Bulletin de liaison et d'information - Institut kurde de Paris

REVUE DE PRESSE-PRESS REVIEW-BERHEVOKA ÇAPÊ-RWISTA STAMPA-DENTRO DE LA PRENSA-BASIN OZET;
turkish daily news
Turkish Daily News
LONDON- The London-based international
human rights watchdog group,
Amnesty International, this weekend blasted
Turkey for setting up s~cial "containment
areas" in the terror-ndden Southeast
region and placing over a thousand villagers
in "arbitrary detention."
Amnesty said there was concern that the
detention of an estimated 1,500 villagers in
the Southeast, where government troops
have been fjghti~~ the forces of the outlawed
Kurdistan workers' Party (PKK) for
ten years, had led to new accounts of torture
and ill-treatment as well.
In an urgent appeal for action issued at
the weekend, Amnesty identified Cemil
Timur, Zey-din Timur and ~evket Timur
from the vllla~e of Evrek in Beytussebap,
Hakkari, as belOgamong the detamed.
It also named Hasan Ay~~t, Fehim
YalçlO,Saadi Ozlü and Osman Ozlü among
the 1,500 villagers, including. women and
children, who were taken by troops te a
specific containment area in the province.
The statement said at least two "containment
areas" had been set up by military
troops in the region and that one closeto
Evrek still held villagers.
"These detentions,~' said Amnesty, referring
to the containment process, ."occurred
in the course of the burning and brutal
evacuation of Kurdish villages during military
operations a~ainst guerrillas of the
Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), and the
setting up of containment areas in which
displaced villagers are bein~ held in
appalling conditions."
Amnesty claimed a number of villages
around Evrek had been forcibly evacuated
and many houses and crops had been
burned by security forces because of the
villagers' refusal to join the system of village
guards (villagers paid and armed by
the government to combat PKK militants).
"The villagers' identity cards have been
confiscated, effectively detaining them as
anyone moving abo!)t in the area without
proper identification faces the risk of interrogation
for illegal activities or even extrajudicial
execution," Amnesty said. .
The statement added that villagers trying
to flee were being turned back. "They have
not been charged with any offence and
Amnesty International is appealing that
they be allowed to leave. There have been
reports that villagers have been beaten in
Evrek. . .
The lack of proper registration also
exposes them to the risk of disappearance,"
it said. In its statement, Amnesty quoted
four local villagers who reported on the
conditions in another containment camp set
up in the village of Damlatepe in Hani,
Diyarbalm.
The villagers claimed that after a clash
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Tuesday, July 26, 1994
with the PK~, security forces on July 7
began the forcible evacuation of Akcayurt
(Kurdish name: Deman), Akçayurt
(Demo), Kaladibi (Horsel), Sanbudak
(Melekan) villages and their outlying districts
of Sakhca (Hursik) and Yayladere
(Seleheydan), situated between Genç and
Hani in DiyarbaIar province.
"They burned many hou.ses, barns and
livestock and destroyed irrigation pumps
and crops. On July 8 Hac! Sait Mete (67)
of Sanbudak village was shot dead while
taking his sheep to pasture. His body was
buried by soldIers under rocks," the villagers
said.
Amnesty alleged that "an estimated
2,000 evacuated villagers, including
women and children, were herded into a
containment area set up by the security
forces adjacent to the Topçular
Gendarmerie Post near Damlatepe and held
for a week in cruel and inhuman conditions.
Many were reported to have been
severely tortured there by members of the
Special Team (heavily armed security
force members trained for close combat
with guerrillas and acting under the authority
of the Interior Ministry).
While some were permitted to shelter in
a schoolhouse and health centre, others
were forced to lie in the fierce sun. Much
of the time they were left hungry and
thirsty."
"Four women wearing clothes of red,
yellow and green, the colours of Kurdish
nationalism, were taken away and subjected
to torture.
They were later set free. Emine Çeliksöz
of Yayladere villa~e, who was pregnant
was left in labour ror several hours In th~
burnjn~ sun while the security forces preventea
other women from helRing her.
Children were beaten and kicked.
The statement added that Mehmet
B!çakçl, Ahmet Blçakcl and Hasan
BIÇakCI,together with the daughters of the
village imam (prayer leader) were kept for
three days in the health centre where, it
alleged, soldiers humiliated and sexually
assaulted the women.
Continuing with claims of ill-treatment
.the Amnesty urgent action appeal furthe;
alle$ed that sisters Suzan Atsan (32) and
Zeliha Atsan (35) were taken by Special
Team members to the Cemsel stream just
outside the containment area, and repeatedly
held under water over a penod of
approximately two hours, after which they
had extreme difficulty in breathing, suffering
violent coughing fits and fever.
Amnesty s.aid that as of July 15 the
Damlatepe containment area, where the
abuses were recorded, began to be emptied.
It added that since then, all of the families
detained had moved to the provinces of
Bingöl and Adana.
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