Request for hearing former intelligence chief Eymür as a witness in Midyat JİTEM case

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A request has been made to hear Mehmet Eymür, a former head of the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) Counterterrorism Department, as a witness as part of the Midyat JİTEM investigation.

As reported by Ahmet Kanbal from Mezopotamya Agency (MA), the application has been made by lawyer Erdal Kuzu on behalf of the Human Rights Association (İHD). Lawyer Kuzu has submitted a petition to the Mardin Chief Public Prosecutor's Office about the issue.

In his petition, the lawyer has said, "We request that former MİT official Mehmet Eymür be heard as a witness as part of the investigation about the citizens who were subjected to enforced disappearance and murdered by the Gendarmerie Intelligence and Counterterrorism Organization (JİTEM) in the district of Midyat between the years of 1992 and 1996."

'Clearly responsible for its disappearances'

Erdal Kuzu is also a lawyer for the involving parties in the Kızıltepe JİTEM case, which was held at the Ankara 5th High Criminal Court and ended in acquittal on the grounds of expiry of statutory limitations.

Kuzu has made this request upon the recent statements of Eymür regarding the "unidentified" murders and enforced disappearances.

CLICK - 'The state can do anything': Retired intelligence chief Mehmet Eymür admits torture, extrajudicial killings

The petition of the lawyer to the Mardin Chief Public Prosecutor's Office has indicated that "there were clearly people who were officially or unofficially taken into custody and disappeared by the JİTEM members in the city center and rural areas of Midyat in 1992-1996:

"While various indictments were about the fact that these unregistered detentions and disappearances were done by JİTEM, an official/unofficial organization, it was also determined by the Parliamentary inquiry reports. An indictment dated July 20, 2020 and with the number 2014/295 was lodged by your Prosecutor's Office about the crimes committed by JİTEM."

'He has information about the incidents'

The petition has referred to Mehmet Eymür's statements which indicated that JİTEM was real and he knows the crimes committed:

"This official, who was actively on duty in the period when the victims were abducted and disappeared, apparently has information about the enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings that happened in Midyat district. Considering this person's title, the titles and duties he had, and his statements about the investigation in question, it is a legal obligation to hear the related person as a witness as part of the investigation."

About the Midyat JİTEM investigation

An application was made to the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor's Office in 2009 about the fate and whereabouts of Şeyhmus Eroğlu, Hüsni Çankaya, Nihat Aydoğan, Abdüllatif Şahin and Tevfik Ay (who were disappeared in Mardin's Midyat district from 1994 to 1996) and of Mehmet Emin Atuğ, Şükrü Demir, Hizni Bilmen and Abdülkadir Demir (whose fate and whereabouts have been unknown since they were taken intocustody by the Midyat Gendarmerie Command on May 14, 1995).

In the investigation launched by the prosecutor's office on January 30, 2012, the Diyarbakır Chief Public Prosecutor's Office gave a decision of "non-jurisdiction" and sent the investigation file to the Midyat Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, which also gave a decision of "non-jurisdiction" in 2020 and sent the file to the Mardin Chief Public Prosecutor's Office.

The Midyat Chief Public Prosecutor's Office prepared a summary of proceedings indicating that the nine people, mostly aged 60-70, "might have been killed by the mountain cadre of the organization."

It also recalled that in the investigation launched against Midyat Gendarmerie Commander Hilmi Kahraman, noncommissioned officers Mehmet Ziya Odabaş, Metin Çetin, Murat Sevim and Adem Kılıç on similar charges in 2007 ended in a decision of "non-prosecution."

Sent to the Mardin Chief Public Prosecutor's Office in 2020, the investigation file has seen no progress since then.

CLICK - Kızıltepe JİTEM Case Drops Due to Statutory Limitations, Court Says 'No Organization'

(AS/SD)