Turkey: We want Duzgun Tekin back!

Thu Oct 2 08:27:44 BST 1997

DÜZGÜN TEKIN; TRADE UNIONIST AND DELEGATE FROM THE SECOND SECTION OF
THE TEXTILE UNION SECTION OF THE CONFEDERATION DISK AND A
REVOLUTIONARY WORKER

On October 21, 1995, he left his relatives' house in the Günesli Evren
district to go to work. After that, nobody heard anything more of
him. Before his disappearance on October 21, he told his family that a
civilian vehicle with the licence plate 34F6676 had been following
him.

There has been no trace of Düzgün Tekin since October 21, 1995. The
counter-guerrilla state which was exposed by Susurluk made him
disappear. Like all its other crimes, it refuses to admit to this one.

"I lost consciousness and did not know what I was saying. I wanted to
die. Now I know that I will not die, until I have found my son. Even
if I only find his bones, I will lay them out and bury them with my
own hands. We should not have left our village. Why did we come. I
will continue. Let us dig everywhere and search everywhere. If we find
Düzgün, we will perhaps find all the others. Let us dig in other
places also. I always look at the TV. I have trouble understanding it,
but nonetheless I look at the news every hour. Recently it showed the
'dogs' [ie. the police] beating up a boy. The boy was covered in
blood. I could not sleep for three days. For three days I felt pain. I
thought of my son. The boy had given the victory sign with his hand.

I love you all - the fallen, the prisoners, the disappeared - they are
all my children. Help us to find all the Düzgüns. The cruelty must
end."

MAY 27, 1997

The confessions made by Kasim Acik in Gebze prison recently have shed
some light on the path that the revolutionaries who have struggled for
the disappeared have been following. After an interrogation of Acik in
Gebze and his admission that he was a counter-guerrilla agent, he was
punished. The confessions of the counter-guerrilla agent also shed
some light on the case of Düzgün Tekin, who disappeared in 1995. After
he stated that Düzgün Tekin was first murdered and his body brought to
the rubbish dump at Cadirkent, Acik drew a sketch of the plot of land
on which, according to his information, several people who disappeared
and whose bodies had not been found were murdered.

Accordingly the Platform for Rights and Freedom made an appeal to the
public, to revolutionaries, to democrats, to all progressive people
and to the press and then headed for Cadirkent after permission had
been received to start digging there.

In front of the metro in Aksaray, where the buses were to set off,
there were representatives of various democratic associations, trade
unionists, lawyers and also Düzgün's family. More than 100 members of
the Platform for Rights and Freedom, as well as unionists from the
DISK/textile branch, the DISK general workers' section, Sen-Sen,
members of the IHD (Human Rights Association), DMP and media people
set off for Kirklareli at 10:15. 

The convoy of two busses, a large bus and private cars was stopped by
the gendarmerie at about 13:42. The gendarmes said to the HHB
(People's Law Office) lawyer Behic Asci that disinterments could only
take place in the presence of a state attorney. After about 20 minutes
the state attorney came and we set out with a gendarmerie escort to
Cadirkent.

It is 14:30. A large plot of land with large and small piles of
rubbish, dismembered animal carcasses and, nevertheless, flowers and
grass growing everywhere. On one hand, the smell of carrion, on the
other the scent of flowers. The first impression was that this would
be a good place to bury people in a shallow grave. Especially if it
was done by the counter-guerrillas who run the state. Nothing could be
heard or seen... It is hard to judge where and how to start digging,
since Cadirkent is so big and impenetrable. The mothers are agitated,
they have tied red bands around their foreheads. This time there is a
difference - on the bands are written in yellow the names of the
disappeared. The cries of woe of the disappeared are etched onto the
brow of each mother.

"I am Düzgün", "I am Ali", "I am Aysenur", "I am Ayse"... Mother Elif
climbs out of the car with her son Düzgün's photo in her hand. She
looks around. She cries out: "My Düzgün! Somebody has made my son
disappear. I have been looking for my son for 17 months... My
son...The state has made him disappear... The state tortures, makes
people disappear and then throws the murdered onto the rubbish
heap. Why, what is this cruelty for. She turns to the soldiers, "Tell
me, what do you say to your mothers?" Then she turns to the
journalists: "Take pictures and send them to Europe. The head of state
and the president should see it. Here I am looking for my son." The
families carried signs in their hands with the inscription "You will
not succeed in dealing with the Düzgüns by making them disappear",
"The Susurluk state is responsible for disappearances", "A reckoning
will be demanded for the disappearances and massacres". The workers
from Belediye-Is , the trade union of local government workers,
brought banners with the inscription: 

"Disappearances and massacres will not make the Düzgün Tekins die out"
and "We will let Düzgün Tekin, who disappeared in police custody, live
on in our struggle - he will be immortal". 

People dispersed on the plot of land and began to search with the help
of a mechanical digger.

This place, described by an agent of the counter-guerrýllas, is a
cemetery. Many people were murdered here. Rohe Harman and Ali Hasan
Ay, who in 1995, a month after Düzgün Tekin was abducted by the
contraguerrillas, were themselves abducted and were fortunate enough
to escape, gave a description of ground which fits this place. It is
also worth mentioning that bases of JITEM, the Turkish military's
intelligence service, are there, and it carries out its activities in
the nearby town of Tekirdag. People who were tortured in Tekirdag but
managed to escape with their lives also describe this place. The bases
in Tekirdag also show the relevance of Cadirkent.

"IF NOT ALIVE, THEN I WILL FIND HIS CORPSE "

"Since he 'disappeared', I have been looking for my son. I have been
everywhere and knocked on every door. I asked the state authorities,
but they said they did not have him. I come from Dersim and every week
I go with the mothers of the disappeared to Galatasaray. I am looking
for my son, I have never tried hard enough. 'If not alive, then I will
find his corpse,' I think to myself. Bands of killers, secretive
organisations have murdered my son and thrown him on a rubbish heap
somewhere. It is a great pain to me. I raised my children in poverty
and want and they grew up with bare feet and without clothing. We
worked hard and Düzgün went to school. We could not let him continue
in school because we had no money. I would not have harmed a hair on
his head but now I am searching for his bones on a rubbish dump. 'Ah,
what cruelty', I feel deep pains inside me. On the day he disappeared
I did not know what to say or do. My son is there. Ciller should be
hanged. She had my son murdered and thrown on a rubbish heap. 'Bring
me tools to dig with, my son is here,' I told the state attorney and
the soldiers. 'We have no information,' they said. 'If you don't know,
then who does know?' Can a mother leave her child? If not alive, then
I will find his corpse. We will find them all, all the
'disappeared'. They belong to us. All those who fell belong to us. The
state always murders the revolutionaries. It tortures, burns villages,
kills and throws the corpses on the rubbish heap."

-- 
Press Agency Ozgurluk
The Struggle for justice, democracy and human rights in Turkey and Kurdistan
http://www.ozgurluk.org                          
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