Background
Metin Can was a lawyer who served as head of the Human Rights Association (İHD) Elazığ branch. Dr. Hasan Kaya was one of the association’s founding members. Both took part in documenting human rights violations in the region in the early 1990s.
What happened
Can and Kaya were abducted on 21 February 1993. According to some accounts they were called to a village near the city on the pretext of an urgent injured person; İHD statements say instead they were taken from their homes. The next day a car belonging to Hasan Kaya’s brother was found abandoned.
Their bodies were found on the Elazığ–Tunceli road under the Dinar Bridge, about two kilometres from a gendarmerie post. Sources give the date as 26 or 27 February 1993. Metin Can’s wife was expecting the couple’s child at the time.
Investigation and where it stands
İHD and other organisations attribute responsibility to the gendarmerie intelligence unit JİTEM, and a former JİTEM member later described the incident to the press. Nonetheless İHD says that despite serious evidence no perpetrators were prosecuted and no effective investigation was carried out.
The case is commemorated every February by İHD and the Saturday Mothers.