The Situation Of Disappeared Persons In Turkey

Press Statement From IHD Chair Akin Birdal About The Campaign
"Stop The Disappearances! Charge Those Responsible!"

To the media,

     The problem of people disappearing while in police custody has
reached frightening dimensions over the past few years, and this is
a violation of most basic human rights.
     Methods of making people disappear were developed in Hitler's
Germany to destroy the resistance and were later refined and made
systematic by regimes in Latin America. In 1955 in Guatemala, and
later in states such as Argentina, Brazil, and Chile, the military
junta used this tactic to destroy the masses. People from mass
movements numbering in the tens of thousands were targeted. In
Argentina alone, more than 40,000 people disappeared. But even
after a long period had passed, people still sought out those
responsible for the disappearances and punished them.
     In Turkey, a total of 13 people disappeared while in police
custody between 1980-1990. But this method became systematic in
1990. Those targeted now were human rights advocates, the Kurdish
population, defenders of minority rights, students, trade
unionists, journalists, socialists, and anti-war activists.
     The true dimension of this can be seen in the following
figures:

1980-1990            13 people
1991                  4 people
1992                  8 people
1993                 23 people
1994 (first half)    27 people
1994 (total)        328 people
1995 (Jan-March)     77 people

     As you can see from these figures, the number of people who
disappear while in police custody rises every day. A society which
allows people to disappear and then does not seek out and punish
those responsible cannot be called a democratic society.
     A democratic society is one in which rights and freedoms are
secure.

Sincerely,

Akin Birdal
June 1995