Erdal Kuzu, who is the lawyer of the file regarding the disappearing of nine people by Gendarmerie Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism (JİTEM) in Turkey, says the comment of the prosecutor -that the disappeared “might have joined the Kurdistan Workers’ Party” – is a result of the “impunity regarding the covering up of state crimes”.

According to Ahmet Kanbal.2s report, the public prosecutor of Diyarbakır (Amed) launched an investigation in 2012 regarding nine people who were disappeared in custody between 1994 and 1996.

However, the prosecutor’s office sent the file to the public prosecutor of Midyat in 2014 due to “the decision to reject the venue”. Moreover, the decision to reject the venue was ruled on the file the second time.

The public prosecutor of Midyat prepared a report on the nine missing using the statements of the suspects. According to the report, the missing nine had joined the PKK.

Kuzu states that they filed a criminal complaint to the public prosecutor of Diyarbakır in 2013 as demanded by the families and adds, “We demanded an excavation in Budak the region of Midyat. After our demand was accepted, we reached other missing people”.

“Thus, it has been revealed that the JİTEM operated in Kızıltepe, Dargeçit and Derik between 1994-1996, and it did so in Midyat”.

Kuzu says the report’s claim, based on the testimonies of the suspects, is not convincing, and it is unlikely that people aged 50 or 70 would join the PKK.

Kuzu describes the report as a result of “the policy of impunity regarding the covering up of the state’s own crimes”.