On the 24th of October 2016, Müjgan Ekin, a Kurdish presenter for Özgür Gün TV, disappeared. She was likely arrested by Turkish police officers in Ankara, but she was never officially detained and since then all traces of her are missing.
Müjgan is 29 years old and a graduate of the Management Department at Akdeniz University. She arrived in Ankara on October the 23rd for her master degree studies, where she stayed at a friend’s house in Batıkent, a district in the Turkish capital. She left the house at approximately 10.00 and returned to Batıkent around 15.00, where she took a taxi. The taxi driver witnessed the detainment and said that his taxi was stopped by a car driven by plain clothed police officers at around 15.00. They arrested Müjgan and told the taxi driver that she was suspected of being a ‘suicide bomber’. Since then her family and friends haven’t been able to reach her.
Müjgan presented a local news program called ‘Bajar u Bazar’ for Özgür Gün TV. Apart from that, she was elected as a Councillor for the Party of Democratic Regions (DBP) for the Sur Municipality Council in Diyarbakır, during the local elections of 2014. She is an engaged human rights activist who is involved in various social projects aimed at strengthening women and young people, firstly during her time at university and later as council member. Müjgan played an important role in publicizing the destruction caused by Turkish military operations in Sur in the beginning of 2016, which is likely one of the reasons why she was targeted by Turkish police forces.
Following her detainment, Müjgan’s father, Esat Ekin, contacted different authorities, including the General Directorate of Security and the Ministry of Interior Affairs, now more than one month ago. His application at the public prosecutor’s Office in Ankara on October 27th was registered as a missing person’s case. It has been almost two months since Müjgan disappeared, yet so far nothing has been done.
Despite the testimony of the taxi driver and the identification of the vehicle in which Müjganwas taken, as a red Ford Focus (the car model that is widely used by the Turkish police force), her detainment still hasn’t been declared officially. Her family also applied to the Subcommittee on Human Rights Investigation of the Turkish Parliament and compared the situation to the numerous unsolved killings in the ’90s.
We call on all politicians, journalists, activists and everyone else to raise awareness about Müjgan’s disappearance and to condemn the unlawful targeting of Kurdish journalists and politicians in Turkey. Please act now, before more journalists disappear.
How can you help?
- Sign the petition
- Raise awareness about this case, via articles, diplomatic action or by bringing the case up at your own government or party.
We, Müjgan Ekin’s family and friends, are desperate for any news of her and ask you to support us in calling for her whereabouts to be revealed.
For further information, please contact: [email protected]. Read more on this page.
