Turkish main opposition deputy asks about ‘mysterious kidnapping incidents’

ANKARA

DHA photo

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) deputy Sezgin Tanrıkulu has submitted a parliamentary question to demand answers from Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım over an investigation into seven abducted people, all of whom were subjects of ongoing investigations into the followers of Fethullah Gülen and who were suspended from their jobs by presidential decree. 

“What all of those who were abducted had in common was that all were part of FETÖ investigations and were left jobless as a result of the decree,” Tanrıkulu said in his parliamentary question, referring to the Fethullah Gülenist Terror Organization (FETÖ), which has been accused of staging the July 15, 2016, coup attempt. 
The CHP deputy said the incidents took place starting in January 2016. 

Tanrıkulu said two of the abducted people, Mesut Geçer and Ayhan Oran, were employees of the Turkish National Intelligence Agency (MİT), while Mustafa Özgür Gültekin was employed at the Competition Board and Hüseyin Kötüce was an employee at the Communication Technology Agency (BTK).

The CHP deputy said law enforcement forces were quite “reluctant” to investigate and that the families of the abducted were collecting evidence “using their own means.”

“Geçer, who was dismissed from MİT, was abducted in March 2017 in the Çarkırlar neighborhood of Yenimahalle district [in Ankara] after his car was stopped. The family applied to all institutions, especially MİT. But they indicate that they are having difficulties in even getting their letters of application to be accepted,” Tanrıkulu said. 

Although the faces of the perpetrators were captured in CCTV cameras in the vicinity, police are not conducting an “effective” investigation, according to the families’ reports, Tanrıkulu said. 

The former BTK employee, Hüseyin Kötüce, was abducted in February 2017 right after leaving work at around 7 p.m. in the parking lot of the Batıkent metro station [in Ankara] where he had parked his vehicle, the deputy said. 

“His jacket, which you would expect him to wear as it was winter, and his store-bought cake were in the back seat of his car. Despite the family’s insistence, the police did not inspect CCTV camera footage in the area or take fingerprints in the vehicle,” he said.

Strikingly, the perpetrators used a black colored Volkswagen Transporter minibus in all of the incidents, Tanrıkulu said.