Background
Ayhan and Ali Efeoğlu were brothers who studied at universities in Istanbul. Ayhan was a student at Yıldız Technical University and Ali at Istanbul Technical University. Their family lost both sons within two years.
The early 1990s saw a surge in enforced disappearances in Turkey, and rights groups documented many people disappearing in custody.
What happened
Ayhan Efeoğlu was detained by plainclothes police outside his university on 6 October 1992 and taken to the Anti-Terror Branch of the Istanbul police. His family applied to every official institution and each time was told that he was not in custody.
Two years later, on 5 January 1994, his brother Ali was detained near Pendik in Istanbul. Without having found Ayhan, the family applied to the Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor's Office to learn Ali's fate. Neither brother was heard from again.
No official document concerning either brother reached the family during or after their detention. This uncertainty became the basis of the family's search over the years.
Investigation and legal process
No effective investigation was carried out into either disappearance, and the files ended in non-prosecution decisions on statute-of-limitations grounds. In 2011 Ayhan Çarkın, a former special-operations police officer, said he had witnessed Ayhan Efeoğlu being tortured to death in custody and named the police who questioned him. According to Çarkın, the body was disposed of by police officers.
After these statements the family brought a case against the Ministry of the Interior for non-pecuniary damages. In its reply the ministry asked for the case to be moved to Istanbul, saying the graves of the people "alleged to be missing" were in Istanbul and the investigation had been conducted there. The brothers' burial place has not been officially disclosed.
Where it stands today
The location of the brothers' graves has never been made public. The Saturday Mothers/People raised their file at the 1032nd week of their vigil on 4 January 2025, saying those responsible are protected by the statute of limitations. The family and rights organisations demand that the graves be found and those responsible be tried.
This page was prepared to preserve the brothers' memory and so that enforced disappearances are not forgotten.
The Efeoğlu brothers' story stands out because one family lost two children within a short span. The family applied to many institutions for years to learn where their sons were buried. The 2011 statements had a wide public impact. Even so, no concrete result has been obtained about the brothers' fate.
At the Saturday Mothers/People's January 2025 vigil, those speaking for the family pointed out that the two brothers disappeared two years apart and that both files are shielded by the statute of limitations. Because enforced disappearance is treated in international law as a continuing violation, rights groups argue that the investigation should continue.