A delegation consisting of our MPs Mizgin Irgat and Nihat Akdoğan, our Party Assembly Member Özgür Zeydanoğlu and our Hakkari Provincial executives visited the Şapatan (Altınsu) village in Şemdinli to investigate the reported torture incident and to show solidarity with citizens. The impressions of Irgat and Akdoğan following their visit are as follows:
Mizgin Irgat, Bitlis MP:
The people of the village are HDP voters, and are often exposed to such repression. In this incident a clash that took place in the area was used as a pretext, and all the houses in the village were raided by army forces at dawn. Some villagers were beaten up with hoses and some others were stabbed with skewers. Only 36 people have been named in the media, but nearly 100 people were beaten up. There are contradictions in the health reports. Some villagers, who did file applications,were not given health reports. We also think that some of the given reports are deficient. Women told us that they were harassed. In every house they went, the security forces harassed women.
Neither a detention has been made, nor has an investigation been carried out. The public prosecutor did not accept our request for a meeting. The district governor did not give us an appointment either. We tried but could not meet the chief physician. We will take steps to get health reports for all the 100 citizens.
Not a single government official has visited the village. The Governor’s Office did not accept the claims. But the incident is quite the opposite of the governor’s account. What took place here is torture. The villagers were forced to lay facedown on the floor for hours.
The villagers want their voices to be heard. “They want to massacre us,” they say. “There is an attack against our identity, our political choice,” they say. A mother’s bean garden was destroyed. They (security forces) acted out of hostility. This is not an ordinary incident.
We call on the Interior Ministry: This incident took place under the ministry’s responsibility. We will draw up a report of our visit and share it with the public. We will follow up the villagers’ criminal complaints. We also call on the public: What took place here is not a local issue, it is not about a village of Şemdinli. It is an ideological act, it does not consider any consequences, it is an arbitrary action. The security forces committed both moral and physical violence and threatened the citizens. This is an extra-judicial execution.
Nihat Akdoğan, Hakkari MP:
The governorate had denied the villagers’ statements. But even after four days, their bruises and wounds were fresh and clearly visible. The authorities should come and take a look. An 80-year-old mother was struck on her arm with a riffle-butt. The backs of the young people are in a condition much worse than we see in the photos. Women, they could not even talk about what they went through. We observed that not only physical violence,but also psychological violence had been perpetrated here.
We wanted to talk to the district governor, the prosecutor and the chief physician. The district governor rejected our request. The prosecutor told us that he did not want to meet us because of the sensitivity of the issue.
There is huge anger here. The people have faced cruelty many times before. But the fact that women were insulted to such a degree has created exceptional fury. There is a serious reaction against the practices of the AKP government. The villagers say they will not let this go, they will pursue this matter. We will give them all the necessary legal support in this regard. We will prepare a comprehensive report. Like them, we cannot accept this practice, either.
9 August 2017