Abdullah Canan
person- Image
- Sex
- Male
- Civil status
- Married
- Date body found
- Feb 21, 1996
- Occupation
- Businessmen
- Dependants
- 9
- Event description
Per ruling delivered by the European Court of Human Rights on 26th September 2007, Abdullah Canan, a well-known local businessman and a relative of the Republican Party Hakkari MP Esat Canan, was taken into custody by soldiers from the First Mountain and Commando Battalion while he was driving to the Hakkâri province in his car on 17th January 1996. He was not seen or heard from again despite insistent search by his wife and son, who, eventually filed in a criminal complaint against the Major in charge of the Battalion.
Abdullah Canan’s car was found undamaged on 21st January 1996 on the Başkale-Van highway. Soldiers in the area gave the car’s key to the family. One month later, on 21st February the body of Abdullah Canan was found near the Güldalı village along the Yüksekova-Esendere highway - his mouth taped, his hands tied, with cut marks on his face and seven bullets in his body.
In 1999, the local court in Hakkâri acquitted the Major and the other two defendants, a lieutenant and an ex-PKK member-turned JİTEM agent, who were being charged with the murder of Canan and three other victims.
The European Court of Human Rights found the government to be in violation of article 3 (prohibition of torture) of the European Convention on Human Rights with regards to Abdullah Canan and his family and asked the government to pay for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages.
- Geolocation
Latitude: 37.571716
Longitude: 44.282299
- Geolocation
- City
- Hakkari
- District
- Yüksekova
- Date of disappearance
- Jan 17, 1996
- Year of disappearance
- 1996
- Age at the time of disappearance
- Yaş:43Ay:0Gün:7
- Status of the victim
- Discovered dead and returned to the family
- Latest status as suspect in the act
- Faced charges but not sentenced
- Type of source material
- ECHR decision
- 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
- Definitive decision of acquittal
- Name of the court case
- Case of Abdullah Canan
- Verdict of ECHR
- Violation of the right(s)
- Articles violated according to ECHR verdict
- Article 2: Procedural violation of the right to life
- Article 2: Substantive violation of the right to life
- Article 3: Prohibition of torture in respect of the forced disappeared
- Summary of the legal proceedings
Per ruling delivered by the European Court of Human Rights on 26th September 2007, Abdullah Canan, a well-known local businessman and a relative of the Republican Party Hakkari MP Esat Canan, was taken into custody by soldiers from the First Mountain and Commando Battalion while he was driving to the Hakkâri province in his car on 17th January 1996; his dead body was discovered on 21st February 1996.
Canan’s family filed a criminal complaint against the major in charge of the battalion, who had had a heated dispute with Abdullah Canan in November 1995, when he made a complaint about the damage made to residents’ property during a raid on their village, Befircan (Karlı) (during this raid three villagers Şemsettin Yurdakul, Miktad Özeken and Münür Sarıtaş had disappeared).
In March 1996, an investigation (1996/590) was launched by the Van Military Court, which was merged (1996/128) with the on-going investigation (1996/590) into the military operation on the village. The prosecutor’s office of the Diyarbakır State Security charged the major of the battalion, a lieutenant and an ex-PKK member-turned-JİTEM agent with the murder of Abdullah Canan and the three others. During the court case, the JİTEM agent confessed to Abdullah Canan’s abduction and murder by a group including himself and the defendants as well as extorting money from the Canan family after Abdullah Canan’s abduction.
The case file was transferred between various prosecutor’s offices due to indecision over jurisdiction. Eventually, in 1999, the local court in Hakkâri acquitted the defendants and the verdict was later affirmed by the Court of Cassation.
The European Court of Human Rights found the government to be in violation of article 3 (prohibition of torture) of the European Convention on Human Rights with regards to Abdullah Canan and his family and asked the government to pay for pecuniary and non-pecuniary damages.