Introducción

Abuzer Türk: At the beginning of October Abuzer Türk, former headman of Uluköy village in Malatya province was killed in Kürdik hamlet. The weapon that killed reportedly belonged to the village guard Mehmet Erdem.

Haydar Uçar: On 23 November clashes arose between village guards from the Guyan and the Jirki tribe in Uzungeçit town in Şırnak-Beytüşşebap district after a dispute on the ownership of land. In the morning 10 village guards from the Guyan tribe went to the area between Bolağaç and Boğazeren village that was under dispute. Village guards from the Jirki tribe intervened and took 9 guards as hostage. Soldiers from Uzundere Border Gendarmerie Station came and succeeded in having the hostages set free. Sill the two tribes clashed and Haydar Uçar (37) from the Jirki tribe, died. Kadir Akdemir, from the Guyan tribe and another person were wounded.

Mehmet Demir, Eyüp Demir, Şefik Atmaca, Eyüp Atmaca, Rasime Atmaca, Yasin Atmaca, Sevim Atmaca: The quarrel between two children in Çakırbey village in Van-Erciş district on 17

December turned into an armed clash that resulted in the death of 7 people. The inhabitants of the village belong to the Bekrani tribe and children of Abdülkerim Atmaca, chief village guard and the village guard Mehmet Demir had an argument. The arguments turned into a fight and on 18 December some 50 people got involved using rifles. As a result of the shootings Mehmet Demir, Eyüp Demir, Şefik Atmaca, Eyüp Atmaca, Rasime Atmaca, Yasin Atmaca and Sevim Atmaca died; Gökhan Atmaca, Ferhat Atmaca, Arzu Atmaca, Abdülkerim Atmaca and Fetiye Atmaca were wounded.

Other Incidents

On 19 June two KADEK militants were killed near İsa village in Karlıova district (Bingöl). Allegedly village guards killed the KADEK militantsEngin Çinkır (Çınar) and Çetin Kaçar (Koç), who were buried on 27 June. (See the Right to Life).

The brothers Kasım and Bekir Başaran (both village) guards shot at İbrahim Aslan in Koçkaya (Heşter) village in Batman-Sason district on 1 August. He had to be taken to Diyarbakır State Hospital. The village guards were reportedly detained.

5 villagers, who had to leave their village Kese (Bölüklü) in Eruh district of Siirt in 1993, announced that they were threatened and attacked by village guards after their return. Nurettin Dündar narrated the incident:

On 6 November the villagers Lütfi Dündar, Halis Dündar, Nafiye Dündar, and 12 years old Mumine Dündar and I pitched a tent near the village. At about 10pm we were fired at. First they were firing from a distance, but afterwards they came closer. Then 6 persons in soldier’s uniform came. 3 of them we could not see clearly because of the darkness. But we knew the other three; they were the village guards from Ekmekçi village, Hürsit Eren, Ahmet Beştaş and Muhyettin Beştaş. When they arrived we were speaking in Kurdish. They threatened us not to talk in Kurdish.”

Dündar added that they were asked whether they saw three persons passing. Although they answered they did not, village guards had taken them out of the village and threatened with death.

Resul Sadak, DEHAP chair for Şırnak, Mehmet Yumak, DEHAP deputy chair for Şırnak, the lawyer Hüseyin Seyitoğlu, DEHAP executive Melike Lap and a group of DEHAP members were attacked by village guards when they wanted to visit the Mayor of Cizre, Kamil Atak on behalf of the Ramadan Feast. The DEHAP members said that Atak rejected to see them and the village guards, who were in the house, attacked the visitors with stones and sticks.

Sadak also stressed that police officers from Cizre Police HQ followed them and stopped some 15 meters away from the house of Kamil Atak. They had seen the attack, but just laughed. The lawyer Hüseyin Seyitoğlu added that the attackers broke the windows of Atak’s house and car to accuse the visitors. Mehmet Yumak, Mehmet Dilsiz, DEHAP chair for Cizre and Abdullah Sakin were wounded in the incident. The police intervened, when a group of persons gathered in front of the hospital where the wounded DEHAP members were taken. The police injured the women Aynur Gasir, Delile Tongur and Gülistan Ölmez.

On 13 May village guards attacked the shepherds Abdülhamit Tak and Şehmus Kaya, grazing their sheep near Yayla village in Bingöl-Genç district. They filed an official complaint with the public prosecutor in Genç and stated that the village guards beat tem accusing them of being terrorists. One of them even drew a gun and threatened to kill them. He fired a shot. The bullet hit the ground between the feet of Abdülhamit Tak. Although the villagers obtained medical reports from Genç State Hospital no progress was made with the investigation of the prosecutor.

On 24 June village guards attacked DEHAP members in Mardin-Midyat district, where they opened a desk calling for a general amnesty. The security forces reportedly did not intervene and after the incident detained the DEHAP members and executives M. Emin Akay, İlyas Akbulut, Reşit Aslan, Ferit Aslan and Ahmet Akay.

Reports from Siirt-Kurtalan district stated that the guards from Erdurak (Kelemerane) village, M. Emin Cangir, Metin Cangir, İdris Cangir, Ömer Cangir and Engin Cangir beat 2 shepherds in Çayırlı (Sıarta) hamlet on 2 February and seized 400 sheep. They beat the shepherds Tahir and Lokman Cangir with belts and seized their sheep under threats. Tahir Cangir stated that they had been treated at Kurtalan Health Center, but not been given any medical reports.

The writer Edip Polat, who went to Bismil district of Diyarbakır to visit his relatives, was attacked on 17 July. He received a medical report certifying 3 days of inability to work. Edip Polat stated that he met with a former village guard Fikret Ildeniz, who wanted to talk to him about his book titled “Sevgilim Sevgisiz Ölüm” (My Dear Loveless Death) in a relative’s workplace. Polat said “Fikret Ildeniz showed me a chapter of the book and said ‘this Kadir character is my father. Why did you write bad things about him?’ When I answered, he stood up and started to hit my head with a stick. Meanwhile Kadir

Ildeniz, headman of Çöltepe village, and Ferhat Ildeniz joined him and hit me with chairs. My relatives saved me.” Kadir Ildeniz, Ferhat Ildeniz and Fikret Ildeniz were released after testifying.

Hanefi İdın from Mergan hamlet of Aygün village in Diyarbakır-Kulp district alleged that on 3 December the village guards Zeki Çelik, Kazım Çelik, Ergül Olcay, Recep Çelik, Seniha Yılmaz, Rasim Olcay and Hanefi Olcay came to his house in the intention to kidnap his sister. “They forced their way into the house and beat my mother, sister, father, uncle an me with the butt of their rifles. When other inhabitants came to help the situation calmed down.” Hanefi İdin added that the soldiers at Aygün Gendarmerie Station did not act on their complaint and he filed an official complaint with the public prosecutor in Diyarbakır.

Takyettin Korkmaz, Hikmetullah Korkmaz and Ömer Öge from Karbastı village in Bitlis-Hizan district alleged that village guards stole their sheep on 10 October. On 13 October they filed an official complaint with the public prosecutor in Hizan and told him that the village guards had been those working under the command of Cevizli Gendarmerie station in Siirt-Şirvan district.

On 5 November the village guard Hasan Fidan from Yankıtepe village in Van-Erciş district was remanded on charges of having raped the mentally handicapped woman F.E. (28). In court the victim reportedly said that Hasan Fidan had raped for the period of two months.

Sabri Adanır, distributor of “Özgür Gündem” in Şırnak-Cizre district, alleged that the village guard by the first name of Selah had beaten him on 8 December. Sabri Adanır said: “I had sold him a paper on 7 December, but not been paid. On 8 December I asked him to pay and he started to swear at me. Pulling his gun he said that I should come to a side street. I told him to do whatever he wanted right on the spot. In return he attacked and beat me with hands and feet. Others went in between and stopped him.”

Cases from previous years

Killing of 8 villagers: At the end of July Denizli Criminal Court No. 2 concluded the case against

10 village guards charged with having killed 8 villagers in Mardin-Midyat district on 20 April 1992. The court sentenced the village guards Tacettin Sakan, Mihdi Özbey, Halit Aktar, Şehmus Şeyde, Nevaf Aydın, Mehmet Sayhan, Ethem Sayhan, Tevfik Akbay, Rahmi Kaçmaz and Abbas Taş to life imprisonment for having killed more than one person.

Ten days after the incident the defendants had been arrested. Their court case was transferred to Denizli on 26 January 1993, because of security. Denizli Criminal Court had acquitted them in the first round on 20 October 2000, because of a lack of evidence. The Court of Cassation had quashed the acquittals on 7 February 2002.

Mehmet Zeki Özdemir:

On 6 February Mardin Criminal Court No. 1 started to hear the case of 32 village guards charged for the killing under torture of Mehmet Zeki Özdemir and the torture of his son Tercan Özdemir in Kayaballı village in Mardin-Ömerli district in 1994. Muharrem Erbay, lawyer of the Özdemir family, stated that only the village guards were put on trial, although soldiers had also been at the scene.

Tercan Özdemir narrated what happened in 1994:

“On that day two soldiers took us to a hut close to our field. Five village guards were in the hut. They asked my father something and started to beat him. They poured hot nylon on my body. You can still see the traces. They hit me with wooden sticks. Because of the blows my father fell. They wanted to give him water, but when they saw that he could not drink it they realized that he was dead.”

During the hearing of 19 June lawyer Muharrem Erbay demanded that the soldiers should also be tried, but his demand was rejected. Later Mr. Erbay said that Tercan Özdemir was under threat to drop the case. He had filed an official complaint about this, but without any result. The latest hearing on 2002 was adjourned to 2 March 2004.

The names of the defendant village guards are:

Hüsnü Oral, Mehmet Şükrü Dündar, Şükrü Çelik, Abdülaziz Özgün, Yılmaz Yılmaz, Halo Özgün, Hıdır Bulut, M.Reşit Oktay, Tekin Gültekin, Ali Kaymaz, Süleyman Erdem, Mehmet Bulut, Hüsnü Oral, Mehmet Ökmen, Edip Taş, Ahmet Taş, Mehmet Gültekin, Ferhan Erden, Ali Kanat, Hasan Kanat, İsmail Gültekin, Hasan Oktay, Mehmet Ökmen, Mahmut Bal, Ali Ökmen, Mehmet Salih Oral, Mehmet Demir, İsmail Dündar, Şükrü Kanat, Davut Oral, Şehmus Kanat and Hamdullah Özdemir.

The incident in Uğrak Village:

The trial against the village guards Zeydin Güçlü (16), Abdülvahap Güçlü, Hasan Güçlü, Mehmet Hanefi Güçlü, Süleyman Güçlü, İbrahim Güçlü, Ahmet Güçlü, Emin Güçlü, Zeki Güçlü and Mehmet Gök, charged with killing Agit Tekin, Nezir Tekin and İkram Tekin and injuring 6 people in

Uğrak village in Diyarbakır-Bismil district on 26 September 2002 continued at Diyarbakır Criminal Court No. 3 throughout 2003. During the hearing the defendants Hasan Güçlü and Abdülvahap Güçlü pleaded guilty. They remained in pre-trial detention, while the other defendants were released. The next hearing was scheduled to 10 March 2004.

The incident in Nureddin Village:

The trial against 24 village protectors charged with having killed Yusuf Ünal, Abdulsamet Ünal and Abdurrahim Ünal in Nureddin (Nordin) village in Muş-Malazgirt district on 9 July 2002 continued at Muş Criminal Court. Other village guards testified as witnesses and stated that the defendants had not killed the victims. The case did not conclude in 2003 and was adjourned to 13 January 2004.