From Germany to Turkish Torture Torture Chambers
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Förderverein Niedersächsischer Flüchtlingsrat e. V. Nds. Flüchtlingsrat Lessingstr. 1 31135 Hildesheim Tel.: 0 51 21 - 1 56 05 Fax: 3 16 09 E-mail: [email protected] Postbank Hannover Kto.: 8402-306 BLZ: 25010030 FROM GERMANY TO TURKISH TORTURE CHAMBERS On risks for Kurds returning to Turkey 2nd enlarged edition published by PRO ASYL and Förderverein Nds. Flüchtlingsrat e.V. in June 2000 1 English edition translated by Annli von Alvensleben August 2000 Hildesheim special thanks to Prof. Friedrich Lenz Contents Preface to the 2nd enlarged edition............................................................4 Preface to the 1st edition.............................................................................. 8 Documentation of individual cases 1. Ahmet Karakus .......................................................................................15 2. Abdulmenaf Düzenli...............................................................................15 3. Mehmet Ö. .............................................................................................. 17 4. Abdurrahman Kilic .................................................................................18 5. Hüzni Almaz............................................................................................18 6. Hasan Kutgan.........................................................................................19 7. Salih Berkil.............................................................................................. 20 8. Hamdullah Yilmaz...................................................................................20 9. Iman Genlik.............................................................................................21 10. Mehmet Ali Akbas ...............................................................................21 11. Ibrahim Toprak.....................................................................................23 12. Menduh Bingöl.....................................................................................23 13. Oguz Ciftci............................................................................................24 14. Emin Acar.............................................................................................25 15. Ferit K...................................................................................................26 16. Hüseyin Öztürk.....................................................................................27 17. Ilhan O. ..................................................................................................28 18. Mustafa E..............................................................................................29 19. Abdulhalim Nayir..................................................................................30 20. N.B.........................................................................................................31 21. Ahmet Angay........................................................................................32 22. Murat Polat...........................................................................................33 23. Hüseyin Genc .......................................................................................34 24. Duran Y. ................................................................................................35 25. Mustafa Boylu .......................................................................................36 26. Abdurrahman und Ayse T. ..................................................................37 27. Ferit M...................................................................................................38 28. Z. and L.S.............................................................................................39 29. Sinan Sicak..........................................................................................40 30. Hüseyin Ayhanci ..................................................................................40 31. Can I. .....................................................................................................41 32. Yüksel Kücük .......................................................................................42 2 Abbreviations ATG: Anti Terror Gesetz (Law against terrorism) AuslG.: Ausländergesetz (Aliens Act) BAFl: Bundesamt für die Anerkennung ausländischer Flüchtlinge (Federal Office for the Recognition of Foreign Refugees) BGS: Bundesgrenzschutz (Federal border police) IHD: Insan Haklari Denergi (Human Rights Association) NEK: Nordelbische Kirche (Lutheran Church in the provinces around Hamburg) OVG: Oberverwaltungsgericht (High Administrative Court) SSG: Staatssicherheitsgericht (State Security Court) TStGB: Türkisches Strafgesetzbuch (Turkish Penal Code) VG: Verwaltungsgericht (Administrative Court) VGH: Verwaltungsgerichtshof (Administrative Court of Justice) HADEP: Halkin Demokrasi Partisi (People’s Democratic Party) PKK: Partiya Karkeren Kurdistan (Kurdistan worker’s party) ERNK: Eniya Rizgariya Netewa Kurdistan (National Liberation Front Kurdistan) IMK: International association for the Human Rights of the Kurds HEP: Halkin Emegi Partisi (People’s Labour Party) EJAK: Eniya Jinen Azadiya Kurdistan (Union of Free Women of Kurdistan) 3 Preface to the 2nd enlarged edition With the present description of individual cases, the Refugee Council of Lower Saxony and PRO ASYL continue the documentation of persecution cases after deportation to Turkey. Seven current cases were investigated and six cases of returned refugees were included who succeeded in escaping to Germany for a second time and were then recognised as political refugees by the BAFl or court. All cases documented here show typical patterns of persecution. Almost all of the Kurds claimed in their first application for asylum to be escaping from reprisals of security forces and / or from military service. They stated that attempts were made to force them to work as village guards and, since they refused to co-operate with the government they were maltreated and their villages were destroyed. In all cases BAFl and courts turned down the applications for asylum with stereotypical reasons. They denied a group persecution, minimised the case as “customary” and “mere molestation” and referred to the supposed possibility to live safely in Western Turkey, the so - called inland flight alternative. Usually, no further proceedings were made, arguing that the asylum seekers were “mere followers” whose exile political activities were not interesting for Turkish security forces. With their deportation the people concerned were exposed to renewed persecution. E.g., Ahmet Angay and N.B. were instantly arrested at the airport and interrogated and maltreated for nine days. They were accused of having demonstrated for the PKK in Germany. After being released both were arrested again by security forces: N. B. was denounced by a village guard who had recognised him on MED-TV, Mr. Angay was arrested in Enez. Both were tortured heavily. Abdurrahman T., Ferit M. and Hüseyin Ayhanci were kidnapped in the street by civil officers and interrogated under torture. The security forces accused them of having worked for the PKK in Germany and asked for pertinent information and names. As to Ayhanci we know that he was urged to spy on the exile opposition as an agent. Just as in the other cases documented here, the actual or imputed political commitment of the Kurds abroad played an important role. Among other things this follows from interrogation records of the anti - terror - department and court records. Probably because of a denunciation, the Kurdish woman Can I. was on purpose pulled out of a touring bus in Antalya and brought to the anti - terror - department where she was interrogated under torture. According to her statement, she was, among other things, asked about the (alleged) activists of “church actions” in Germany. The case of this Kurdish woman supports concerns that the Turkish prosecuting authorities have a strong interest in identifying participants of travelling church asylum (TCA) of Nordrhein-Westfalen and that in case of deportation political persecution is quite possible. Just recently - on October 21st,1999 - the defector Vedat Yilmaz had denounced the TCA in the States Security Court of Diyarbakir as an action guided by PKK and had named several persons. Witnesses have reported that one participant of TCA, Yusuf Demir, who was deported in January 2000, was arrested, interrogated, and tortured. His case was examined by the Human Rights Foundation in Izmir. Investigations in this case are 4 incomplete. It is still unknown whether these two cases are connected. In the case of Hüseyin Genc the initial reasons for his escape - which he had stated also in his application for asylum - have lead to renewed persecution after his deportation. He was again urged to work as a village guard and tortured repeatedly when he refused to do so. It was only after his second escape to Germany that the VG Stuttgart realised that Turkish security forces intended to test his loyalty. Meanwhile Genc is recognised as a political refugee. The cases of Ayse T., Z. and L. S. which are documented here show how difficult it is, especially for women, to claim reasons for asylum. After their deportation they were tortured and sexually abused. After fleeing to Germany for the second time, BAFl and VG considered the women’s statements as credible but not relevant for asylum. In the case of the women S., the BAFl believed that the endured rapes