"According to the law of war, the PKK could not kill the eight soldiers it had taken hostage. Releasing them was a legally appropriate act of the PKK. But if we look outside the law and at the human dimenstions, it is lucky that the soldiers are alive. The fact that these people were released should be a reason for us as society and for the soldiers' families to rejoice."
Talking to bianet, Hüsnü Öndül, president of the Human Rights Association (IHD), reacted to the statements of Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek and Minister of Justice Mehmet Ali Sahin, which he evaluated as "unacceptable".
Sahin and Cicek not happy
Mehmet Ali Sahin had said, "No member of the Turkish Armed Forces should have found themselves in such a situation. I could not accept the fact that they went with the terrorists that night. I could not be very happy about their release."
Cemil Cicek had criticised the three Democratic Society Party (DTP) MPs who had signed a protocol recording that all hostages were in good health. He said, "They are in agreement with the terrorist organisation.
"Right to life is holy"
Öndül said, "The right to life is holy and it is vital to protect it. It is unacceptable that Sahin cannot be happy about the release of the soldiers, that he makes reproaches and that the media approaches the issue as if the fact that the soldiers are alive means they have committed a crime. The style that is used is the product of the warmongering language and mentality which leads to more of a lynch culture."
"Soldiers are being pushed from one trauma to the next"
Öndül said that he had expected Turkey's government representatives to celebrate the release of the soldiers; the fact that they were saddened by their survival, he interpreted as a sign that "they do not know life".
"12 soldiers were killed in front of these soldiers' eyes, and they survived. Then they were tied up and taken to an unknown environment. Now that they have survived such a trauma, it is merciless to push them into another kind of trauma."
Will TAF question soldiers in appropriate manner?
The soldiers will now be questioned for days and deprived of the right to defend themselves. Öndül saw this as illegal and argued that after the Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) had taken the soldiers, they should have undergone medical and psychological tests.
"It is not illegal of the TAF to ask the soldiers whether the PKK militants were told secret information about their units, but it is important how the soldiers are treated.
Here one has to be reminded of the principle. The principle is that the soldiers are treated in accordance with human dignity and that their health is protected. This is also part of TAF regulations. The fact that the public does not know how the soldiers will be treated creates worry."
All laws protect basic rights
Öndül distinguished between the law of war, to be applied when in a battle environment, and the law of human rights, to be applied in the present regime. Both laws had common values which needed to be protected; Öndül gave as examples the outlawing of torture and random killing.
"If a soldier who has killed ten soldiers from your unit drops his gun, you cannot put a bullet through his head. Hostages can also not be killed. In human history we can see examples of human dignity being preserved even in war. For instance, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk wanted the Greek flag which had fallen to the ground during battle to be picked up; in another case, he wrote a letter to the families of the soldiers who died at Canakkale (Gallipolli), saying, "Your children have become our children." (GG/AG)
