For the 1,099th time, the Saturday Mothers gathered in Galatasaray Square in Istanbul to demand justice for people who disappeared while in the custody of the Turkish state. At the center of this week’s vigil was the fate of Nurettin Yedigöl, a Kurdish socialist who was detained 45 years ago and is believed to have been tortured to death. Human rights activist Ikbal Eren presented the case.
Kurdish, Alevi, socialist
Nurettin Yedigöl openly identified as a socialist. In the 1970s, he moved from his Alevi-Zaza village in the province of Erzincan to Istanbul and had just completed his studies in business administration when, immediately after the military coup of September 12, 1980, he was put on a wanted list due to his activities in the leftist student movement. In April 1981, he was detained in an apartment in the Maltepe district and taken to the political police station in Gayrettepe. At the time, the station was synonymous with severe human rights violations and operated a torture chamber led by the notorious unit chief Tayyar Sever. He commanded a team called “Group K,” which had received its torture training from the junta in Honduras.
Abused for a week in a torture chamber
Nurettin Yedigöl is said to have been held at the Gayrettepe station for a week. Ten witnesses who were also in custody at the time later testified in various proceedings that he was repeatedly dragged into the torture chamber, and for four entire days he was not even returned to his cell. Yedigöl was last seen on April 17, 1981, at the notorious station. It is not believed that he was still alive at that time. “He was covered in blood and lying on the ground, unresponsive. He was probably already dead,” said one witness. That was the last time he was seen. The police later claimed that they had never detained a person named Nurettin Yedigöl. His body has never been found.
“The prosecutor chose denial”
Ikbal Eren emphasized how systematically efforts to uncover the fate of Yedigöl were obstructed and that the testimonies of fellow detainees were never seriously investigated: “The prosecutor did not examine the witness statements but instead chose denial. They contented themselves with saying: ‘There is no such thing as torture in Turkey, do not slander the state.’” All applications by the family yielded no results; a total of three separate investigations by the Istanbul prosecutor’s office were closed on the grounds of the statute of limitations. His mother, Zeycan Yedigöl, then applied to the Constitutional Court in early 2013. However, the case was also rejected there at the end of 2015 on the grounds of lack of temporal jurisdiction. “Once again, the fate of Nurettin Yedigöl was covered up by the statute of limitations,” Eren said.
Fellow detainees: “He was tortured day and night”
Ümit Efe, a representative of the Turkish Human Rights Foundation (TIHV) and a close friend of Yedigöl who had experienced detention at the time, also took part in the vigil. She described the violence in detail: “He was tortured day and night. Many people saw what was done to him. Despite everything, he said nothing. After that, the torture was intensified even further,” she said. “For 45 years, we have been telling what we saw. We know who is responsible. We will not stop until the truth comes to light and those responsible are held accountable.”
The family also reaffirmed their determination to continue seeking clarification and to search for the remains of Nurettin Yedigöl. His brother, Muzaffer Yedigöl, addressed the authorities directly: “They should know that we will never give up. We will search for him until our last breath. Even if we are afraid, we will not stop.”
The lawyer in the case and human rights activist Eren Keskin delivered the final remarks of this week’s vigil. She criticized the practice of impunity in Turkey, saying: “As in many cases of state violence, this case was also closed on the grounds of the statute of limitations. Our applications were ignored.” Keskin drew a broader connection to other unresolved cases and stated: “Behind all these enforced disappearances lies state responsibility. That is why international conventions against enforced disappearances are not signed. The aim is to conceal these crimes.”
The gathering ended with the laying of carnations at Galatasaray Square.
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