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ISSN: 1462–6535 Kurdish Human Rights Project newsline Newsline 2, Summer 2009, Issue 46 KHRP Mission Investigates Human Director’s Letter Rights Situation in Southeast Turkey A KHRP fact-finding mission travelled to southeast Turkey in early May to investigate the hu- man rights situation there, with a particular focus on women’s access to justice, impunity for state agents, issues affecting the work of human rights de- Dear Friends, fenders and the human rights We at KHRP have pursued impact of ‘high security zones’. all aspects of our work with Beginning on 2 May, the the same commitment and mission met with interviewees dedication as always over including local mayors, human the past few months, with rights activists, lawyers and particular successes in our journalists in the provinces of training, fact-finding and Diyarbakır, Mardin, Siirt and awareness-raising activities. Şırnak. Mission members also KHRP mission members Edel Hughes and Saniye Karakaş with representatives of women’s In early May we dis- visited villages that were forci- rights organisations in Diyarbakır. patched representatives to bly evacuated during the con- on the part of state officials to must prove that they have no the Kurdish regions of Tur- flict in the region in the 1990s. convince women who make income in order to access le- key to gather information The mission found that complaints that they ought to gal aid. The mission heard that on the human rights situ- women in the areas visited had drop the issue and return to it takes almost three weeks to ation there. Focusing their little or no access to justice, their homes. Women’s access obtain such proof and that this research on women’s access with key obstacles including to justice is further restricted is far too long in urgent cases, to justice, impunity of state language barriers and efforts by a requirement that they continued on page 2 agents, the environment for human rights defenders, KHRP and Spring Projects Host Evening and the impact of extraor- dinary security measures put in place in parts of the of Kurdish Culture to Raise Funds for region in 2007, the mission was disappointed to find Halabja Playground Project that the situation remains KHRP and Spring Projects deeply troubling on all these co-hosted a fundraising event fronts. on 11 June in support of the Also in May, KHRP held a Halabja Community Play Proj- successful training session ect, a scheme led by photogra- for human rights defenders pher Tom Carrigan to construct in Şırnak on using interna- a playground designed by local tional legal mechanisms to children in the town in Kurdis- combat torture and other tan, Iraq, which remains impov- forms of ill-treatment pro- erished and neglected more hibited under Article 3 of than 20 years after the chemical the European Convention attacks that killed thousands (From left) KHRP Chair Mark Muller QC, Deputy Director Rachel Bernu, Michael Leatheren on Human Rights. there in March 1988. of the Big Lottery Fund, and KHRP Executive Director Kerim Yıldız at the fundraising event. On the litigation front, we The event took place at regions. This included a pro- (Dad) by Hisham Zaman, Satel- have pressed ahead with our Spring’s Ten SP bar in Kentish gramme of contemporary short lite by Rahim Zebeihy and Shoes European Court of Human Town, London, and showcased films made in and by directors continued on page 3 continued on page 2 creativity from the Kurdish from the region, such as Bawke 1 continued from page 1: ecuted in cases of alleged hu- KHRP Mission Investigates man rights violations and that, Human Rights Situation in in those instances where they Southeast Turkey are prosecuted and convicted, such as those involving domes- they generally received very tic violence. light or suspended sentences. The mission was told that Questions of impunity and sanctions provided for in Turk- access to justice have been ish family law, such as those al- pushed to the fore recently by lowing for a man to be excluded the ongoing trial in Turkey of from the family home in cases alleged members of the ultra- of domestic abuse, are rarely nationalist ‘Ergenekon’ net- imposed and that, where they work, which has been linked to are used, they are not policed. crimes including extra-judicial Where abused women manage killings and bombings. Those on trial include retired military to secure a place in a shelter, Mission members meeting with the Chair of the Siirt branch of İHD, Vetha Aydın, and police officers are reported to displaced women. officers and politicians. frequently give information Concerns about the human about the whereabouts of such rights situation in Turkey has refuges to perpetrators. The also been underlined recently mission also found that nation- by a wave of arrests of hun- al government programmes dreds of individuals including to raise awareness of women’s human rights defenders, union rights have not covered the members and pro-Kurdish po- Kurdish regions. litical activists, following local The mission found that elections in late March. harassment and repression of ‘Unfortunately this latest those who voice non-violent fact-finding mission confirmed criticism of the state remains that the human rights situation endemic. Human rights de- in the Kurdish regions remains fenders interviewed by mission deeply alarming,’ said KHRP members reported that they Deputy Director Rachel Bernu, are subjected to investigations who took part in the mission. whenever they take action, and The mission is shown around the village of Kırkpınar (Heridan) in Dicle, Diyarbakır prov- ‘Missions such as this serve a ince, residents of which were forcibly displaced in 1993. almost all had multiple cases vital purpose in highlighting open against them at the time has come to be viewed as sim- state officials operating in the such problems and developing of the mission. This type of in- ply normal and inevitable. region, the mission heard that recommendations for how to timidation is so common that it With regard to impunity of such individuals are rarely pros- address them.’ Rights (ECtHR) casework. This viduals all over the world. This has included Kurdish activists with a busy schedule of train- includes ongoing cases on has included activities as di- marking International Labour ings, missions, litigation, behalf of civilian victims of verse as making a submission Day and others calling for publications and other activi- Turkish military operations in to the Obama administration greater protection of wom- ties planned for the coming northern Iraq, as well as a stu- urging a redoubling of efforts en’s rights. months, including our annual dent barred from university in to reach a peaceful, demo- Likewise in Syria, there Legal Team meeting in late Turkey for wearing a beard, in cratic solution to the ongoing have been a series of further June and a training in Arme- a case which goes to the heart conflict in Turkey, and shar- cases of individuals engaged nia in July on implementation of questions surrounding ing our expertise in meetings in Kurdish political move- of judgments of the ECtHR. public expressions of religi- with journalists, academics ments receiving lengthy jail In the meantime, I would osity within Turkey’s strongly and staff at various embassies sentences on such spurious like to extend my warmest secular political framework. in Ankara and Brussels. charges as ‘weakening na- thanks to all our partners, In addition, we have begun Meanwhile, developments tional sentiments’. funders and other supporters work on a new case on behalf in the Kurdish regions have Meanwhile, there has been whose commitment to our of an applicant who was ar- continued to underscore the an alarming wave of arrests of work plays such an impor- rested as a student in Ankara importance of such work. trade unionists, human rights and faces over six years in jail With presidential elections defenders and pro-Kurdish tant role in realising our ob- in Turkey for her involvement looming in Iran, the authori- politicians in Turkey in the jectives. Your contributions, in pro-Kurdish political activ- ties have kept up their use of wake of local elections in late along with those of our staff, ism. arbitrary detention, unfair tri- March, along with growing interns and volunteers, con- Throughout recent months, als and severe punishments reports of torture, beatings, tinue to make a real differ- KHRP has also continued to in order to repress journal- death threats and treason ence in countless lives in the raise awareness of the alarm- ists, human rights defenders charges in Kurdistan, Iraq. Kurdish regions. ing human rights situation and others who exercise their Turning to the future, KHRP Kerim Yıldız in the Kurdish regions in our right to freedom of expres- will continue to respond Executive Director contacts with influential indi- sion. In recent months, this proactively to such threats, June 2009 2 KHRP Conducts Training on Torture and Ill-Treatment in Şırnak KHRP representatives car- moting enforcement of these ried out a training on legal standards. Later in the day, protections against torture she and KHRP Legal Associate and ill-treatment in Şırnak Saniye Karakaş led attendees province in southeast Turkey through workshops in which on 3 May for over 35 partici- they were presented with sce- pants from the Şırnak Bar As- narios involving hypothetical sociation, which hosted the cases of torture and ill-treat- event, and the Şırnak branch ment, and were asked to iden- of the Turkish Medical Asso- tify the violations in question ciation. and develop a plan for report- Nuşirevan Elçi, President of ing them to the appropriate the Şırnak Bar Association, and international bodies. Rachel Bernu, Deputy Direc- The event was tailored in tor of KHRP, opened the day’s response to requests from events by outlining the aims participants at previous suc- and objectives of the training Saniye Karakaş and Dr Edel Hughes lead the training.

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