The whereabouts of six men reportedly abducted by Turkish police continue to remain unknown over 100 days later, opposition channel Artı TV reported on Saturday.
Erkan Irmak, Salim Zeybek, Özgür Kaya, Yasin Ugan, Mustafa Yılmaz and Gökhan Türkmen have been missing for months after being forced onto vehicles by police officers, according to eyewitnesses, and their families have been told by officials there is no information about their whereabouts, host of news programme ‘’Haber Peşinde’’ (news pursuit) Erk Acarer said.
This should pose a serious concern for Turkey, whose government this week lauded its legal system and revealed a new round of legal reforms based on rights and freedoms and the administration of the legal system, he noted.
The reforms, announced by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, arrived on the heels of a condemnatory EU annual report on Turkey, criticising Ankara’s failure to demonstrate progress crucial areas for accession, including rule of law and basic rights and freedoms.
None of these detentions are ordinary and remain in violation of a state of law, Acarer said, adding that when asking about the detainees, their families are told they with ‘’the state’’ and not to ‘’probe’’ into the matter.
Yasin Ugan and Özgür Kaya were taken away in a white van in Ankara’s Altındağ district on Feb. 12 after men with automatic rifles who said they were undercover police, according to eyewitness accounts, raided their home.
Salim Zeybek was also abducted by a group of gunmen in Turkey’s northwestern Edirne province on the night of Feb. 21, according to several tweets posted by a twitter account claiming to belong to his wife.
There have been increasing reports of disappearances in Turkey since the failed coup attempt of July 2016. In most accounts, the victims were reportedly forced on white or black commercial vehicles and attempts to locate them have failed.