Mustafa Bayram: Police Gang Kidnapped My Son

Mustafa Bayram who was arrested on grounds that he assisted his son to flee, testified at the Van Penal Court saying, “The day which the incident happened, I talked to my son, Hamit. He was speaking in Turkish. I asked him why he did not speak in Kurdish and told him to say “yes” in Kurdish, if he was in trouble. He told me “yes” in Kurdish. Later on, he called me and said that a group had demanded from him 500 thousand Euros to release him. Hamit reduced the amount of money to 200 thousand Euros. I told him that I would bring the money and ask the whereabouts of him.”

Bayram went on to say, “Upon these developments, I called on Van’s Governor Hikmet Tan. Meanwhile, National Education Minister Huseyin Celik was there. I also talked to him. When I came to the spot, Hamit had gone. I asked to the people if they were a gang. There were also the police; however they did not tell anything to me.”