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Alleged Gulenists main target of forced disappearances in Turkey

A new report from Human Rights Watch on forcible disappearances in Turkey called for an "effective investigation into credible testimony" from one of the most recent men to go missing for months.

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Turkish police raid a building owned by Koza Ipek Holdings over suspicions of providing financial support to the movement led by the US-based Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen, in Ankara on Sept. 1, 2015. — Twitter/Ragam

The New York-based Human Rights Watch shined a rare light on the cases of numerous individuals who have allegedly been forcibly disappeared by the Turkish government since the July 2016 coup. In a report released today, HRW called on the Turkish authorities to “carry out an effective investigation into credible testimony from a man in pretrial detention that state agents forcibly disappeared him for nine months and tortured him.”

The man, Gokhan Turkmen, is among at least two dozen people who have reportedly been abducted by government agents, tortured and held incommunicado for months. Another of them, Yusuf Tunc Bilge, disappeared eight months ago and has yet to be located.

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