"Turkey's Open Secret"
A dark stain on Turkey's human rights record since the 1980s, enforced disappearances led by state agents have reappeared after a failed coup attempt in July 2016.
In the last four years, 25 such cases have been reported. Most of the cases followed a certain pattern in terms of the victims' profiles, the circumstances of their disappearance, the authorities' reluctance to investigate despite the pleas of family members, and the suspicious accounts given by those who have turned up, most of the time in police custody.
Some of those who resurfaced after disappearing gave court statements alleging that they were abducted and unlawfully interrogated by the Turkish intelligence at secret detention facilities and that they were ultimately coerced to sign testimonies that incriminated themselves and others.
This report provides a case-by-case analysis of the 25 cases, identifies the notable patterns surrounding the incidents, details the way in which authorities and government officials at different levels systematically avoided the issue and brings together the revelations made by those who claimed to be forcibly disappeared over the time they were missing.
Download the report: in English, in Dutch, in French