ŞIRNEX - The fate of Serdar Tanış and Ebubekir Deniz, who disappeared in custody, has not been known for 23 years. Tanış and Deniz's mothers said their longing for their children with the words: "A person dies but has a grave. You touch the soil, you smell it."

 

The fate of People's Democratic Party (HADEP) District Chair Serdar Tanış and party manager Ebubekir Deniz, who never returned from the District Gendarmerie Command, where they went after being summoned on January 25, 2001, in Silopiya (Silopi) district of Şirnex, has not been revealed for 23 years. 

The legal struggle initiated by the families regarding the incident, for which Şırnak Gendarmerie Regiment Commander Levent Ersöz and Silopi District Gendarmerie Commander Süleyman Can were held responsible, continues despite the passage of time. After exhausting domestic remedies, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) convicted Turkey. Rabia Tanış mother of Serdar Tanış and Emine Deniz mother of Ebubekir Deniz talked about their children whose fate is unknown.

 

THE LAST DAY SHE SEEN HER SON

 

The only wish of 90-year-old Emine Deniz is to have a grave for her son before she dies. Stating that her son Ebubekir Deniz is a truck driver, mother Deniz said the last time she saw her son as follows: “He ate lunch at home. He prayed and went out with his friends. When the people at home asked, 'Why are you in such a hurry?', he said, 'I'm going to go to Iraq.' After he left that house, I had a bad feeling. Immediately afterward, a phone call came. This number was calling us from Adıyaman. Since my son at home answered the phone, I did not know what was said, who he was and why he called. I was scared, I thought Ebubekir had an accident on the road. Later, when I asked, 'Did something happen to Ebubekir?', he asked, 'Did Ebubekir come home?' When I asked again, 'Did Ebubekir have an accident?', my son said that his friends were asking whether Ebubekir had come home or whether he had been arrested. While we were talking, someone called out and called us outside. When my son and I went to the door, 3 police officers came out of a white taxi in front of the house. They asked where Ebubekir was and claimed that he was at home. Then my son said, 'You know where Ebubekir is, it is in your hands.' Immediately afterwards, something was said over the radio and they got into the vehicle and left. Later I heard that Serdar was also missing and wanted. Serdar's family and our family went to Şirnex, but they were stopped by soldiers in Kasrik and were not allowed to go. In the following periods, my children and my daughter-in-law went to Ankara, Istanbul, Diyarbakır and many other places to search, but they did not get any results."

 

'LEVENT ERSÖZ AND THE STATE LOST OUR CHILDREN'

 

Rabia Tanış mother of Serdar Tanış, also emphasized that although 23 years have passed, she still does not know the fate of her son. Mother Tanış said: "Where they made him disappear, how they made him disappear is still unknown. My unending pain increases with each passing year. My son had been threatened beforehand. They made my son lose Levent Ersöz and the state. They threatened my son, saying, ‘If you don't quit your political party job, we will kill you.’ However, Serdar said, ‘They may kill me, but I will not quit this job and I will not go anywhere.’ They are in my mind day and night. If they had a grave, I would go and pray. However, since I do not know the fate, my eyes are always on the roads. He has a grave somewhere and I will find that grave. In the first years of their disappearance, I had hope and said that one day they would come back. After all these years, my hope died and disappeared along with them. May God does not neglect the rights of them and their children. I have no faith in the justice of the state. This wound will not heal as long as I live." 

 

MA / Zeynep Durgut