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+ AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL URGENT ACTION BULLETIN +
+ Electronic distribution authorised +
+ This bulletin expires: website on+
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PUBLIC AI Index: EUR 44/02/99
5 January 1999
EXTRA 01/99 Fear of Torture / Fear for safety
TURKEY Ramazan Mustak, aged 71
Sons of Abdurrahman Mustak (himself not detained)
Kamil Mustak and his sons:
Suleyman Mustak and his sons:
(21 Mustak family members in total)
Ramazan Kayar and 12 others from the Kayar family
Mehmet Baglan
Esref Baglan
Suleyman Erdogmus
Muhittin Erdogmus
On 3 January 1999 at least 38 men from Yesilyurt village, in the province of Sirnak, were detained after clashes with soldiers and village guards. They are now in incommunicado detention in nearby Cizre where they are at risk of torture in police custody.
Hostility between villagers in Yesilyurt and the security forces goes back more than 10 years. The cause has been the refusal by some families to join the village guard militia (villagers paid and armed by the government to fight the illegal armed Kurdish Workers' Party - PKK).
In 1989, security forces reportedly smeared the mouths of some of the dissenting villagers with excrement, leading Abdurrahman Mustak, headman of the village, to successfully take the case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. This resulted in the villagers being awarded compensation by the Turkish authorities. The officer in charge was later convicted of ill-treatment by a Turkish court. Since then the families concerned have been continually harassed and attacked by security forces which has, in turn, forced most of the men out of the village.
On 25 December 1998 the children of the families concerned were attacked by village guards in an apparent attempt to drive them out of the village. Subsequent confrontations between villagers and village guards have resulted in some village guards needing hospital treatment and armed retaliation by soldiers.
When, on 31 December, village guards arrived in Yesilyurt with soldiers to try to resettle a number of village guard families a fierce argument ensued between the families opposed to the village guard system, who feared it might force them out of their village, and the commanding officer. On 3 January 1999 the dispute had escalated, leading to a villager being shot and wounded and the villagers attacking the soldiers and village guards.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION People suspected of offences under Turkey's Anti-Terror Law of 1991 can be held in police custody without access to family, friends or legal counsel for up to four days. The detention period may be increased to 10 days in the six provinces currently under State of Emergency, which include irnak province, and to seven days in the rest of Turkey. During the extended detention period detainees have the right of access to a lawyer, which in most cases is denied.
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