The Amed (tr. Diyarbakir) branch of the Human Rights Association (IHD) called for justice for Atilla Korkmaz and Mahmut Önerarı at its 645th vigil against the state's policy of enforced disappearances. Both men were executed in 1996 after being arrested in Amed. The perpetrators have not been brought to justice to this day. Yakup Güven, board member of IHD Amed branch, described the fate of the two Kurds at the virtual vigil.

No sign of life after arrest

27-year-old Atilla Korkmaz lived in the Batıkent district of Bağlar, where he ran a grocery store. On December 9, 1996, three plainclothes policemen showed up there and took Korkmaz into custody for a "statement." He was driven away in a Renault with license plate number "21 SV 545." "According to eyewitnesses, on the day of his disappearance, Korkmaz was followed by several people on his way back from a bank to his store. Shortly after he re-entered his store, he was already arrested," Yakup Güven said during the event.

Rasime Korkmaz, Atilla Korkmaz's wife, reported the case to the Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, and his father Necmettin Korkmaz turned to the General Directorate of Police. All attempts by the relatives to obtain information on the whereabouts of the man were initially unsuccessful. On January 2, 1997, the Korkmaz family received a call from Diyarbakir Police Headquarters. Two bodies had been found in Adıyaman and buried in anonymous graves. Atilla's uncle Azmi Korkmaz was able to identify one of the two dead men from pictures as his nephew.

Both men murdered after their arrest

The identity of the second murdered person could be assigned to Mahmut Önerarı. According to Yakup Güven, Önerarı was previously detained by civilian police officers in Lice and remained missing afterwards. "Attila Korkmaz and Mahmut Önerarı were shot dead following their abduction," Güven further said.

Mahmut Önerarı was repeatedly detained in raids by the Turkish military in his home village of Yaprak in Lice district. Güven summarized the events leading up to Önerarı's death as follows, "Due to the regular raids, Mahmut Önerarı moved to Amed and worked as a shared cab driver between Lice and Amed. On December 8, 1996, he was beaten up in his office by civilian police officers and forced to get into a white vehicle with license plate number 21 AV 305. Mahmut's father subsequently turned to the prosecutor's office to find out where his son was being held. However, his request was not processed. At police headquarters, he saw a photo of his son. When asked, he was told that Mahmut was in custody. Nevertheless, all attempts by the family were unsuccessful - permission for a visit could not be obtained. A few weeks later, Mahmut's lifeless body turned up in Adıyaman."

No serious investigations to date

To date, there has been no serious investigation into the arrest and subsequent murder of the two men, Güven explained. "In the 645th week of our search for justice, we once again call on those responsible: Find the perpetrators and bring them to justice!"

IHD's vigils

In the tradition of Istanbul's Saturday Mothers, missing persons' relatives also gather week after week in Amed and other cities to demand justice for their husbands, wives, sons, daughters or children left missing by state forces. Each week a different case is presented, especially from the 1990s, when "disappearances" were particularly widespread. This action, which has the motto "Find the disappeared, prosecute the perpetrators", seeks to keep these human rights violations alive in the collective memory and to obtain criminal punishment for the crime. From the beginning, the actions of the relatives of the disappeared are initiated together with the branches of the Human Rights Association IHD. Since the Corona pandemic, the vigils have taken place virtually.