Pre-Election Torture Allegations in the East

A sixty-year old man has alleged that he was threatened with death and tortured at a gendarmerie station in Hakkari province for supporting a pro-Kurdish candidate. Several villagers in Sirnak province have been beaten for the same reason.

Diyarbakır

In Cukurca (province of Hakkari, east of Turkey), sixty-year old Süleyman Demir claims that he has been tortured for supporting the "Thousand Hopes" candidate Sebahattin Suvagci.

Fahri Timur, the Hakkari branch president of the Human Rights Association (IHD) relates that Demir was warned: "We will shoot you and your family, burn your bodies and throw them in the Zap River."

Timur was contacted by Süleyman Demir and his son Hasan Demir at around 23:00 on 17 July. They called him from the Hakkari State Hospital's emergency department.

Threats and torture

Süleyman Demir had been called to the gendarmerie station at around noon that day, by a man who called himself "Sergeant Major Isa". At around 18:00 Süleyman Demir and his son went to the station. The son was left waiting while the Sergeant Major took the father to the Köprülü Border Battalion Commander "Major Mesut".

Demir has told Timur that at first the commander and the sergeant major swore at him at threatened him and his family with death if he continued to support the independent candidates in Hakkari or if there were any more disturbances in the province.

Demir does not know what they tied to his face, but according to his description, Timur believes it to be a grenade, which the soldiers then threatened to explode. A similar object was tied to his chest, and he was hit in the face numerous times. Then he was released.

His son took him to the local health centre at around 19:30, where he was examined. According to Timur, both the time and the content of the report support Süleyman Demir's claim of torture.

Towards midnight, Demir was taken to hospital, where he and his son called the Human Rights Association (IHD). Demir was discharged at around 03:00 in the morning, despite not feeling any better.

No action taken

Timur said that if the claims were substantiated, this represented the end of hope for democracy in Turkey. He added that Demir had applied to the Hakkari Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, the Hakkari Police Directorate on 18 July and the Hakkari Governor's Office today (19 July), but that he had not received any answers.

"Our lives are not safe"

Demir's son Hasan Demir spoke with bianet and said: "My father receive blows on his heart. He is still as ill as he was when he was beaten. We are staying in Hakkari at the moment. I have complained to the Hakkari prosecution, which has referred the case to the Cukurca prosecution. We are too scared to return to Cukurca, our lives are not safe."

Return to the 1990s?

Mihdi Perincek, the IHD representative for Eastern and Southeastern Anatolia, has said that "if these claims are true, then this is related to the [recent establishment of] military security zones". Hakkari is one province which has been declared a temporary security zone. He added: "Our worry is the possibility that the region again experiences the rights violations of the 1990s. In this case, the right to living safely has been violated, torture has been used, and the right to health has been violated by an early discharge from hospital."

Another case in Cizre

According to the "Birgün" newspaper, several villagers and the headman of a village were called to the gendarmerie station and beaten for supporting the election campaign of "Thousand Hope" candidate Hasip Kaplan in Cizre (province of Sirnak, east of Turkey).

Candidate Kaplan has filed suit at the Cizre Chief Prosecutor's Office against the commander of the station, an officer and two sergeants for "obstruction of political activities", "breach of election law" and "abuse of position". (NZ/TK/AG)