Yusuf Çelik
person- Image
- Sex
- Male
- Civil status
- Married
- Occupation
- Peasant
- Dependants
- 5
- Event description
Per ruling delivered by the ECHR on 16th July 2013, following a skirmish with the PKK, the Gendarmerie raided the nearby Ormancık hamlet of Hakkari’s Şemdinli district on 24th July 1994. During the raid, a disobedient man was killed while two pregnant women were beaten. As they left the village, the gendarmerie took with them thirteen men from the village, who served as village guards. The men were not seen or heard from, nor have their bodily remains been found. The village was evacuated and burnt down after the incident.
The investigation, which was initiated in 1998 upon an MP’s visit to the region and interest in the incident was dismissed in 2000.
In 2013, the ECHR ruled that Turkey had violated articles 2 (right to life) and 5 (right to liberty and security) for the victims as well as 3 (prohibition of torture) with regards to their families.
Şemdinli district on 24th July 1994. During the raid, a disobedient man was killed while two pregnant women were beaten. As they left the village, the gendarmerie took with them thirteen men from the village, who served as village guards. The men were not seen or heard from, nor have their bodily remains been found. The village was evacuated and burnt down after the incident.
The investigation, which was initiated in 1998 upon an MP’s visit to the region and interest in the incident was dismissed in 2000.
In 2013, the ECHR ruled that Turkey had violated articles 2 (right to life) and 5 (right to liberty and security) for the victims as well as 3 (prohibition of torture) with regards to their families.
- Geolocation
Latitude: 37.3034419
Longitude: 44.57696
- Geolocation
- City
- Hakkari
- District
- Şemdinli
- Date of disappearance
- Jul 24, 1994
- Year of disappearance
- 1994
- Age at the time of disappearance
- Yaş:35
- Status of the victim
- Still missing
- Type of source material
- Press release or report of human rights organisations
- Decision by the prosecution office
- Investigation continues
- 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 applicant
- Article 5: Right to liberty and security
- Summary of the legal proceedings
Per ECHR’s ruling on the case, following an MP’s visit to Hakkari’s Şemdinli district and interest in the disappearance of thirteen village guards in 1994 after they were taken into custody by the gendarmerie raiding their village, an investigation was launched by the Şemdinli Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office in 1998. However, in 2000 the Şemdinli Administrative Court rejected the civilian court’s permission request to charge the two soldiers accused of the enforced disappearance in question.
An alleged burial site was excavated in 2009 upon claims made by a soldier; however, the remains of the villagers were not found.
In 2013, the ECHR ruled that Turkey had violated articles 2 (right to life) and 5 (right to liberty and security) for the victims as well as 3 (prohibition of torture) with regards to their families.
In 2013, the lawyer of the families applied to the Hakkari Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office for the excavation of another site; however, they have not received a response. The investigation is on-going under file number 2015/1548.