50 More Applications For Disappeared in Cizre

50 more people in Cizre, in southeastern Turkey, applied for support to find their disappeared relatives –or their remains, Şırnak Bar Association chair Nurşirevan Elçi told bianet.

Elçi assessed the recent revelations of human bones during an excavation in Kuştepe village by prosecution officers and the arrest of former commander of the illegal gendarmerie intelligence unit JİTEM in Cizre, Cemal Temizöz and former mayor, village guard leader Kamil Atak as proof that "the Ergenekon case extended to the east of river Euphrates".  

According to Elçi, relatives of the disappeared, who were pessimistic as previous interrogations ends in vain, once again gain hope with these developments. 

Temizöz and Atak's names come up in several applications, he added. Elçi said that a cemetery for unidentified persons in Silopi and burials in Doruklu would be excavated following the local elections on March 29. It's alleged that remains of hundreds of disappeared persons would be revealed in those sites.

The prosecutors have interrogated Kayseri Gendarmerie Field Commander Temizöz in Diyarbakır. He was arrested on accusations of "incitement to murder" "and "being a member to armed organization" and sent to military prison. 

According to Elçi, during Temizöz's duty in Cizre between 1993 and 1996, murders with unidentified offenders were most frequent. "Many people left their homes and villages during those times fearing being killed. People changed their lanes to avoid crashing into Temizöz." 

On another account, former JİTEM member Abdülhakim Güven was released by court upon being interrogated. Former PKK informant and JİTEM gunman Abdülkadir Aygan had claimed that Güven was involved in several murders directed by Temizöz.(TK/AGÜ)