It is understood that the migrants do have quite a lot of problems And you have

established an association to overcome these problems. What are your activities?

“We have formed a polyclinic within the association. We aim to deal with the health problems of poor people. Every day, we examine hundreds of people free of charge, and pro-vide them with free medicine within our limits. At present, the polyclinic has 3 doctors. We are also setting up a law office. We have set up a Public Relations Secretariat. We aim to help people in their dealings with the bureaucracy, and especially uniting with the public, deter-mining their problems and helping them. By forming a Workers’ Commission, we have targeted bringing together especially the unorganized workers, who are not trade union members and who do not have any means of social security, and solving their problems. Our efforts have proven to be successful. In the West, a person works for 8 hours and gets TL 400-500,000. Here, a worker works for 16 hours under all sorts of weather conditions, and gets TL 150,000. They do not have trade unions. We decided to deal with this problem. We set up contacts with the Governorate. We went to the Employment Agency. We visited the Provincial Agricultural Directorate. With our efforts, the daily allowance of the worker increased up to TL 390,000. And we also made it final that no one could be employed without the required documents.”

i)- Attacks against civilians

Armed attacks and bombings directed against civilians and defenseless people, which is an important aspect of the human rights problems in Turkey, also prevailed all throughout the year 1995. The number of the people killed in attacks decreased considerably, particularly in the State of Emergency Region, in comparison to last year. Villages and hamlets acknow- ledged to be supporting the state, houses and families of village guards, settlements in which people who refused to be village guards live, popular tourist resorts and destinations, central places of big cities, political party buildings and mass transportation vehicles were frequently the targets. Bombs were left in streets, shopping centers, buses, cinemas and restaurants in many cities, particularly in İstanbul, İzmir and Adana.

In 48 attacks (*) carried out all over Turkey, 112 people, 29 of whom were children,

died (in the attacks against civilians a total of 189 people, 34 of whom were children, died in

(*) _{Hundreds of armed and bomb attacks carried out against bank branches, public buildings and facili-ties,}

firms, factories, shops, houses, private or official vehicles, and political party buildings when there was nobody in the areas (mostly at night) were excluded.

1992, 406 people, 107 of whom were children, died in 1993, and 192 people, 37 of whom were children, died in 1994) and at least 215 people were wounded. 23 of those attacks were carried out in the State of Emergency Region and Hatay while 25 of them were in the cities in the western or southern parts of the country.

During the attacks in the State of Emergency Region and Hatay, 94 people died, 28 of whom were children, and 90 people were wounded. 15 of these attacks were carried out by PKK militants. In attacks carried out by PKK militants, 79 people died, 20 of whom were children, and 42 people were wounded. It could not be determined by whom and why 7 attacks were carried out. In the unsolved attacks, 10 people, including 4 children, died and 48 people were wounded. There was common belief that those attacks were carried out by shad-owy groups known as the “counter-guerrillas.” One attack, in which 5 people died, 4 of whom were children, was carried out for revenge.

In the attacks in the big cities and against popular tourist resorts and destinations, 18 people died, and 125 people were wounded. 6 of these attacks (in which 11 people died and 73 were wounded) were carried out by PKK militants, 8 of them (in which 4 people died and 25 were wounded) by the radical Islamic İBDA-C organization and 3 of them (in which 4 people were wounded) by other organizations. It could not be determined by whom the re-maining 8 (in which 3 people died and 23 were wounded) attacks were carried out.

Organization No. of attacks Death toll Children Wounded

—————— —————— ————— ———— ———— PKK 21 90 21 115 İBDA-C 8 4 - 25 For revenge 1 5 4 - TİKKO-MLKP 2 - - 3 TÜŞKO 1 - - 1 Unsolved 15 13 4 71 TOTAL 48 112 29 215

Although the number of the attacks against civilian targets (especially those launched by the PKK militants) decreased to a great extent in comparison to the ones in previous years, they still occurred. Hatred in society caused by the attacks against defenseless people and ci- vilian targets, continued. Human rights activists faced unjust and baseless accusations because of these attacks. The attacks increased enmity against Kurdish people in western settlements.

In the meantime, prosecution of Ömer Yıldırım and Adalet Aktepe, (*) who had been involved in an attack carried out against a bus from Ankara to İstanbul around the Hereke District of Kocaeli on the night of 30 December 1994, started at the İstanbul SSC on 22 May. In the hearing, the death penalty was sought for Ömer Yıldırım and Adalet Aktepe under Article 125 of the Turkish Penal Code on charges of carrying out an armed attack on behalf of the PKK. Ömer Yıldırım who was cross-examined in the hearing, stated that he had been involved in the attack against the bus, he had been kept for 34 days under police custody after

(*) _{In the armed attack carried out against a bus from Ankara to İstanbul around the Hereke District of}

Kocaeli on the night of 30 December 1994, high school student Başak Kanat (17) and second lieutenant Neşet Alper had died and 25 people had been wounded.

being caught, and he had been tortured and raped with a truncheon during this period. Ömer Yıldırım, who stated that he had no relation with the PKK, said the following:

“We acted with the sense of revenge that we felt against the savageness exercised on Kurds. We would get the revenge of these incidents on high level administrators. I went to Ankara together with Adalet Aktepe and Mahmut Ulucan [still wanted]. As soon as we got off the bus, we saw that high-rank special team members were getting on a bus belonging to Ulu- soy firm. We first thought we would punish them. However, there were no seats left on the bus. Thereupon, we got on another bus scheduled to leave 15 minutes prior to the other bus. According to our plan, we would stop the bus and conduct an ID check. We would put Na- tional Intelligence Organization officers, special team members and police aside. We would use the bus that we got on, as a barricade to stop the bus belonging to Ulusoy. Adalet stopped the bus. When the driver resisted, I intervened. Three of us tumbled out of the bus. At that time, we heard gun shots and an explosion. I beg pardon from those who were wounded in the incident; they had not deserved it, and I share the grief of the relatives of those who died.”

Indicating that her husband was a PKK militant, but that she had no relation with the PKK, Adalet Aktepe said she had been tortured and experienced sexual abuse in detention. Admitting that she was involved in the attack against the bus, Adalet Aktepe said: “I was try- ing to restrain the driver. However, when the driver resisted, things just didn’t happen the way we planned.” In the hearing held on 25 December, passengers who had been in the bus during the incident, identified Ömer Yıldırım and Adalet Aktepe. The witnesses, who stated that the bus had been stopped by force, said, “After stopping the bus, Ömer Yıldırım and Adalet Ak- tepe called their friend sitting at the back. Then they started to fire at the passengers.”

A trial was launched at the İstanbul SSC against 15 people, 13 of whom were arrested, on the accusations of carrying out numerous actions, including the bombing in which journal- ist Onat Kutlar and archaeologist Yasemin Cebenoyan had died. (*) The indictment requested the death penalty for defendants Deniz Demir and Hicran Kaçmaz, accused of carrying out 16 separate bombings. They were charged with “being a member of a separatist organization established in order to divide the unity of the state and take some of the land under its sov- ereignty, carrying out bomb attacks in the name of this organization, and murdering.” The in- dictment requested a sentence up to 30 years in prison for Hamit Şen on charges of “being a member of an illegal organization and producing bombs,” and sentences from 15 years to 22 years 6 months for the remaining defendants, Abdullah Yunus, Zeydin Güleç, Abdullah Çolak and Ömer Filizer on charges of “being members of an illegal organization,” sentences from 4 years 6 months to 7 years 6 months for Nimet Kaçmaz, Sait Aytemiz, Abdulkadir Er, Mehmet Şahaltan, Abdulrezzak Aydın, Ramazan Gülle, Mehmet Ali Güneş and Abdulhaluk Yunus on charges of “aiding an illegal organization and sheltering its members.”

Arrested defendants Hamit Şen, Abdullah Yunus, Zeydin Güleç, Abdullah Çolak, Sait Aytemiz, Ömer Filizer, Nimet Kaçmaz, Abdulrezzak Aydın, Mehmet Şahaltan, Abdulkadir Er

(*) _{A bomb left in a coat in the cloakroom of the Opera Pastry Shop in İstanbul Taksim Square by an un-}

known person, exploded on 30 December 1994. In the explosion, a woman named Yasemin Cebenoyan died. Onat Kutlar, a writer for the newspaper Cumhuriyet was severely wounded. Onat Kutlar died on 11 January 1995 at the hospital where he was under treatment. It was reported that the attack had been carried out by İBDA-C militants. However, it was disclosed by the İstanbul Security Directorate in April 1995 that PKK militants who had left the bomb in the pastry shop had been apprehended. As a result of this, news stories arguing that the statement was not true and insisting that the attack had been carried out by İBDA-C militants were published in some journals having an editorial policy in the same direc-tion as the ideas of the İBDA-C.

and Ramazan Gülle, and defendants prosecuted without arrest Mehmet Ali Güneş and Ab- dulhaluk Yunus attended the first hearing of the trial that started at the İstanbul SSC on 11 August. But arrested defendants Deniz Demir and Hicran Kaçmaz, who became repentants, were not brought. Defendants, who were cross-examined in the hearing, rejected the accusa- tions and their testimonies taken at the security directorate. They said that Deniz Demir and Hicran Kaçmaz had accused them in order to benefit from the Repentance Law. Their lawyers stated that there was not a single bit of evidence in the case file that proved that the defen-dants were guilty, and said that the indictment had been prepared based on the testimonies taken forcibly by the police. Ahmet Akkuş, one of the defense lawyers, recorded that the trial had attracted the attention of the media due to the killing of an intellectual such as Onat Kut-lar, and continued, “As it may be known, the İBDA-C had claimed responsibility for the killing of Onat Kutlar. The defendants are before you, just because of the statements of 2 repentants to rescue themselves.” In the hearing, Nimet Kaçmaz, Abdulkadir Er and Mehmet Şahaltan were released. No one else was involved in the case released until mid-1996.

The sample cases compiled by the HRFT related to attacks against civilians, defense- less people, settlements and tourist attractions are as follows:

State of Emergency Region

PKK militants raided the Hamzalı Village of the Kulp District of Diyarbakır on 1 January at about 04.00 p.m., and killed 19 people, including 7 children, 8 women and 2 vil-lage guards. During the raid, 5 houses belonging to village guards were completely destroyed and 6 people, 3 of whom are women, 2 are children and one is village guard, were wounded. In the clash which broke out during the raid, one PKK militant was killed. The names of those killed are as follows: “Aysel Aslan (16), Hanife Aslan (13), Mesut Aslan (9), Talip Can (19), Aynur Çiçek (10), Mehmet Barut (17), Abdurrahman Çedin (61), Neriman Çedin (66), Selve Tanrıverdi (56), Aysel Barut (12), Tayyip Barut (60), Emine Can (46), Sabiha Can (11), Seher Tanrıverdi (24), Sakine Tanrıverdi (20), Zeynep Deniz (22), Laika Deniz (16), Reyhan Neşe and Latife Neşe (13).” Village guard Halil Can, who lost 3 of his relatives during the raid, stated that they had been forced to become village guards 20 days before the incident and said: “We expected that we would face such an incident after being equipped with arms. Where is the state that was supposed to protect us?” A clash broke out between village guards and PKK militants, who raided the Hamzalı Village for the second time in March. In the clash, 3 village guards and 6 PKK militants died, 6 village guards were wounded and houses in the village were damaged. In a clash that broke out near the village on 13 September, 4 security officers and more than 10 PKK militants died, 13 security officers were wounded.

The PKK militants, who raided the Narlıca Village of the Kulp District of Diyarbakır on the night of 12 January, killed 8 people, 2 of whom were children, one woman and 3 village guards. In the raid, 6 people, 2 of whom were women and 4 children, were wounded.

PKK militants carried out a raid against the Bağlıca Village of the Gercüş District of Batman on 18 January. Two children, İlhan Başaran (10) and Muhiyettin Durmaz (8), died and a child named Murat Başaran (8) was wounded when a rocket launched by the PKK mili-tants hit a house.

Unknown people threw a bomb into a house in the Karşıyaka Quarter of Batman early in the morning on 25 February. As a result of the explosion of the bomb, 3 women named Sabahat İzmir, Ayşe Şahin and Aliye Narin were severely wounded.

During a football game played in the Diyarbakır Stadium on 5 March, a bomb was thrown onto the seats by unknown people. As a result of the explosion of the bomb, 2 people

named Halil İbrahim İpek and Ramazan Sayın were slightly wounded. Nobody claimed res- ponsibility for the attack.

As a result of the explosion of a bomb placed at the Van 100. Yıl University by unknown people on 21 April, the room of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hüseyin Çelik, a lecturer at the Faculty of Science and Literature, was badly damaged. As personnel were on their lunch break during the explosion, nobody was killed or wounded. It was revealed that the assailants had tried to place the bomb in the room of Hüseyin Çelik, but left it in the corridor as they failed to open the door. Nobody claimed responsibility for the attack.

A bomb left by unknown people in a dustbin on the entrance of the PTT building located on the Batman Atatürk Boulevard, blasted at about 5.00 p.m. on 23 May. In conse- quence of the explosion, 4 people named Şerif Geyik (36), Seyfettin Ant (24), Yusuf Altan and Şirin Oktan (35) were wounded and the building was damaged. Nobody claimed respon-sibility for the attack.

One of 3 bombs left at a minibus station where the minibuses going to surrounding villages stop on the 28th Street in the Hürriyet Quarter of Batman, exploded at about 05.40 p.m. on 25 May. In the explosion, 4 children, Mehmet Emin Olcay, Halil Geyik, Abdurrah-man Aktaş and Mehmet Emin Ergin, and 4 people, Şeyho Kurtulmuş (teacher-24), Hüseyin Olcay, Medeni Işıklı and Hasan Şimşek died. In the explosion, 20 people were wounded, 5 of whom severely, and 3 minibuses and one car were destroyed. The names of some of the wounded are as follows: “Seyfettin Tufan, Hüseyin Ergün (9), Şeyhmus Ergün (7), Ramazan Adlak, Hüsnü Yılmaz, Hayriye Kayra, Emin Tutaş, Hasan Yakut, Nurullah Polat and İbrahim Yakut.” The other 2 bombs left in the minibus station were defused by bomb defusing experts. Nobody claimed responsibility for the bomb attack. However, the then-State of Emergency Regional Governor Ünal Erkan asserted that the bomb had been placed by PKK militants.

A bomb placed by unknown people in the car of Hamit Aslan, the son of Mehmet Aslan who is the Chairperson of the Welfare Party Bismil (Diyarbakır) District Organization, exploded at the morning on 25 May. The bomb which exploded around the Işıklar Village of Bismil while the car was being driven, caused Hamit Aslan to be severely wounded.

Six armed people, who raided the Özdemir Village of Iğdır on the night of 25 May, opened fire at the house of Mehmet Aras who was in the Erzurum E Type Prison under prosecution in a trial of alleged PKK militants. In the attack, Mehmet Aras’s wife Songül Aras (35) and children Ferdi (3), Cüneyt (5), Ergül (8) and Pınar (12) were killed. Iğdır Governor Şemsettin Uzun stated that the attack had not been carried out by PKK militants: “We think that the attack was carried out by the relatives of youths who were introduced to the PKK by Mehmet Aras.” The sources in the region indicated that those living in the Özdemir Village were forced to be village guards for a while and claimed that the attack had been carried by counter-guerrilla. In the Özdemir Village, Democracy Party executives Faik Kızılay and Hüseyin Öden were killed by unknown people on 1 February 1994. Two of the assailants who carried out the raid against the Özdemir Village were captured in June. The assailants, named Aziz Varkan and Nadir Şenol, stated that they had no relations with the PKK, and that they had carried out the attack to take revenge on the PKK. Aziz Varkan, in his testimony at the Security Directorate, said: “PKK members killed my uncle Cihangir and her daughter Sabiha in 1991. They killed my brother Tacettin and Üzeyir, the uncle of other defendant Nadir Şenol, in 1993. I was burning to take revenge on the PKK for years. We established an execution team with Nadir. Resul Atak helped us. On the day of the incident, we went to the house of PKK member Mehmet Aras. I convinced his wife, and she opened the door. Then we shot and killed the

people in the house. We passed off the incident as a PKK attack. Had we not been caught, we would kill all militia of the PKK and their families.”

Unknown people carried out an armed attack against the Diyarbakır Brothel at about 10.00 p.m. on 28 June. In the attack, 11 people, including US citizen David Henry Pirre, police officers Erdal Al and Hüseyin Özkaraca, and non-commissioned officer Burak Şentürk were wounded. Nobody claimed responsibility for the attack.

A group of PKK militants raided the Atabilen Hamlet of the Akdoğu Village of Van Gürpınar on the night of 23 July. In the fire opened by the PKK militants, 12 people, 2 of whom were village guards, 2 children and 6 women, died and 13 people, most of whom are village guards, were wounded. In the attack, 4 of the houses in the hamlet were burnt down and destroyed. The names of those killed in the attack are as follows: “Cemil Şapkacı (village