A family in Mardin's Nusaybin district whose son has been detained 30 times over the last 3 years and pressured by the police to spy on his friends and family is having a hard time. It all started when their house was raided by the police in March 2018. His father Sait A. was detained during a raid on their home with the accusation of 'being a member of a terrorist organization' and placed under arrest. Their family home was raided again following the arrest of the father and the police have been detaining him time and time again since then.

 

Police officer Yaşar Ç. and the accompanying officers working for the Anti-Terror Unit, detained F.A 30 times without a warrant and threatened him into spying on his family and friends. F.A told his family about the harassment but the police officers continued to harass F.A.

 

POLICE FORCES HIM TO TESTIFY

 

After a graffiti had been done in Nusaybin recently, police officer Yaşar A. and other officers went to F.A's workplace at the TOKİ Housing Complex where he works with his brother on November 16. The police forcibly detained F.A without a warrant and took him to District Security Directorate. Accusing  5 people of doing the graffiti and showing F.A their names, police who held F.A at the basement of the police station, forced him to testify against them. 

 

MOTHER FELAK WAS BATTERED

 

Having heard that her son was held by force by Yaşar Ç., mother Felak went to the police station. Mother Felak who heard her son's voice coming from the basement, told she wants to file a criminal complaint. Police officer Yaşar Ç. who rushed upstairs grabbed her, and pinned her to the wall while squeezing her throat.

 

Taking her son from the police station, mother Felak went to the Nusaybin Chief Public Prosecutor's Office to file a criminal complaint. 

 

She was later referred to the hospital by the prosecutor to get an assautlt report. Mother Felak later went back to the court house and filed a criminal complaint about the battery and her son being threatened.

 

Speaking to Mesopotamia Agency (MA), mother Felak told that the police have been hunting them for the last 3 years.

 

Mother Felak said: "My son is threatened by the police on a daily basis. The police tells him to be their 'man' and that they will pay him for testifying against the people they target. They threaten him to close down the family business. They detain him everytime because he rejects. But there is no warrant for his detention or anything."

 

'I HEARD HIS VOICE COMING FROM THE BASEMENT'

 

Mother Felak who told that he heard his son voice coming from the basement when she went to the police station, said: "He was screaming. He was saying that he didn't know the people they showed him. I asked what he was doing at the basement and they attacked me. There are camera records if they haven't erased it. They told me' Terrorist, what are you doing here' and they insulted and beat me. I got an assault report and filed a criminal complaint."

 

'WE ARE THE STATE, YOU ARE THE TERRORISTS'

 

Stating that the police threatened to shut down their family business, Felak told that the police said 'The Municipality will do as we say. We are the state, you are the terrorists'.

 

Noting that her son has been detained 30 times over the last 3 years, mother Felak said: "They take him, pressure him and let him go. There are ne records of his detention because there is no warrant for his detention. It's totally arbitrary. Once I called the police station when they took my son, asked Yaşar Ç. on the phone. I told him if he doesn't take my son home in ten minutes I would go to the Provincial Security Directorate. He took my son home in ten minutes. I'm afraid my son make some poor choices as a result of this pressures."

 

 

MA / Ahmet Kanbal