Four-year-old Miraç Çiçek travelled to Turkey’s Diyarbakır’s (Amed) Dicle (Pîran) district with his family for a holiday on 31 July. He has been missing since then. No trace of Miraç has been found so far. His family thinks that he was abducted.
The family is devastated since no information has been given to them by the authorities. A confidentiality order has been brought to the file but they do not know the reason for that either. The family is not willing to talk to the press since they were invited to a TV programme in Turkey and the experience was upsetting to them.
“They told us to always cry during the show on TV and questioned us when we were not crying”, said Miraç’s mother Firdevs Çiçek.
“The public is acting as if Miraç has never lived”
Firdevs Çiçek is upset because she feels that the public pretends as if her son has never lived or disappeared. Six people were detained after Miraç went missing but his family only learned of this through the media. The authorities did not inform them of these developments and they have been angry and upset about this situation.
“No information was given to us by either the prosecutor’s office or the police. My child”, noted Miraç’s father Remzi Çiçek, “has been missing for about three months, but I haven’t been told anything about it. They tell us: ‘Go home. If there’s any improvement or news, we will inform you’. What is this state trying to do? My son is missing, but they make a confidentiality order on his file. I want to come across a trace of my son”.
Remzi Çiçek was even detained by Dicle Police Station whilst he was searching for his son, he noted: “On 15 October, the Dicle Police Station commander called me. I went because I thought there was some development about my son but they detained me there and then took me to the prosecutor’s office. Then they released me. They didn’t even tell me why they detained me”.
Remzi Çiçek claims that the family knows everyone in the village but a stranger came to the village during the day that his son disappeared. He appeals to the public and authorities to help find his missing son: “To whom does this vehicle belong? We want to know this. Because I learned that a few days before the incident, two people came to my neighbourhood and asked about me. Who were those people? We don’t even have tears left in our eyes. There’s a little boy lost and we don’t know what happened”.
