About 17 thousand people have been murdered by 'unknown assailants' or forcefullu dissappeared in the 1990's inm Turkey and the region. The vast majority of investigations and lawsuits filed by their families have either expired or in danger of being expired. While Turkey was convicted by European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) as a result of the law suits filed by their families for failure to conduct effective investigations, the families continues to look for their long lost loved ones, including 60 year old Hatice Özdemir.

 

Özdemir is searching for the perpetrators of his brothers Bahri and Hasan Boğa, one of whom was found dead, since 1993.

 

Bahri Boğa, father of 7 children, living in the village of Bana (Kırkağaç) in the Güçlükonak district of Şırnak, was detained in a raid on their home in 1993. After that day, no further news can be received from Boğa, who was taken from the village by helicopter.

 

His other brother Hasan Boğa who had 6 children was found dead 6 days after he was taken in custody under a bridge, tortured.

 

Hatice Özdemir who has been demanding justice for 27 years, was handed a prison sentence for her search for justice. Tried with 79 people in the "KCK Cizre" case, Özdemir was sentenced to 6 years and 3 months in prison for "being a member of a terrorist organization" at the final hearing of the case held at the Malatya 5th High Criminal Court on June 24.

 

If her sentence is upheld, Özdemir will be put in prison despite his advanced age. Faced with prison sentence due to her struggle for justice, Özdemir stated that both of her brothers were lost and killed by the dark forces. Özdemir, who rebelled against the fact that the perpetrators have not been revealed despite the past 27 years, said: "They should prosecute the killers of my brothers, not me."

 

MA / Zeynep Durgut