‘What happened to enforced disappeared Syriac people?’

* Upper left: Former İdil Mayor Şükrü Tutuş, bottom left: Dr. Eduard Tanrıverdi, and Hurmüz Diril

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Mardin MP Tuma Çelik has submitted a Parliamentary question about the enforced disappearance of Syriac people since the 1990s.

He has stated that "due to the conflicts in the 90s, hundreds of thousands of people were forcibly displaced, villages were burned down and evacuated."

Noting that "Syriacs, one of the ancient peoples of the region, had to emigrate to Europe due to compelling reasons", Çelik has said, "The fact that around 50 Syriac people were disappeared starting from the late 1980s and in the 1990s is a reality that is not widely known about Syriacs."

Çelik has stressed that "the unidentified murders and violations of rights brought about the forced migration of Syriac people."

'Fate and whereabouts of Diril unknown'

As indicated by Çelik, there were doctors, business owners, mayors and old people among the enforced disappeared Syriac people in the 1980s and 1990s. Çelik has said, "Unsolved murders took place in Mardin, Şırnak and Hakkari, which were densely populated by Syriacs."

"The murders of Tumas Behnam, Simon Konutgan, Dr. Eduard Tanrıverdi, former İdil Mayor Şükrü Tutuş and Mikail Bayro are only some of these murders. Most recently, the fate and whereabouts of Hurmüz Diril has been unknown since January 10, 2020."

Against this backdrop, Mardin MP Tuma Çelik has asked the following questions in his Parliamentary question:

• Is there any work that you have undertaken about the unidentified murders that have been taking place since the 1990s?
• How many files of unidentified murders have been opened?
• How many of the lawsuits filed into unidentified murders have been taken to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR)?
• Has a process of retrial started in the files where a right violation has been found by the ECtHR?
• What is the consequence of the files opened into the unidentified murder of İdil Mayor Şükrü Tutuş?
• What is the consequence of the files opened into the unidentified murder of businessperson Yakup Tepe?
• What is the consequence of the files opened into the unidentified murder of Doctor Eduard Tanrıverdi?

NOTE: The United Nations (UN) International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance was adopted in 2006 thanks to the efforts of civil society. However, Turkey is still not a signatory to this Convention. (RT/SD)