Background
Nurettin Yedigöl came from a family in Erzincan and moved to Istanbul in the 1970s to study, graduating from the Faculty of Business at Istanbul University. During and after his studies he was part of the socialist youth movement. After the 12 September 1980 coup, a warrant was issued for his arrest.
He was 26 when he disappeared.
What happened
Yedigöl was detained in April 1981 during a raid on a house in İdealtepe, Istanbul. Sources give the date as either 10 or 12 April 1981, so the month is the safest reference.
According to accounts, he was taken to the Political Branch at Gayrettepe police headquarters, where he is said to have been severely tortured. Other detainees questioned there described seeing him last covered in blood and unable to speak. Nothing has been heard of him since.
Investigation and legal process
His father, İsmail Yedigöl, applied to every official body to find his son. The Istanbul Martial Law Command and police said he had not been detained. Accounts say ten people testified that they had seen Yedigöl at the Political Branch.
According to Bianet, the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office ran three separate investigations, and all were closed on statute-of-limitations grounds. His parents searched for him until they died.
Where it stands today
Nurettin Yedigöl's fate is unknown. The Saturday Mothers/People have raised his case for years, most recently in 2025 and 2026 in Galatasaray Square. The family and rights groups argue that statutes of limitation should not apply to enforced disappearances.
The Saturday Mothers/People emerged from a silent sit-in that families of the forcibly disappeared began in Istanbul's Galatasaray Square on 27 May 1995. After pausing in 1999 the vigil resumed in 2009 and is held weekly, each time turning attention to one file. Families argue that enforced disappearance is a continuing violation and should therefore not be closed on grounds of limitation.
Yedigöl's father appealed all the way to the highest officials of the day, but the answer never changed. These applications and the witness accounts form the basis of the demand that the case be legally reopened.
This page summarises Nurettin Yedigöl's disappearance using information from the press, Bianet and statements by human rights organisations. Some details, such as the date of detention, differ between sources and are given in approximate terms. The aim is to record a young man's name and his family's decades-long search.
Yedigöl's name is brought back to public attention by the Saturday Mothers/People's reminders each April. Accounts by people held in the same detention unit are among the most important sources of evidence in the file. In light of these accounts the family rejects the closing of the file on limitation grounds and demands that it be reopened. The life of a young business graduate stands at the centre of that search.