Investigation Demanded Into Kurdish Girl Deat

Security forces might have neglected the right to lifeof Mizgin Özbek, says the fact-finding mission, comprised of Turkey's most leading human rights organizations in association with the local Bar Association, on the killing of the 11-year-old Kurdish girl in the eastern Turkish province of Batman.

A nine year old child named Mizgin Ozbek was killed by gunfire in the southeast province of Batman on September 5, Tuesday.

In a statement on the incident, the Batman Governor's Office said she was caught up in a cross-fire between security forces and terrorists, two suspected members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) who were hitchhiking in the same car. Her mother, Samiye Ozbek says their vehicle was sprayed with bullets. Wounded in the same attack, she is under treatment in hospital.

The Human Rights Association (IHD) and the Association for Human Rights and Solidarity with the Oppressed (MAZLUMDER) delegation looking into the September 5 death of Mizgin said they were not allowed to examine the official investigation file on the incident due to a secrecy order imposed by the prosecutor’s office.

The organizations announced, however, that all current findings suggested that the incident which left Mizgin dead and her mother Saniye and elder brother Hadi wounded, showed necessary care was not shown in protecting their right to life.

According to the report prepared by the delegation now gearing up to submit it to the Turkish Parliament and the Batman Governor’s Office, many of the findings contradict the initial official statement that a clash took place in a rural zone of the Taslidere village of Batman's Kozluk district when two suspects opened fire on security forces at a roadblock on the road with long range weapons.

During the clash, the official statement had claimed, Mizgin Ozbek who was in a car was killed and her other Samiye was wounded and later taken to the Batman State Hospital. The two "terrorists" meanwhile, were killed and their weapons alongside 2 kilogram of C-4 explosives were confiscated.

Said the fact-finding report:

* Investigation at the scene of incident showed that because the scene itself was a very narrow and closed stream, because there was no possibility for those involved to have escaped, there is a strong possibility that they could have been apprehended alive.

* At the scene of incident a large number of foreign origin empty cartridges belonging to long-range weapons were found. In official statements that appeared in the press, it was claimed the “militants had thrown bombs”. Nothing was found to support this.

* It is understood from his own statements that Hadi Ozbek who was driving the car during the incident was subjected to verbal and physical insults and torture.

* The dragging of Mizgin’s dead body after the clash by holding her by the hair in front of her older brother has deeply effected her brother and when he was telling our delegation about the incident, he was having difficulties because he cried.

* According to witness Hadi Ozbek's statements, the bodies of the two armed organization members who were killed were dragged for a while before they were sprayed with bullets again. Batman Governor Haluk Imga, on the other hand, said officials told him such an incident never took place. This issue will be understood more clearly when the post-mortem report is examined.

* A confiscation order issued for the vehicle used by Hadi Ozbek had prevented any examination of the vehicle. According to information received from the outside, the Kozluk Public Prosecutor’s Office has not opened a separate investigation into the killing of Mizgin Ozbek but preferred instead to investigate her death in the capacity of the current investigation.

The delegation made the following requests:

* We believe that the recently passed Anti-Terror Law article authorizing security forces to open fire on anyone without warning them to stop will lead to disproportional use of force and bring together with it abuse of authority. This law must be changed as it constitutes a risk for the right to life of people.

* Competent authorities must investigate whether there is a neglect or carelessness in the killing of an 11-year-old child and finalize this investigation as soon as possible.

* An effective and just investigation into this incident is our request as much as the requirement of national and above national conventions that have been signed. (KO/II/YE)