A shepherd who went missing in Hakkari in 1995 was allegedly killed by a group of soldiers with a landmine later detonated on top of his body to cover up the cause of death, the Taraf daily has reported
According to a report in yesterday’s Taraf, Nezir Tekçi, whose father Halit has been looking for him ever since he went missing, was killed by members of the Yüksekova Battalion Command.
Taraf reported that Yunus Şahin, who at one point served as a soldier during his compulsory military service at the command, provided testimony as a witness to a prosecutor, claiming that Tekçi was taken into custody by the Bolu Ranger Brigade and subsequently killed.
In his testimony provided last August to the Yüksekova State Prosecutor’s Office, Şahin said Tekçi had been taken into custody by members of his brigade, and taken along with them on a mission. “When we reached a hill as we descended toward the village, they ordered us to stop. But we couldn’t see the village from where we were.
The captain, named Ali Osman Akın, told Nezir, ‘Show us where the PKK and its weapons are.’ Nezir said he did not know where they were, to which Ali Osman replied, ‘I’m going to kill you.’ Nezir said, ‘I haven’t done anything wrong, what have I done?’,” Şahin explained.
According to his testimony, the captain walked Nezir to a spot about 10 meters from where the rest of the soldiers were standing. “When Nezir understood that he was going to be killed, he started running toward us.
Then, Cpt. Ali Osman told us, ‘Whichever of you is a Kurd, raise your hand.’ About 20 people did so. Then Ali Osman pointed to Nezir and said, ‘Those of you who are Kurds, fire at him.’ Some of the Kurdish soldiers said, ‘We can’t be the only ones to fire,’ and so no one did,” Şahin said.
However, Şahin said one lieutenant, whom he identified as Kemal, told the captain that he would fire if commanded to do so. “Lt. Kemal grabbed Nezir by the arm, walked him 10 meters away from us and then with his G-3 shot him once or twice.
Then Ali Osman turned to us and said, ‘All of you, open fire.’ Everyone began shooting at Nezir. I shot as well, but I fired toward the side to avoid hitting him. There were about 70 officers and soldiers there, and everyone shot in that direction. Nezir fell to the ground and died. Then Ali Osman told us to retreat.”
Afterward, Lt. Kemal ordered for a mine expert to be brought and had a landmine detonated on Tekçi’s corpse, Şahin alleged. “We saw the dead Nezir’s clothing flying into the sky, and after a bit Lt. Kemal came toward us with Nezir’s severed head in hand, holding it by the hair, and showed it to us,” he said.
Father Halit Tekçi says his family moved in 1998 from a village in Dağlıca to the Güngör neighborhood, and that in order to provide for his 16-member family, his children were sent to neighboring villages to do shepherding. However, after April 28, 1995 the family never heard news of Nezir Tekçi again. The father learned from an area eyewitness that his son had been taken into custody by the military, explaining: “When I learned this, I went to the Yüksekova State Prosecutor’s Office and filed a criminal complaint.
The state prosecutor threw my petition in my face, saying, ‘How dare you slander the Turkish military,’ and kicked me out of the building.”
The father refused to let the case go, however, eventually meeting Yunus Şahin and convincing him to go to the authorities with his testimony. Tekçi family lawyer Davut Uzunköprü says that they had taken the case to the European Court of Human Rights and had plans to request the investigation into the case be reopened given the new witness testimony.
“Ever since Lt. Kemal brought the man’s severed head to us and showed it to us, I’ve never been able to forget that man or his face. I had spoken to him and given him tea before he was killed, so I know his face well. I have no doubt that the man we killed that day was Nezir Tekçi, the same person in the photograph [that the Tekçi family has of the man],” Şahin says.
Source: Zaman
