AI: Turkey bulletin

[kurdeng at aps.nl]

From: tabe at newsdesk.aps.nl
Subject: Re: AI: Turkey bulletin
Reply-To: kurdeng at aps.nl

---------- Forwarded from : Ray Mitchel <rmitchel at amnesty.gn.apc.org> ----------

+------------------------------------------------------+
+     AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL URGENT ACTION BULLETIN     +
+     Electronic distribution authorised               +
+     This bulletin expires: 30 June 1995.             +
+------------------------------------------------------+

EXTERNAL (for general distribution)  AI Index: EUR 44/59/95
                                     Distr: UA/SC

                                     12 May 1995

Further information on UA 391/94 (EUR 44/128/94, 1 November
1994) and follow-up (EUR 44/20/95, 26 January 1995) -
"Disappearance" / Medical Concern / Fear of torture

TURKEY     Huseyin Koku, President of HADEP party in Elbistan
           Mustafa Yeter, board member of HADEP party in
                                            Elbistan
           Hanan Guner

On 27 April 1995, the family of Huseyin Koku, who
"disappeared" in Elbistan on 20 October 1994, were informed by
the police that a body, in an advanced state of decay had been
found by a shepherd among some rocks near the town of Puturge,
in Malatya province, 150 km from Elbistan.  The cause of death
is not clear.  On 28 April, three relatives of Huseyin Koku,
including father-in-law Oruc Guzel and brother-in-law Ahmet
Guzel, identified the body at Puturge State Hospital as being
that of Huseyin Koku.  When the three relatives returned to
Elbistan on the same day, police detained them and took them
to Elbistan Police Headquarters, where they were allegedly
beaten.

To Amnesty International's knowledge, Huseyin Koku's body is
still at Puturge State Hospital, and no proper autopsy has yet
been conducted. In view of the circumstances of the case - in
particular the suspicion that state agents from the Elbistan
area were involved in his death - the family are concerned
that the autopsy should be carried out in Istanbul or Ankara
by forensic experts with proper facilities for full
examination in the presence of a member of the family or their
legal representative. They also fear that evidence may be
destroyed while the body is waiting in Puturge.

Amnesty International has also received further information
concerning Mustafa Yeter and Hanan Guner, who were detained on
18 January 1995 from their homes in Elbistan. [Please note -
correction to EUR 44/20/95: Hanan Guner is male, not female.
Both men are neighbours and were detained from their own
homes, and not from the same house, as originally stated.]
Mustafa Yeter and Hanan Guner, as members of the local branch
of HADEP, had made further inquiries into the fate of Huseyin
Koku. It appears that they were detained because of their
repeated appeals to the local governor about the case. Mustafa
Yeter told Amnesty International that both he and Hanan Guner
were tortured while being held at a police station in the
Cumhuriyet district of Elbistan. According to his account,
during seven days in incommunicado detention, Mustafa Yeter
was repeatedly blindfolded and interrogated while naked. He
was sprayed with a high-pressure jet of ice- cold water, hung
up by his hands and beaten with truncheons. During the
interrogation police several times threatened to kill him.
While still blindfolded he was forced to sign a statement that
he was not permitted to read.

The family's daily inquiries at the Elbistan Cumhuriyet Police
Station were met with denial that Mustafa Yeter was being held
there. On 26 January, he and Hanan Guner were brought before
the local prosecutor, who charged them with supporting the
PKK. They were committed to Elbistan prison.

On 9 March, Mustafa Yeter and Hanan Guner appeared at Malatya
State Security Court where they were acquitted and released.
On 18 March Mustafa Yeter was abducted in Elbistan by three
armed men who pulled him into a car. Recalling the death
threats to which he was subjected in police custody, Mustafa
Yeter decided that his life was at risk. He managed to escape
before the car left the town centre: "I grabbed the driver
around the body, and he had to brake hard just in front of a
school. The local people came out thinking there had been an
accident. I threw myself outside. The police swore at me. I
shouted and shouted: `They are kidnapping a man' and the
people all looked. The police had no choice but to drive
away." Mustafa Yeter later fled from Turkey.