* Photo: Social media
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Gülistan Doku, a sophomore of Child Development at Munzur University, went missing in Turkey's eastern province of Dersim on January 5, 2020. Her fate and whereabouts have been unknown since then. Her family have started a sit-in protest in front of the Tunceli Courthouse.
Coming from Turkey's Kurdish-majority southeastern province of Diyarbakır to Dersim (Tunceli), Gülistan Doku's mother Bedriye Doku, her father Halit Doku and elder sister Aygül Doku wanted to meet Governor Mehmet Ali Özkan; however, the police prevented the family.
Speaking in front of the courthouse, Aygül Doku recalled what Umut Ömer Karaduman, the deputy principal clerk of the Governor's Office, said during the Justice Minister's visit to Dersim. According to Doku, Karaduman told journalists "not to ask questions about Gülistan Doku".
Addressing Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gül, elder sister Aygül Doku said, "You are responsible for Gülistan Doku. You are responsible for putting the perpetrators on trial. You are obligated to find her."
Addressing the public as well, she said, "We were waiting for our daughter to come home a week later. Our daughter has not been here for two years. We expect everyone to lay claim to Gülistan Doku so that we will not search for other Gülistans, for our children tomorrow".
The sit-in protest of the family will continue till January 5, 2022.
What happened?University student Gülistan Doku did not return to the Credit and Dormitories (KYK) Women's Dormitory on January 5, 2020. As her roommates could not reach her by phone, they got worried and appealed to the Tunceli Provincial Directorate of Security. Her family was also informed about the issue. The family came to Dersim on January 6 and reported Gülistan Doku missing at the security directorate. Consulting her friends and tracking the signals of her mobile phone, police officers also examined the city surveillance cameras and found that she got on the university minibus at the bus stop in Atatürk Neighborhood at 11.29. However, even though the city surveillance cameras along the way were examined, it could not be determined where she got off. The driver of the minibus was identified and summoned to depose. The driver said that the minibus did not enter the university as it was Sunday, the minibus returned empty and he could not remember where Gülistan Doku got off. It is speculated that Doku got off at Sarı Saltuk Bridge in the city center, the only bus stop outside the sight of surveillance cameras. Thanks to the struggle of women and the Doku family, the authorities decided to drain the water of the dam to find her. On June 17, a petition was submitted to the Tunceli Chief Public Prosecutor's Office to arrest Zeınal Abarakov, the chief suspect of the file. On August 29, the expert report was completed. Afterwards, Ali Çimen, the attorney of the Doku family, made another application for the arrest of Abaravakov. Rejecting this request, the Tunceli Chief Public Prosecutor's Office decided to take his deposition. On August 4, the expert review of the footage that allegedly shows Gülistan Doku jumping off a bridge was completed. According to the review by the National Criminal Bureau firm, what is seen in the footage is not Doku jumping off the Dinar Bridge, where she was last seen, but "residual pixels." "The effect on the bridge abutment is a pixel residue and definitely not a water column created by a person or object that falls into the water," the report concluded. In a statement released by the Tunceli Governor's Office on August 18, 2020, it was announced that the search efforts ongoing in the dam ended. Coordinated by the Governor's Office, search efforts started in the dam again on October 15. However, they ended again on November 24, 2020. |
(RT/SD)
