AI: Turkey bulletin

[kurdeng at aps.nl]

------------ Forwarded from : Ray Mitchell <rmitchellai at gn.apc.org> ------------

+------------------------------------------------------+
+     AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL URGENT ACTION BULLETIN     +
+     Electronic distribution authorised               +
+     This bulletin expires: 6 December 1995.          +
+------------------------------------------------------+

EXTERNAL                                            AI Index: EUR 44/113/95

UA 240/95               "Disappearance"                     18 October 1995

TURKEY            Mehmet Zafer Demirkiran, a Kurd, aged 19


Mehmet Zafer Demirkiran has "disappeared" in police custody after being
detained in Diyarbakir on 12 September 1995.  Efforts by his family to
establish his whereabouts have so far been met by official denials that he
is being held.  Amnesty International fears for his safety.

M. Zafer Demirkiran, who has been living and working in Mersin for the past
two years, came to Diyarbakir on 30 August in response to the call for
military service.  He completed the necessary procedures at the Military
Service Bureau on 31 August, and had been staying with his family for a few
more days when he was detained on 12 September.

On that day, seven armed police officers in plain clothes arrived at the
family home in two unmarked cars, one a cream-coloured Toros Broadway, the
other a white Sahin (which had no rear licence plate, but had one on the
front, number 21 R 789).  They conducted a brief search of the house.  The
family attempted to telephone Diyarbakir Police Headquarters to verify that
their visitors were properly authorized police officers, but the police
prevented this by smashing the telephone. They then took M. Zafer
Demirkiran away in one of the cars.  In the days following his detention M.
Zafer Demirkiran was reportedly taken blindfolded to his family's previous
address in Diyarbakir.

His mother submitted a petition for information of her son's whereabouts to
the Emergency Region Governor's office, which was not accepted.  She
submitted petitions to the Criminal Investigation Branch and the Anti-
Terror Branch of Diyarbakir Police Headquarters and to the Public
Prosecutor - all of whom denied holding M. Zafer Demirkiran.  His family
also applied to the Gendarmerie Headquarters in Diyarbakir which denied
holding him.

Every day the family submit a written petition for information to the
prosecutor's office at Diyarbakir State Security Court where all political
detainees are supposed to be promptly registered.  Most days they wait
outside the State Security Court for news of their son, so far in vain.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

People suspected of offences under the Anti-Terror Law can be held in
police custody without access to family, friends or legal counsel for up to
30 days in the 10 provinces under State of Emergency, which include
Diyarbakir province, and for 15 days in the rest of Turkey. When not being
interrogated, detainees are held in cramped, airless and insanitary
conditions. With no access to the outside world they are at the mercy of
their interrogators. Torture methods include being stripped naked and
blindfolded, hosing with pressurized ice-cold water, hanging by the arms or
wrists bound behind the victim's back, electric shocks, beating the soles
of the feet, death threats and sexual assault.

Procedures laid down in the Turkish Criminal Procedure Code for the prompt
and proper registration of detainees, and for notification of their
families, are almost universally ignored. Lack of prompt registration and
notification is extremely distressing for the families of detainees, and
creates the conditions in which "disappearances" and torture can occur.

After cases of "disappearance" in police custody began to provoke concern
among the general public, the General Director of Police Mehmet Agar
announced that a unit would be set up, as from 1 August, to track detained
persons.  However, Detention Monitoring Offices are currently only
operating in part of the country. In Diyarbakir or Mersin, for example, no
Detention Monitoring Office has yet been established. In Ankara, however, a
Monitoring Office has been set up with a public telephone number and staff.

Any person suspected of supporting the PKK or any other illegal armed
organization is at serious risk of torture, "disappearance" or
extrajudicial execution. In 1994 there were more than 55 confirmed
"disappearances", and more than 400 people were killed in unclarified
circumstances. At least 20 cases of "disappearance" in police custody have
been reported so far in 1995.

+-----------------------------------------------------------+
+ Supporters of Amnesty International around the world are  +
+ writing urgent appeals in response to the concerns        +
+ described above. If you would like to join with them in   +
+ this action or have any queries about the Urgent Action   +
+ network or Amnesty International in general, please       +
+ contact one of the following:                             +
+                                                           +
+      Ray Mitchell, rmitchellai at gn.apc.org (UK)            +
+      Scott Harrison, sharrison at igc.apc.org (USA)          +
+      Guido Gabriel, ggabriel at amnesty.cl.sub.de (Germany)  +
+      Marilyn McKim, aito at web.apc.org (Canada)             +
+      Michel Ehrlich, mehrlich at aibf.be (Belgium)           +
+-----------------------------------------------------------+




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