Ahmet Özdemir
person- Image
- Sex
- Male
- Civil status
- Married
- Occupation
- Peasant
- Event description
Per friendly settlement decision reached by the parties at the European Human Rights Court in 2011, the village of Benat (Kırkağaç) in Şırnak was burnt down by the soldiers in 1994 on account of their refusal to serve as village guards. All the inhabitants of the village were evacuated and moved to the Fındık village in the Güçlükonak district of Şırnak. The pressure to become village guards, however, continued after the burning down of the village and many young villagers were taken into custody on for “aiding the PKK.”
On 13th August 1994, gendarmes from the Fındık District Gendarme Station carried out an operation in the Fındık village. The soldiers raided all houses and took 31 year-old Ahmet Özdemir, 31 year-old Ahmet Özer, 38 year-old Bahri Esen-boğa, 27-year-old Fikret Şen, 29 year-old İlhan İbak and two other villagers from their houses. The families of villagers went to the Gendarmerie Station to ask when their sons would be released and always received the same answer, "They will be released after the completion of the interrogation.” The villagers were kept at the Gendarmerie Station for three days and then five men were flown by a helicopter to an unknown place. This information was obtained from witnesses who were kept at the same place with the villagers. They also said that the villagers were tortured. The five villagers have not been seen or heard from them since that day.
The families submitted a complaint to Office of the Eruh Public Prosecutor on 6th March 1995, yet the prosecutor issued a decision of lack of jurisdiction on the basis of the involvement of military personnel in the case. The court sent the case file to the Office of the Diyarbakır Public Prosecutor attached to the 2nd Tactics Air Forces Command and then to the Office of the Konya Public Prosecutor attached to the Konya Provincial Gendarme Command. The Office of the Diyarbakır Public Prosecutor demanded the Eruh Public Prosecutor to locate and collect the statements of the plaintiff families yet this demand remained unanswered.
After the exhaustion of domestic remedies, the attorney of the İlbak, Şen, Özdemir and Esenboğa families applied to the European Court of Human Rights. The government of Turkey offered 34 thousand pounds to the families and the parties agreed to a friendly settlement. The sum of money offered by the government was accepted by the attorney of the families. However, the attorney did not inform the families about the friendly settlement or the money paid by the government. Families found about the settlement years later during an interview with a representative of the Human Rights Watch.
About four months after Bahri Esenboğa’s disappearance, his brother Hasan Esenboğa was forced into a white car in Cizre. After eight days, his dead body was discovered in an empty field by the villagers.
- Geolocation
Latitude: 37.472115
Longitude: 41.912442
- Geolocation
- City
- Şırnak
- District
- Güçlükonak
- Date of disappearance
- Aug 13, 1994
- Year of disappearance
- 1994
- Age at the time of disappearance
- Yaş:31
- Status of the victim
- Still missing
- Type of source material
- Interview with family member (audio and video records)
- Decision by the prosecution office
- Investigation continues
- Verdict of ECHR
- Friendly settlement
- Summary of the legal proceedings
Per friendly settlement decision reached by the parties at the ECHR; on 14th and 19th September 14 1994, relatives of the five men who went missing after being taken into custody during a military raid on their village, applied to the Gendarme Division in Şırnak in connection with their whereabouts. Then, they applied several times to the Office of the Public Prosecutor in Şırnak, to the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Interior and the Office of the Governor of the state of emergency region.
On 6th March 1995 the Office of the Eruh Public Prosecutor took statements from two relatives of the villagers. The public prosecutor issued a decision of non-jurisdiction on the ground that the officer accused by the applicants of having kidnapped their relatives, was a member of the military. On 12th June 1995, the public prosecutor sent the file to the Diyarbakır Public Prosecutor attached to the Diyarbakır 7th Military Army Corps.
On 23rd June 1995 the Diyarbakır Public Prosecutor attached to the Diyarbakır 7th Military Army Corps issued a decision of non-jurisdiction and sent the file to the Diyarbakır Public Prosecutor attached to 2nd Tactics Air Forces Command on the grounds that the non-commissioned officer accused by the applicants of having kidnapped their relatives, was attached to the Fındık 6th Gendarme Commando Battalion Command. On 13th February 1996 the Konya Public Prosecutor, attached to the Konya Provincial Gendarme Command, took a statement from the officer. In his statement the officer alleged that he had no information about a possible military operation; nor did he know about the the applicants being taken into custody. The Diyarbakır Public Prosecutor attached to 2nd Tactics Air Forces Command wrote to the Office of the Eruh Public Prosecutor in order to obtain the statements of several villagers. The Eruh Public Prosecutor in turn wrote to the Güçlükonak District Gendarme Command in order to locate these persons.
In a letter dated 9th July 1996, the Güçlükonak District Gendarme Command stated that all these persons had left the Fındık village two years ago and had moved to Cizre, adding that their new addresses were unknown. On 30th July 1996, the Diyarbakır Public Prosecutor attached to the 2nd Tactics Air Forces Command informed the Office of the Cizre Public Prosecutor of this development. On 14th August 1996, the Office of the Cizre Public Prosecutor wrote to the Cizre District Security Directorate requesting that these persons be found. Attempts to locate them proved unsuccessful.
By letters dated 6th December 1996, 3rd March 1997 and 12th May 1997, the Diyarbakır Public Prosecutor attached to the 2nd Tactics Air Forces Command ordered the Offices of the Public Prosecutors in Eruh and Şırnak to step up their enquires in order to locate them.
After the exhaustion of domestic remedies, the attorney of the İlbak, Şen, Özdemir and Esenboğa families applied to the European Court of Human Rights. The government of Turkey offered 34 thousand pounds to the families and the parties agreed to a friendly settlement. The sum of money offered by the government was accepted by the attorney of the families. However, the attorney did not inform the families about the friendly settlement or the money paid by the government. Families found about the settlement years later during an interview with a representative of Human Rights Watch.
In 2009, İbak’s father submitted a petition to the Office of Cizre Chief Public Prosecutor to reopen the investigation into the disappearance of İlhan İbak Ahmet Özdemir, Ahmet Özer and Fikri Şen. Public Prosecutor prepared a file regarding the disappearance and killing of four villagers as well as several other people with a village headman as the primary suspect. In March 2012, the file was sent to the Office of Diyarbakır Public Prosecutor. Hafıza Merkezi does not hold further information regarding the progress of the case.