İbrahim Demir
person- Image
- Sex
- Male
- Civil status
- Married
- Date body found
- Dec 13, 1991
- Occupation
- Peasant
- Dependants
- 9
- Event description
Per records of the Association for Solidarity and Support for Relatives of Disappeared Persons (Yakay-Der) and press statement released by Cumartesi İnsanları on 13th December 2014, the mukhtar of the Xenduk (Çukurlu) village of Şırnak’s İdil district, Agit Akipa and fellow villager İbrahim Demir, were being pressured to become village guards. They were frequently detained and tortured for refusing to serve as village guards.
On 5th May 1991, Akipa argued with gendarmerie officers about their harassment of village women. After this incident, Akipa was detained allegedly for not abiding by gendarmerie’s stop order and then released. Sometime later, Agit Akipa submitted a petition to the District Governorate and Ministry of Interior regarding the soldiers, who were arbitrarily using houses and the school of the village and controlled entries to and departures from the village.
On 12th December 1991, gendarmerie officers detained Agit Akipa and İbrahim Demir. Their families searched for them everywhere and eventually, the next day, their dead bodies showing signs of torture were found in a cave. Around 3000 people attended the funeral of Akipa and Demir that took place on 14th December 1991. An investigation was initiated about the participants with the claim that people chanted “divisive slogans” and carried “illegal flags.” In a few years, the investigation was closed down due to the expiration of statute of limitations. The soldiers left the Xenduk village three days after the funeral, however the village was totally evacuated and burnt down later in 1993.
The İdil District Public Prosecutor’s Office initiated an investigation into the enforced disappearance of the two men. As the investigation was ongoing, the file got lost in the District Governor’s office. In 2009, the families applied to the Office of İdil District Public Prosecutor again for the investigation as well as the abuse of duty committed by the District Governor. In 2012, the families applied to the European Court of Human Rights. Hafıza Merkezi does not hold information regarding the progress of ECtHR application.
- Geolocation
Latitude: 37.3402
Longitude: 41.8934
- Geolocation
- City
- Şırnak
- District
- İdil
- Date of disappearance
- Dec 12, 1991
- Year of disappearance
- 1991
- Age at the time of disappearance
- Yaş:36
- Status of the victim
- Discovered dead and buried by the family
- Type of source material
- Interview with family member (audio and video records)
- Press release or report of human rights organisations
- Printed or online news
- Decision by the prosecution office
- Decision of non-prosecution due to statute of limitations
- Verdict of ECHR
- Trial continues
- Summary of the legal proceedings
In 1991, the Office of İdil Chief Public Prosecutor initiated an investigation into the disappearance and killing of Agit Akipa and İbrahim Demir. Their file was transferred to several offices of public prosecutors without any meaningful progress. Moreover, the investigation file naming certain soldiers as murder suspects got lost in the District Governor’s office. In 2009, the families successfully applied to the Office of İdil Chief Public Prosecutor again for an investigation into the killing of two men and the abuse of duty committed by the District Governor; the former investigation is on-going under file no. 2012/160 , while the latter is ongoing under file no.2011/646.
In 2012, the families applied to the European Court of Human Rights. As of 2019, Hafıza Merkezi does not have any further information regarding the consequences of legal processes.