried out a lot of times against people with a socialist identity. It emerged as a policy in the 90s. They will continue these practices in the coming days as well." (AÖ/VK)
