Süleyman Seyhan
person- Image
- Sex
- Male
- Civil status
- Married
- Date body found
- Mar 6, 1996
- Occupation
- Peasant
- Dependants
- 9
- Event description
Per ruling delivered by the European Court of Human Rights on 2nd November 2004 and the indictment bill prepared by the Midyat Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office In 2014; after the PKK kidnapped two teachers and the son of the head village guard of the Amara village, on 29th October 1995, a group of around sixty soldiers, village guards and plain-clothes men raided the home of the Doğan family in Dargeçit, Mardin. They arrested 14-year-old Seyhan Doğan, simultaneously beating his sister who was trying to protect him. On the same night and in the following days, Seyhan’s brother–in-law, Abdurrahman Olcay (20), his cousin Mehmet Emin Aslan (19), Abdurrahman Coşkun (21), Nedim Akyön (16), Hikmet Kaya (24) and Süleyman Seyhan (57) were also placed in custody. Several days later, Davut Altınkaynak (13) was also taken into custody. The officials either denied their detention or said that they had been released; but they were not heard from again.
Süleyman Seyhan’s body was found in a well on 6th March 1996, his head severed from his body, which had been burnt. It was alleged that a soldier, namely Bilal Batırır, had secretly informed Süleyman Seyhan’s family about his whereabouts and right after that he was disappeared, as well (see Enforced Disappearance of Bilal Batırır). After finding his dead body, Süleyman Seyhan’s family applied to the ECHR and the Court decided that the articles 2 (right to life) and 13 (right to effective remedy) of the European Convention on Human Rights had been violated.
In her search for her son, Seyhan Doğan’s mother was also kept under detention by the gendarmerie for 20 days. After this incident, the Doğan family moved to İstanbul and Mrs Doğan joined Cumartesi Anneleri (the Saturday Mothers) to look for her son.
Years later, the remains of Abdurrahman Olcay (2013), Seyhan Doğan (2013), Mehmet Ali Aslan (2012), Abdurrahman Olcay (2014), Nedim Akyön (2016) and Davut Altınkaynak (2016) were discovered in a well and returned to their families.
After years of ineffective investigation, the Mardin Gendarmerie Commando Battalion Commander, Dargeçit Township Gendarmerie Commander, Dargeçit Center Gendarmerie Guard Commander, Aide to the Gendarmerie Guard Commander, a Specialist Sergeant and thirteen village guards were charged with the enforced disappearance of 8 victims in 2015.
- Geolocation
Latitude: 37.54618390000001
Longitude: 41.720381
- Geolocation
- City
- Mardin
- District
- Dargeçit
- Date of disappearance
- Oct 30, 1995
- Year of disappearance
- 1995
- Age at the time of disappearance
- Yaş:57
- Status of the victim
- Discovered dead and returned to the family
- Latest status as suspect in the act
- Faced charges but acquitted, decision taken to appeal
- 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
- Decision of acquittal due to lack of evidence, case taken to Supreme Court
- Name of the court case
- Dargecit JITEM Case
- Verdict of ECHR
- Violation of the right(s)
- Articles violated according to ECHR verdict
- Article 13: Right to an effective remedy
- Article 2: Procedural violation of the right to life
- Summary of the legal proceedings
Per ruling delivered by the European Court of Human Rights on 2nd November 2004 and the indictment bill prepared by the Midyat Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office In 2014; after the PKK kidnapped two teachers and the son of the head village guard of the Amara village in October 1995, a total of eight males between the ages of 13 and 57 were placed under custody in the Dargeçit district of Mardin in the days that followed.
The families of the detainees applied to the authorities fearing for their family member’s life and the Dargeçit Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office opened a joint investigation for all of them under file preparation number 1995/2.
In 1996, Süleyman Seyhan’s (57) dead body was found in a well. The Seyhan family applied to the ECHR, which ruled in 2004 that the articles 2 (right to life) and 13 (right to effective remedy) of the European Convention on Human Rights had been violated.
It was alleged that a soldier, Bilal Batırır, had secretly informed Süleyman Seyhan’s family about the location of his body and, as a result, he became a victim of enforced disappearance, as well (see Enforced Disappearance of Bilal Batırır).
There was no development in the investigation until the Human Rights Association’s application in 2009 to have the investigation merged with the Ergenekon trial, which centered on the illegal and extrajudicial activities of state officials, mostly soldiers.
The investigation conducted by the Dargeçit Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office (file no.2014/564) led to a trial where the Mardin Gendarmerie Commando Battalion Commander, Dargeçit Township Gendarmerie Commander, Dargeçit Center Gendarmerie Guard Commander, aide to the Gendarmerie Guard Commander, a Specialist Sergeant and thirteen village guards are being charged with the enforced disappearance of the seven males; the case of Hikmet Kaya was excluded from the trial.
In the meantime, the remains of Abdurrahman Olcay (2013), Seyhan Doğan (2013), Mehmet Ali Aslan (2012), Abdurrahman Olcay (2014), Nedim Akyön (2016) and Davut Altınkaynak (2016) were discovered in a well and returned to their families.