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On the occasion of the International Week of the Enforced Disappeared (May 17-31), the Human Rights Association (İHD) İzmir Branch Office made a statement for the press in Konak yesterday (May 31).
Opening banners with the pictures of the people who disappeared in police custody, the people said, "The losses are known, where are the perpetrators" and "Losses are your conscience, lay claim to them."
The press statement of the İHD İzmir Branch was read out by branch chair Zafer İncin. Noting that enforced disappearance is a state policy, İncin underlined that the fate and whereabouts of most of the enforced disappeared people have not yet been brought to light.
17-31 Mayıs Kayıplar Haftası için Konak Eski Sümerbank önünde gerçekleştirdiğimiz basın açıklamamızın ardından kayıpların anısına denize karanfil atma eylemi gerçekleştirdik.#KAYIPLARVİCDANDIRVİCDANINASAHİPÇIK#KAYIPLARBULUNSUNFAİLLERİYARGILANSIN pic.twitter.com/nN3DMSxpnU
— İzmir İHD (@izmirihd) May 31, 2021
He noted that "if the people who made people disappear in custody are not put on trial, it is because of the reactionary-fascist legal system in these countries and the bourgeois legal system in the international arena."
"The perpetrators were caught red-handed thanks to the insistent struggles of the relatives of the enforced disappeared and rights defenders. However, they are protected with a shield of impunity."
Reminding the audience 
that 800 people disappeared in custody according to the İHD reports, İncim added that two applications had been made to them in the last two years. "The ones who made people disappear will definitely be put on trial one day; even if they die without standing trial, history will remember them with hate," said the İHD İzmir Chair further.
Following the press statement, carnations were left in the Aegean Sea in memory of the enforced disappeared people. (KÖ/SD)
