A mother's search for her son
A mother's search for her son
A mother is continuing her search to locate the body of her son seven years after she alleges he died while in gendarmerie custody in Ýðneada, close to the Bulgarian border.
“They covered up the truths about my son, and they continue to cover them up. They are collaborating with the murderers,” said Kadriye Ceylan, who has been holding regular sit-ins in Istanbul’s Galatasaray Square since 2004 to demand answers in the disappearance of her son, Tolga Baykal Ceylan.
Tolga Ceylan, 24, went to the Black Sea town in August 2004, but appeared to go missing Aug. 10. Kadriye Ceylan said she first applied to the gendarmerie on Aug. 14, 2004, to locate her son; a later parliamentary commission study, however, said the gendarmerie report said the woman only came to them with news of her son’s disappearance on Aug. 16. Kadriye Ceylan also accused the commission of neglecting to interview other witnesses with knowledge of the circumstances of her son’s disappearance.
“They tried to shut me up with a lot of false information... A month after my son’s disappearance, I received a phone call from the Ýðneada Gendarmerie Garrison. On the phone, they said they had found my son’s corpse in [the provincial center of] Kýrklareli,” she said. Kadriye Ceylan was then shown a dead body for purposes of identification, but she said she realized that the corpse had dental implants; even though the body was in unrecognizable shape, Kadriye Ceylan said this factor allowed her to determine that the man was not her son, according to daily BirGün.The local Demirköy Prosecutor’s Office then called her roughly a month and a half later to inform her that her son had been identified on television while displaying a banner at an election program in the United States. Kadriye Ceylan said she watched the scenes over and over, but added that the figure who appeared on TV was too blurry.
As a result of mother Ceylan’s struggle with Saturday Mothers, a subcommittee was established within the body of the Parliamentary Human Rights Commission. President of the commission, Zafer Üskül –former AKP deputy- , who disclosed the commission’s report before June 12 elections, said; “Tolga Baykal Ceylan wasn’t even taken into custody. He is probably living abroad at present”. The argument, which wasn’t found credible by mother Ceylan and relatives of the disappeared people, denies the official reports as well as the report of Parliamentary Human Rights Commision.
The committee report claims that infantry lieutenant Emre Tuðran from Beðendik Border Platoon Commandry, who made a phone call with the Bulgarian law enforcement officers on 17-18 August 2004, was told that "Tolga Baykal Ceylan” is in Bulgaria. The report noted that the conversation between Turkish and Bulgarian officers was translated by foot soldier Yavuz Arda who, when met by the commission, told that he didn’t know Bulgarian and had never acted as interpreter during his military service, as asserted in the report.
On the other hand, a report signed by sergeant major Mustafa Beycür from Iðneada Gendarmerie Command revealed the truth about Dereköy customs house officer Çetin Kaya, who the report claims to have informed the Bulgarian law enforcement officers that Tolga Baykal Ceylan is in Bulgaria. It came out that there is no civilian or police officer at Dereköy customs house with the name Çetin Kaya.
“They covered up the truths about my son, and they continue to cover them up. They are collaborating with the murderers,” said Kadriye Ceylan, who has been holding regular sit-ins in Istanbul’s Galatasaray Square since 2004 to demand answers in the disappearance of her son, Tolga Baykal Ceylan.
Tolga Ceylan, 24, went to the Black Sea town in August 2004, but appeared to go missing Aug. 10. Kadriye Ceylan said she first applied to the gendarmerie on Aug. 14, 2004, to locate her son; a later parliamentary commission study, however, said the gendarmerie report said the woman only came to them with news of her son’s disappearance on Aug. 16. Kadriye Ceylan also accused the commission of neglecting to interview other witnesses with knowledge of the circumstances of her son’s disappearance.
“They tried to shut me up with a lot of false information... A month after my son’s disappearance, I received a phone call from the Ýðneada Gendarmerie Garrison. On the phone, they said they had found my son’s corpse in [the provincial center of] Kýrklareli,” she said. Kadriye Ceylan was then shown a dead body for purposes of identification, but she said she realized that the corpse had dental implants; even though the body was in unrecognizable shape, Kadriye Ceylan said this factor allowed her to determine that the man was not her son, according to daily BirGün.The local Demirköy Prosecutor’s Office then called her roughly a month and a half later to inform her that her son had been identified on television while displaying a banner at an election program in the United States. Kadriye Ceylan said she watched the scenes over and over, but added that the figure who appeared on TV was too blurry.
As a result of mother Ceylan’s struggle with Saturday Mothers, a subcommittee was established within the body of the Parliamentary Human Rights Commission. President of the commission, Zafer Üskül –former AKP deputy- , who disclosed the commission’s report before June 12 elections, said; “Tolga Baykal Ceylan wasn’t even taken into custody. He is probably living abroad at present”. The argument, which wasn’t found credible by mother Ceylan and relatives of the disappeared people, denies the official reports as well as the report of Parliamentary Human Rights Commision.
The committee report claims that infantry lieutenant Emre Tuðran from Beðendik Border Platoon Commandry, who made a phone call with the Bulgarian law enforcement officers on 17-18 August 2004, was told that "Tolga Baykal Ceylan” is in Bulgaria. The report noted that the conversation between Turkish and Bulgarian officers was translated by foot soldier Yavuz Arda who, when met by the commission, told that he didn’t know Bulgarian and had never acted as interpreter during his military service, as asserted in the report.
On the other hand, a report signed by sergeant major Mustafa Beycür from Iðneada Gendarmerie Command revealed the truth about Dereköy customs house officer Çetin Kaya, who the report claims to have informed the Bulgarian law enforcement officers that Tolga Baykal Ceylan is in Bulgaria. It came out that there is no civilian or police officer at Dereköy customs house with the name Çetin Kaya.
