Kidnapped taxi driver found dead in southeastern province of Tunceli

TUNCELİ – Anadolu Agency

A 45-year-old taxi driver kidnapped by alleged members of an illegal organization has been found dead in Tunceli with signs of torture on his body.

Cemal Beyazgül was kidnapped near the village of Çakmaklı in Ovacık district June 23 and found dead late July 16 near the road in Ovacık by villagers. It is claimed that the taxi driver was kidnapped by members of the banned Turkish Communist Party-Marxist Leninist (TKP-ML/TİKKO). No bullet wounds were found on Beyazgül’s body, but there were bruises on the body. Beyazgül had two children, and his 24-year-old son was kidnapped by the same organization last year for four days and then released. The Ovacık Public Prosecutor’s office will send the body to the Forensic Medicine Institute in the neighboring city of Malatya to determine the cause of death.