Per plaintiff testimony given for the investigation launched by the İdil Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office, the Özalp family had moved from their home in Cizre to Xendek (Hendek) village due to pressure from authorities to become village guards. Mehmet Emin Özalp’s friend Nurettin Erşek was a somewhat well-to do shepherd in the same village. Both men moved to İdil when the Xendek village was burnt down completely. They were engaged in buying and selling domestic animals.

24th September 1994 when Nurettin Erşek said that some of his sheep had disappeared, both men, together with other friends went to look for the sheep. First, they went to the Hespist (Yarbaşı) village. On the way, they were told the sheep were not there, their friends returned home while Mehmet Emin Özalp and Nurettin Erşek continued to look for the sheep. They were not heard from after this moment. Later, as their families searched for them, witnesses told them that two men were seen being forced into the File (Bereketli) village by armed men. Previously, Mehmet Emin Özalp and Nurettin Erşek had been told that File village was a Hizbullah-affiliated village and going there as strangers would not be welcome.

After they were forced to go the village by armed men, the two men have not been found, nor have their bodily remains been located.