Missing independent MP hopeful found handcuffed, beaten up in Turkey’s southeast

GAZİANTEP – Doğan News Agency

DHA Photo

An independent parliamentary deputy candidate, who had gone missing in a district in the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa late on May 30, was found handcuffed and beaten up on June 3 in the neighboring province of Gaziantep. 

Halil İbrahim Gögüş, 41, was reported missing by his relatives as they had not received any news from him since May 30, when he went to the Karaköprü district to campaign ahead of the June 7 parliamentary elections. 

Security forces found Göğüş beaten up and handcuffed with plastic handcuffs on the Gaziantep-Nizip road, following a tip off by a passerby. He was taken to hospital but was reported to be in a stable condition. He has reportedly said he cannot remember what happened. 

The police have launched an investigation, and six people had been detained and released on probation after questioning. 

Şanlıurfa Governor İzettin Küçük had said Göğüş was not from Şanlıurfa and did not have many connections in the province as he was registered in the neighboring Adıyaman province’s Besni district and previously lived in Japan, while his family currently resides in the Aegean province of İzmir.