MISSING FOR 500 DAYS
Women protest in Dersim: ‘Where is Gülistan Doku?’
* Photo: Mezopotamya Agency (MA)
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The Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) Dersim Women's Assembly held a press statement on Dinar Bridge, where university student Gülistan Doku was seen for the last time before going missing 500 days ago.
Addressing the reporters there, HDP Dersim Provincial Co-Chair Nurşat Yeşil said that "while the police have been closely following them, they have been unable to find Gülistan Doku for 500 days."
Nurşat Yeşil briefly added the following: "This is a small city, every part of which is monitored with surveillance cameras and where there is almost one police officer per person. After Gülistan went missing, the investigation was not conducted in due procedure.
"The investigation was carried out solely through the impression of suicide. However, at the current stage, there has emerged nothing about this. Numerous searches were conducted in the place where we are standing over now. Even though the divers indicated that Gülistan was not in the pond, the searches insistently continued here.
"No matter how many days will pass, 500 or 1,000, we will keep on asking, 'Where is Gülistan Doku?' We will keep struggling so that other women like Gülistan will not go through the same situation. The burden of this will always be on our shoulders. We will not give up asking."
Following the Women's Assembly's press statement for Gülistan Doku, colorful balloons were flown over the Dinar Bridge.
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 Governor's Office, search efforts started in the dam again on October 15. However, they were ended again on November 24, 2020. |
(EMK/SD)