The Saturday Mothers gathered in Galatasaray Square in Istanbul to demand information about the fate of their relatives who disappeared while in state custody and to call for punishment for those responsible. The theme of the initiative’s 1063rd vigil was the case of journalist Ferhat Tepe, who was abducted by state death squads in Bitlis 32 years ago and tortured to death. Activist Zeynep Yıldız from the Human Rights Association (IHD) presented the story.
Born in Bitlis in 1974, Tepe was only 19 years old when he was abducted by the Turkish counter-guerrillas in broad daylight in the center of his hometown on July 28, 1993. He had been working for a few months as a correspondent for the daily newspaper Özgür Gündem (“Free Agenda”), which was the first of its kind to address the Kurdish question in Turkey. On August 4, the body of the severely tortured journalist was found by a fisherman on the shore of Lake Hazar in Elazığ, nearly 350 kilometers away.
News of his death came on the day he was accepted to university
Ferhat Tepe was the sixth employee of Özgür Gündem to be killed since the newspaper was first published on May 30, 1992. The news of his death came on the same day that he was accepted to study journalism in Istanbul, as his mother Zübeyde later recounted in an interview.
Sentences of up to 75 years’ imprisonment handed down by state security courts led to the closure of the newspaper on April 24, 1994. During its two years of publication, eight correspondents and 19 distributors of Özgür Gündem were murdered by “unknown perpetrators.” Contributors to successor newspapers were also killed.
The perpetrator was a brigade commander
Ferhat Tepe’s father, Ishak, was chairman of the provincial association of the Kurdish DEP (Democracy Party, banned in 1994) at the time of his son’s disappearance. On the day of the abduction, he received a phone call from a man who identified himself as a member of the paramilitary organization “Turkish Revenge Brigade.” He demanded the closure of all DEP party offices, the release of four tourists who had been kidnapped by Kurdish guerrilla fighters, and a ransom of one billion TL for the release of Ferhat Tepe. The caller was identified by Ishak Tepe as Korkmaz Tağma, a brigade commander in the Turkish military in Bitlis. He last called the family on August 8 to inform them that Ferhat Tepe’s body was in the morgue of the state hospital in Elazığ. Investigations revealed that the body of the 19-year-old had indeed been buried in a “cemetery for the nameless” just one day after it was found. Ferhat Tepe was finally identified by his cousin Talat from photographs. He was exhumed so that he could be given a dignified burial.
Korkmaz Tağma now advisor to Turkish mercenary company
Although Korkmaz Tağma was identified as the person primarily responsible for Ferhat Tepe’s disappearance and witnesses confirmed seeing him with the journalist, he has not been prosecuted. Twenty years after the murder, the investigation file was closed, citing the statute of limitations. In 2003, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) condemned Turkey for its inadequate criminal investigation into the case of Ferhat Tepe and awarded compensation to his relatives. The journalist’s family is firmly convinced that the order to kill came from Korkmaz Tağma and his men.
As a brigadier general in the 1990s, Tağma did indeed order dozens of state killings of Kurdish civilians. In Bitlis, he was therefore called “corpse collector” by the population. After his “career” in the Turkish military, he worked as a columnist for the newspaper Zaman, founded by the Islamist preacher Fethullah Gülen and now banned. He is now one of the top advisors to SADAT, a mercenary company of the Turkish state. He continues to enjoy a life of freedom.
Parliamentary commission must also hear Saturday Mothers
After presenting the case of Ferhat Tepe, activist Zeynep Yıldız referred to the commission established by the Turkish National Assembly for a political solution to the Kurdish question and the democratization of the country, and quoted the opening speech of Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş. He described the commission as a place where everyone could speak “the language of peace and brotherhood.” “This body belongs to all those who are interested in lasting social peace, regardless of their political background.”
“If the Commission truly stands for peace, it must also address the search for truth regarding the disappeared, without ignoring the feelings of those affected and seeking political solutions. To this end, we, as the Saturday Mothers initiative, must also be heard,” said Yıldız. She stressed that the continued existence of their movement is a sign that the wounds of the past are still open and that recognition of these painful events is necessary for the democratization of Turkey.
“No matter how many years pass, we will not stop demanding justice for Ferhat Tepe and all our missing relatives. The state must adhere to universal legal norms,” Yıldız concluded.