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While a young female university student in Turkey has been missing since 5 January 2020, her family and women’s rights networks have continued their protests over an ineffective investigation on the second anniversary of her disappearance.
Gülistan Doku, a student at the Munzur University in Turkey’s Kurdish-majority province of Dersim, disappeared 5 January in 2020.
While her family has reportedly accused a man named Zainal Abarakov, who was Gülistan Doku’s former boyfriend making continuous demands for a thorough investigation over his possible involvement, Abarakov was only been called to testify with no further legal action taken against him.
Doku’s parents began a sit-down protest in front of the courthouse in Dersim on the first day of 2022.
Speaking to the Turkish daily newspaper Cumhuriyet on Wednesday, the mother Bedriye Doku once again accused Zainal Abarakov and said:
“He is the only one who can give us the truth. He was the last person Gülistan talked to. But they have been concealing the facts from the very beginning. How come he wasn’t detained for even 24 hours? How come his laptop and phone has not been seized and inspected? They haven’t done any of these. They only took his testimony three days later and let him go. He is the prime suspect in the case but some people have been protecting him from the start. We will not leave here till this man, who is responsible for the disappearance of my daughter and whom I do not wish to address by his name, is arrested.”
There was a solidarity protest by a women’s group on the same day in the western city of Izmir, a member of the group made a public address and stated that although there were witnesses who saw Gülistan Doku with Zainal Abarakov merely hours before her disappearance as well as claims that he treated her violently, these have not been investigated.
Gül Gökboğa said: “Zainal Abarakov forced Gülistan into his car just one day before her disappearance. Following emergency calls by witnesses the police arrived at the scene. The police and Zainal’s father who is also a police officer then covered up this abduction attempt. It has also been recorded on security cameras that Zainal tried to harass Gülistan in the cafe she worked and prevented her from leaving the place.”
While protests of women’s rights networks continue in different provinces, a group placed pictures of Gülistan Doku with a question asking ‘Where is Gülistan Doku?’ as they informed passengers about the case at Marmaray commuter trains in Istanbul on Thursday.
