LibGuides: Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances: Turkey

Turkey

Turkey has seen conflict between Kurdish citizens and Turkish security forces since the early 1990's. Human rights groups have claimed that up to 2,000 Kurds were forcibly removed after the 1980 coup d'état, with missing persons increasing in the 1990's during the conflict between Kurdistan Worker's Party and Turkish security forces.

Find more information on Turkey's enforced disappearances and human rights:

Amnesty International: Listen to the Saturday Mothers This report gives details of some of the incidents of police violence and shows how they have consistently failed to investigate the "disappearances" in a thorough manner. This report was published in 1998.
DW: Turkey's Saturday Mothers meet for 600th time demanding justice for forcibly disappeared The families of the forcibly disappeared in Turkey have gathered for a symbolic 600th time demanding justice. The Saturday Mothers movement is one of the longest running civil disobedience campaigns in the country.
Helsinki Watch - The Kurds of Turkey: Killings, Disappearances, and Torture (1993) Helsinki Watch, a Division of Human Rights Watch, published this report on the conflict between Kurds and Turkey and includes recommendations for the Turkish government on the issue of human rights.
Holding Up the Photograph: Experiences of the Women Whose Husbands were Forcibly Disappeared (2014) This report by the Truth Justice Memory Center is the culmination of an effort to address the human rights violation that have occurred through enforced disappearances through a gender perspective by focusing on the experiences of the wives of the disappeared.
HRW - Turkey's Human Rights Rollback: Recommendations for Reform (2014) This 38-page report outlines the rollback of human rights and rule of law in Turkey, linked to mass anti-government protests in 2013 and corruption allegations that go to the very heart of the government of the ruling AKP.
Turkey's Saturday Mothers After the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) seized political power, people were disappeared in various ways - some taken into custody and tortured to death, others simply disappeared by the “security forces” without a trace. The families of the disappeared and human rights advocates came together in solidarity for justice and have been since May, 1995.