Background
Fehmi Tosun was a 35-year-old father of five who lived in Avcılar, Istanbul, in 1995. Three generations of his family are still looking for him, and one of the longest-running Saturday Mothers files carries his name.
His close friend Hüseyin Aydemir disappeared the same day.
What happened
On the morning of 19 October 1995, Fehmi Tosun left home with his friend Hüseyin Aydemir after breakfast, and neither returned. In the evening, three armed plainclothes men carrying radios brought Tosun back to his house in a white car.
In front of his family he reportedly cried out that they were going to kill him, and as relatives ran toward him he was put into the car and driven away. His wife, Hanım Tosun, reported the plate number at the Avcılar police station, but no action was taken. Officials denied that he was in custody.
Investigation and legal process
Having reached no result in Turkish courts, the family applied to the European Court of Human Rights. According to reports the Court ruled in 2003 that Turkey had violated the right to life and ordered compensation; we could not directly confirm the judgment's details here.
Lawyers such as Eren Keskin say no effective investigation has been carried out in the Tosun and Aydemir files and that there have been attempts to close the file under the statute of limitations. The Aydemir family says they learned that Hüseyin was first taken to Ankara and handed over to military officials there.
Where it stands today
The Saturday Mothers have held many vigils for Fehmi Tosun, including a call for justice in October 2025 on the thirtieth anniversary of his disappearance. His fate has not been clarified, and there are no convictions. His family asks that the case be treated as a crime against humanity and that no statute of limitations be applied.