All defendants acquitted in Dargeçit extrajudicial killings case

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All defendants were acquitted yesterday (July 4) in the case concerning the forced disappearances of eight people in the Dargeçit district of Mardin, a predominantly Kurdish-populated province in the country's southeast.

Seven civilians, most of whom are from the same family, including three children, and a specialist sergeant, had gone missing in Dargeçit between October 29, 1995 and March 8, 1996. Bodies of some of them had been recovered later.

Eighteen defendants, including former military officers, were on trial for "premeditated murder."

The court acquitted the defendants because "it was not possible to obtain definitive evidence to link the defendants to the events that took place."

The Gendarmerie Intelligence Counterterrorism (JİTEM), whose existence has never been officially confirmed, is accused of perpetrating thousands of extrajudicial killings in the country's mostly Kurdish-populated regions during the conflict in the 1990s.

While several cases were opened in the early 2010s against former gendarmerie and security officials about the killings purportedly committed by the JİTEM, most of those cases have been completed with courts finding "no such organization." The case publicly known as the "Dargeçit JİTEM case" has become the latest example.

The hearing

Three defendants and attorneys of some defendants attended the hearing at the Adıyaman 1st Heavy Penal Court via videoconference, while other defendants and attorneys did not attend citing excuses.

The court reversed its decision to hear Ahmet Kul, a former prosecutor who could not be found for five years, as a witness, citing the stage the case has progressed to and the arrest warrant against him.

The prosecutor repeated their opinion that the defendants should be acquitted due to the lack of sufficient evidence.

"Seven bodies were burned"

Hizni Doğan, the sibling of Seyhan Doğan, who was 14 when she disappeared, said, "The prosecutor said there is no sufficient evidence. We are tired of repeating since 1996 that there are seven burned bodies. The court will decide today whether we are equal citizens or not. I found my sister's body in a place which the state designated as a security zone."

Abdülaziz Altınkaynak, the father of Davut Altıkaynak, who disappeared at the age of 12, said, "Our children were thrown into wells 27 years ago ... The place where the operation took place and the 120 eter-long well where we found Davut are in the same area.

"Her mother saw Davut undergoing Palestinian hanging at the gendarmerie station. Village guards and soldiers took Davut from home. Why did they throw him into the well and not bring him before the court if he committed a crime?"

"The prosecutor defended the defendants"

Erdal Kuzu, a plaintiff attorney, said the prosecutor, with their opinion as to the accusations, made a defense for the defendants.

He criticized the opinion for dismissing allegations because "there were no camera recordings," noting that the incidents took place in the 1990s.

"The mother of Davut Altınkaynak is evidence, if you want to see it. If you don't you bless the murderers.

"The state has never been sincere in cases of extrajudicial killings ... the insincerity of the state gives power to the defendants. This is not a case to be covered up. People have bodies. It cannot be dismissed by saying that there is no evidence just because there are no camera recordings.

"... Wells are a historical tragedy for the Kurds. Every one of them has a meaning. All those villages were centers of torture. Everybody knows that. Bodies were found in wells. Defendants confessed their crimes."

Gülistan Duran, another plaintiff attorney, said, "There is concrete evidence. There are killed people. There are witnesses. It is not possible for us to agree with the opinion, it is something that acquits the defendants."

Defendants say they were "aggrieved"

Asked for their last words, the defendants demanded their acquittals and said they trust the "Turkish justice."

Their attorneys also demanded the lift of their international travel ban, which they said prevents their clients from attending "engagement and wedding ceremonies" of their relatives and were therefore aggrieved by the ban.

Handing down its judgment, the court acquitted all defendants separately and lifted their international travel bans.

After the verdict, Abdülaziz Altunkaynak, the father of Davut, said, "There is no justice in Turkey. If it was a Turkish child, the court would rule for an execution. It ruled for the acquittal because it was a Kurdish child."

(AS/VK)