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: 25 October 1995.          +
+------------------------------------------------------+

EXTERNAL                                             AI Index: EUR 44/93/95

EXTRA 106/95     "Fear of "disappearance"/Torture    14 September 1995

TURKEY                  Zafer Kirbiyik, student aged 24

Zafer Kirbiyik, a student, was detained in Mersin on 12 September 1995 and
has "disappeared" in police custody. Amnesty International fears that he
may be subjected to torture .

On 12 September a local bus was stopped by armed men in plainclothes in the
Pozcu district of Mersin near the Cumhuriyet police station. The men
boarded the bus and after a struggle, Zafer Kirbiyik either jumped out or
was pushed out. He shouted to passers-by: "My name is Zafer Kirbiyik, tell
the Human Rights Association!" He was then bundled into a car with the
registration number 33 SS 70? [the last letter could not be established]
and the car drove off. Witnesses to the incident informed the Human Rights
Association office in Mersin.

After making inquiries at the State Prosecutor's Office, Zafer Kirbiyik's
lawyers were told that no one by the name of Zafer Kirbiyik had been
registered as detained. The lawyers have been unable to establish contact
with anybody at Mersin Police Headquarters. The Detention Monitoring Office
at Ankara General Police Headquarters, in operation since 1 August 1995,
replied that they have no information about his detention. No Detention
Monitoring Office has been set up in Mersin so far.

Zafer Kirbiyik was one of 21 people detained in Ankara on 17 April 1994
(see UA EXTRA 24/94, 22 April 1994 and update of 6 May 1994) in connection
with the legal magazine Alinteri (Toil) which had not been granted
permission to display posters in preparation for 1 May. Zafer Kirbiyik was
caught with six others as they were hanging the posters without permission
in the Etlik district of Ankara and were handed over to the Anti-Terror
Branch of Ankara Police Headquarters. His house was raided by the police
that same night and his sister Firdevs detained as well. All detainees
later alleged that they had been tortured in police custody. On 2 May he
and one other were committed to prison and charged with membership of an
illegal armed organization. Zafer Kirbiyik was released on 12 September
1994 at the first hearing before Ankara State Security Court.

On 11 December 1994 he was detained again with three other people for
putting up posters for Alinteri in Ankara. They later stated: "We were
taken to Ostim Police Station. There they started to beat us. For two and a
half hours we were subjected to degrading treatment by uniformed police. We
were taken by plainclothes officers to Ankara Anti-Terror Branch. In the
car I was hit and insulted. Some of us were hosed with water under
pressure, and our heads were beaten against the wall.  Two friends were hit
on their eyes and ears, another was bleeding from nose and head. We were
not properly examined at the Forensic Medicine Institute. One of us was
threatened with 'disappearance'."  They were released again on 12 December
1994. On 16 February 1995 Zafer Kirbiyik was sentenced in absentia to 12
years' imprisonment, and the same day a warrant was issued for his arrest.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

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 not only extremely distressing for the families of
detainees, but also 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 A*ar,
announced that a unit would be set up, as from 1 August, to track detained
persons. Unfortunately, Detention Monitoring Offices are presently 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.
A lawyer who applied to the office on several occasions in August to track
people lost in police detention told Amnesty International that the staff
at the office "try to be helpful, but unfortunately they seem to be denied
information by other branches of the police force - the Anti-Terror Branch
in particular".

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 in 1995 so far.

+-----------------------------------------------------------+
+ 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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