Between the dates August 16th, 2015 and March 18th, 2016 there has been 63 officially confirmed, open-ended and round-the-clock [all daylong] curfews in at least 22 districts of 7 cities in Southeastern Turkey. These cities are as follow; Diyarbakır (34 times), Şırnak (9 times) ve Mardin (11 times), Hakkâri (5 times), Muş (1 time), Elazığ (1 time) and Batman (2 times). It is estimated that, according to the 2014 population census, at least 1 million 642 thousand residents have been affected by these curfews and fundemental rights of these people such as Right to Life and Right to Health are explicitly violated. According to the statement of Ministry of Health on February 27th, 2016, at least 355 thousand residents were forced to leave the cities and districts they lived in.
As HRFT, even though we feel the same grief and concerns by each death, the reasons why the fact sheets of HRFT Documentation Center over the curfews only covered facts on civilians until now are both because of the responsibility that violation of right to life against civilians is high beyond comparison according to the past tens of years and the information given on security forces and militants are not to be confirmed and publicly announced yet due to deficiencies and contradictions.
The datas over curfews on periodic Fact Sheets and within the Daily Reports of HRFT Documentation Center are obtained through press review, official web sites of relevant public institutions, visual records, statements of witnesses and lawyers, observation reports of political parties and civil organisations and their personal witnessings etc. And whether get investigated and become definite or remain as claims and removed from the annual report if not proved.
According to the data of HRFT Documentation Center, since August 16th, 2015 (which is the date of first declared curfew) until March 18th, 2016 at least 310 civilians lost their lives in regions and periods of time that curfews were officially declared. Besides, there are at least 59 bodies from Cizre that are buried without waiting for the identification process and at least 20 bodies from Sur are waiting in Forensic Medicine Institutions and these bodies are not included in the given data.
The reasons of why the last fact sheet of HRFT Documentation Center was published over a month ago on February 6th, 2016[1] and there are at least 79 unidentified bodies in this current fact sheet explain some of the violations of the times we are living in:
- The imposement and results of open ended, round the clock (all daylong) curfews should be interpreted as a whole. As of December 11th, 2015 the impose form of continous curfews, the broadness of regions that curfews are declared, length of duration, military dispatch and using heavy weapons within the residential areas[2] and judicial processes in accordance with all these, made Right to Information and Right to Know the Truth which are under protection by the international conventions inaccessible.
- While it is violation of rights by itself that hundreds of thousands of people were forced to leave their homes in districts where curfews are declared or have the worry of it; this also resulted in not being able to reach statements of witnesses as common as used be. Within this context;
– Some people whose bodies were reached are identified whether by their relatives or DNA pairings, yet the lack of knowledge and suspicions over the time, cause and manner of death are present.
– International documents such as UN Manual on Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Istanbul Protocol) and UN Protocol for Preventing Arbitrary Killings through Adequate Death Investigation and Autopsy (Minnesota Protocol) are violated by including claims such as not allowing the lawyers and independent forensic medicine specialists to be present during autopsies of most of the bodies; not delivering investigation files with especially the reports of examination of deceased and crime scene investigation to relevant people; not conveying copies of autopsy reports neither to relatives nor to lawyers; and bringing most of the bodies as stripped naked before the autopsy procedure. Within this period of serious violations a complete autopsy procedure became impossible, therefore reliable information couldn’t be obtained on people who lost their lives.
– As the integrity of most of the bodies are damaged identification was not able to be conducted, especially of the people whose bodies were taken from the in question basements of Cizre. Moreover, there has been changes on Regulation for Implementation of Forensic Medicine Institution Law on January 7th and 16th, 2016 and again on Regulation on Transfer and Burial of Corpses on January 16th, 2016 that allowed the bodies to be buried collectively to common graves or unknown places without waiting for the necessary period of time which made the identification process even harder.
- Bodies of people who known or claimed to be dead whether identified or unidentified are still waiting to be sent to Forensic Medicine Institutions, due to ongoing military operations or even though the operations are declared to be done due to ongoing curfews. It is known that these bodies are not brought out of the curfew areas, yet reliable information couldn’t be obtained if there are any conducted investigations.
With regards to all these reasons, this Fact Sheet that is open to any contributions and feedbacks, is prepared by the obtained information as of March 18th, 2016 and compared retrospectively with previous Fact Sheets of HRFT Documentation Center on curfews, and it includes detailed information on people who lost their lives if the identities and how they died is known. Besides, even though their cases are given on the part of this fact sheet over the detailed information on people who lost their lives, 8 people who were mentioned in previous fact sheets are excluded from the list of “civilians who lost their lives” due to strong claims of them being member of YDGH (Patriotic Revolutionary Youth Movement) or YPS (Civil Protection Units). Yet, the examination of whether the terms of extrajudicial execution occured or not will be possible to make in consequence of effective investigation processes.
Also, it’s needed to be point out that “Right to Life” by definition involve cases of injuries which could cause the death of a person. Yet, mainly due to ungoing investigation processes and difficulty of reaching the witnesses by cause of aforementioned reasons and more, the possibilities to reach information over injured people are even more restricted. Therefore, this fact sheet only covers “civilians who lost their lives”.
In accordance with all these;
- Between the dates of August 16th, 2015 and March 18th, 2016 at least 310 civilians lost their lives in curfew areas. Of these people; 72 are children, 62 are women, 29 are over the age 60. Besides, at least 79 people are not included in these datas due to the fact that the bodies are still waiting to be identified.
- It is estimated that at least 76 civilians, whose information on how they died is obtained, lost their lives due to not being allowed to reach Right to Health.
- Again at least 180 civilians, whose information on how they died is obtained, lost their lives while they were within the boundaries of their homes. 162 of these people were killed due to opened fire or hitting by a missile and 18 of them lost their lives due to the direct stress effect of curfews on their health conditions. Moreover, 137 of these people who lost their lives within the boundaries of their homes were only in Cizre District.
Also, there are some facts that are not included in abovementioned datas or to the list of civilians who lost their lives;
- At least 79 bodies are whether waiting in Forensic Medicine Institutions to be identified or buried to common graves and to places that are unknown by their relatives with regard to changed regulations.
- In Silopi district of Şırnak, a 7 months old still birth occured due to gunshot through the womb of the mother. Also, at least 10 people lost their lives by arbitrary shooting of security forces during peaceful protests against the curfews in streets/Squares close to curfew zones or by the use of chemicals such as tear gas where no operation was onging or any curfews were declared. [3]
NOTE1: Please observe the table that is submitted together with this fact sheet for detailed information over the ongoing curfews as of March 22nd,2016 in Cizre (on 79th day changed into nightlong curfew) and in Silopi (on 37th day changed into night long curfew) districts of Şırnak; in some neighbourhoods and streets of Sur district (still going on 103th day) of Diyarbakır; in Center (on 8th day of all-day long curfew) and İdil district (on 36th day of all-day long curfew) of Şırnak; Nusaybin district (on 9th day of all-day long curfew) of Mardin and Yüksekova district (on 9th day of all-day long curfew) of Hakkari.
NOTE2: Within the context of this fact sheet the term ‘security forces’ is implying to ‘Police Anti-terror Combat Team, Police Special Forces, Gendarmarie Special Forces, Military Forces and Riot Polices.’ Also, there are some unofficial teams which are both by themselves and publicly defined as JITEM, Esedullah, Hançer[Dagger], Fatihler Teams etc.
Names of the People who lost Their Lives Between the dates August 16th, 2015 and March 17th, 2016
Within the Districts Under Curfews
MUŞ
Varto: 1. Rahmi Kızıltaş (36), 2. Abdullah Toprak(26), 3.-4. 2 people who are not yet identified
DİYARBAKIR
Silvan: 1.Serhat Bilen(25) 2.Hanife Durak(80), 3.Veysi Toraman(60) 4.Vedat Akcanım(17) 5.Deniz(17) 6.Barış Çakıcı(10) 7.Hayriye Hüdaverdi(70) 8.Ferhat Gensür(17) 9.Müslüm Tayar (22) 10.Sertip Polat(20) 11.Engin Gezici(24) 12.İsmet Gezici (55) 13.Rıdvan Us(20) 14.Yakup Sinbağ(20) 15.Latif Nangir(78)
Bismil: 1. Bilal Bozkur(19/22) 2.Abdullah Sügüci(32) 3.Doğan İnce(16) 4. Şeyhmus Düşerge(18) 5.Numan Halil Kurtiş(19) 6.Berat Güzel(12) 7.Elif Şimşek(8) 8.Agit Yıldız(22)
Sur: 1. Helin Şen(12) 2.Halil Tüzülerk(27) 3.Mehmet Demirel(yetişkin) 4.Sezgin Demirok 5.Şoreş Mutlu 6.Cüneyt Yeni 7.Aziz İlhan(47) 8.Melek Apaydın(38) 9.Rozerin Çukur(17) 10.Turgay Girçek(19) 11.Gündüz Akmeşe(28) 12. 1 male in his 80s who is not yet identified 13.Hakan Aslan 14.Murat Menekşe(13) 15.Erhan Keskin(18) 16.Casim Kaya(24)17.Fatma Ateş(55) 18.Gülistan Aysal(21) 19.Fırat Çelik(24) 20.Dilber Bozkurt 21.Mehmet Abdullah Yalvarma 22.Mazlum Karakoç 23.Cüneyt Aydemiş (NOT:Besides there are 20 bodies waiting to be identified.)
Bağlar: 1. Özgür Çelenk(18) 2.Eyüp Çelik(24)
HAKKÂRİ
Yüksekova: 1. Fettah Es (adult) 2. Yakup Babat (24) 3.Mehmet Reşit Arıcı(17) 4.Naim Nuyan(29) 5.Ersin Aydın(37)
ŞIRNAK
Cizre: 1.Cemile Çağırga (10) 2.Özgür Taşkın (18) 3.Meryem Süne(53) 4.Bünyamin İrci(14) 5.Muhammed Tahir Yaramış (35 days old) 6.Eşref Edin (56) 7.Selman Ağar (10) 8.Mehmet Emin Levent (29) 9.Osman Çağlı(18) 10.Sait Çağdavul (21) 11.Şahin Açık (74) 12.Mehmet Erdoğan (75) 13.Mehmet Sait Nayici (16) 14.Zeynep Taşkın (19) 15.Maşallah Edin (35) 16.Hacı Ata Borçin (75) 17.Gadban Bülbül (78) 18.Mehmet Dökmen (71) 19.Bahattin Sevinik (50) 20.Suphi Sarak (50) 21.İbrahim Çiçek (79) 22.Mülkiye Geçgel (48) 23.Resul Ekinci(65) 24. Hediye Şen(30) 25.Doğan Aslan(24) 26.İbrahim Akan(15) 27.Selahattin Bozkurt(70) 28.Yılmaz Erz(42) 29.Lütfü Aksoy(25) 30.Zeynep Yılmaz(40) 31.Cahide Çıkal(35) 32.Mehmet Tekin(35) 33.Doğan İşi(18) 34.Mehmet Saçan(38) 35.Emine Duman(75) 36.Azime Aşan(59) 37.Dikran Sayaca(25) 38.Ferdi Kalkan(20) 39.Abdulmecit Yanık(27) 40.Hacı Özdal(25) 41.Miray İnce(3 months old) 42.Ramazan İnce (80) 43.Kumru Işık(85) 44.Hüseyin Ertene(16) 45.Hüseyin Selçuk(5) 46.Abdülaziz Yural(28) 47.Zeynep Demir(65) 48.Ali Tetik(34) 49.Kazım Tonğ(51) 50.Cabbar Taşkın(40) 51.Sezai Burçin(43) 52.Hediye Erden(60) 53.Besna Zırığ(50) 54.Fatma Acet(40) 55.Bişeng Goran(12) 56.Nidar Sümer(17) 57.Halis Sümer(45) 58.Osman Tekin(50) 59.Tayfur Yaşlı(19) 60.Şivan Cebrail Mungan(24) 61.Murat Ekici(22) 62.Murat Egül(24) 63.Ahmet Zırığ(35) 64.Şükrü Coşkun(20) 65.Nebi Katlav(22) 66.Ali Bağdur(25) 67.Mehmet Hacı Tongut(32) 68.Mehmet Şirin Erdinç 69.Garip Mubarız (18) 70.Veysi/Hacı Elçi(30) 71.Abdulmenaf Yılmaz(50) 72.Yakup Isırgan 73.Mehmet Şahin(77) 74.Emame Şahin (77) 75.Yusuf Akalın(12) 76.Büşra Akalın(10) 77.Veli Müjde(38) 78.Abdullah İvedi(25) 79.Hayrettin Şınık(10) 80.Mehmet Rıdvan Kaymaz(36) 81.Hüseyin Paksoy(16) 82.Mehmet Kaplan(35) 83.Serhat Altun(23) 84.Abdülhamit Poçal 85.Selman Erdoğan 86.Ahmet Tunç(50) 87.Cihan Karaman(23) 88.Rüzgar Yıldızgörer(25) 89.Selami Yılmaz(25) 90.Nusreddin Bayar(20) 91.Sultan Irmak(16) 92.Selim Turay(22) 93.Şervan Kenan Adıgüzel 94.Mehmet Özkul(adult) 95.Nizar Isırgan 96.Cengiz Sansak 97.Ramazan Çömlek 98.Zerin Uca(22) 99.Sahip Edin(30’s) 100.Abdullah Gün(16) 101.Yunus Meral 102.Tahir Akdoğan(16) 103.Mevlüde Özalp 104.Fehmi Fakah Dinç(adult) 105.Fatma Demir(adult) 106.Barış Gasir(adult) 107.Sabri Sezgin(18) 108.Abdülselam Turgut(adult) 109.Mahsum Erdoğan 110.Muharrem Erbek(23) 111.Sinan Kaya(22) 112.Mehmet Kulbay(22) 113.Burhan Taşdelen 114.Aydın Erol 115.Ferhat Karaduman(16) 116.Nursel Dalmış(18) 117.Murat Şimşek(16) 118.Abbas Güllübahçe 119.Tuğba Eminoğlu 120.Erdal Şahin(29) 121.Rohat Aktaş(adult) 122.Adil Küçük(adult) 123.Mahmut Duymak(51) 124.Umut Ürek 125.Ramazan İşçi 126.Metin Karane 127.Dersim Aksoy 128.İslam Balıkesir 129.Ömer Baran(25) 130.Mustafa Gasyak(16) 131.Ali Fırat Kalkan 132.Kasım Yana(18) 133.İzzet Gündüz(adult) 134.Berjin Demirkaya 135.Sakine Şiray(adult) 136.Ekrem Sevilgen(17) 137.Serdar Özbek(32) 138.Mehmet Benzer(19) 139.Tajdin Nerse(22) 140.Mehmet Dalmış(31) 141.Mehmet Yavuzel(adult) 142.Rıdvan Ekinci 143.Bişeng Kolanç 144.Cihat Altun(22) 145.Mehmet Yılmaz(23) 146.Cüneyt Kızıltay 147.Güler Eroğlu(20) 148.Mehmet Edin 149.Star Özkül 150.Hasan Ayaz(14) 151.Yılmaz Geçim(15) 152.Mesut Özer(17) 153.Cengiz Gerem(15) 154.Derya Koç(adult) 155.Azad Yılmaz(19) 156.Hakkı Külte(13) 157.Çimen Tankan 158.İsmail Çetin 159.Murat Erdin 160.Hasan Tağ(adult) 161.Agit Küçük 162.Harun Barın 163.Hülya Aktaş(adult) 164.Cemile Erden(28) 165.Mehmet Tunç(yetişkin) 166.Orhan Tunç 167.Veysi Bademkıran(17) 168.Yasemin Çıkmaz(17) 169.İbrahim Temel 170.Yakup Yalçın 171.Felek Çağdavul 172.Fırat Malgaz 173.Yakup Dadak 174.Ramazan Aydın 175.Lokman Bilgiç 176.Hüseyin Kaya 177.M. Emin İdim(child) 178.Tahir Çiçek(child) 179.Aydın Güner(adult) 180.Abdullah Özgül 181.Meryem Akyol 182.Ramazan Biriman 183.Hüseyin Kayaalp(16) Besides, there are at least 59 bodies that are buried without waiting for the identification process.
Silopi: 1. Hüseyin Güzel (70) 2.Yusuf Aybi(80) 3.Reşit Eren(17) 4.Axin Kanat(16) 5.İbrahim Bilgin(18) 6.Şiyar Özbek(25) 7.Süleyman Çoban(70) 8.Taybet İnan(57) 9.Yusuf İnan(40) 10.Ayşe Buruntekin(40) 11.Mehmet Mete Kutluk(11) 12.Ömer Sayan(70) 13.Hasan Sanır (75) 14.Salihe Şirnexi/Salih Erener(75) 15.Seyfettin Sidar(30) 16.İsmail Yevşan(55) 17.Necati Öden(18) 18.Ömer Yalman(45) 19.Ömer Maslu(70) 20.Pakize Nayır(25) 21.Sêvê Demir(41) 22.Fatma Uyar(27) 23.İslam Atak (20) 24.Hasan Yağmur(42) 25.Aydın Mete(16) 26.Yusuf Yağcı(25) 27.Şirin Altay (43) 28.Narinç Kızıl(52) 29. 1 male in his 30s who is not yet identified
İdil: 1. M.Sadık Bozeri(57) 2.Vedat Gürbüz(24) 3.Mazlum Kapalıgöz(17) 4.Aziz Akan(30) 5.Orhan Abay(16) 6.Sevilay Yıldız(15) 7.Fatma Eraslan(13) 8.Abdullah Ecevit(39) 9.Mete Ağırhan(15) 10.Ahmet Varlı(15) 11.Veli Aşar(18) 12.Şevki Geldisöz 13.Hacı Karakaş 14.Ramazan Gümüş(14) 15.İrfan Çağlar(24)
MARDİN
Nusaybin: 1.Ahmet Sönmez(50) 2.Şahin Turan(25) 3.Selamet Yeşilmen(44) 4.Abdülkadir Yılmaz(65) 5.Hasan Dal(45) 6.Musur Aslan(19) 7.Emin Öz(55) 8.Muhammed Altunkaynak(19) 9.Nurhan Kaplan(45) 10.Şerif Alpar(55) 11.Sedat Güngör(22) 12.Mehmet Emin İnan(55) 13.Cudi Teber (23) 14.Mahsum Alpdoğan(19) 15.Fehime Aktı(56) 16.Hakan Doğan(15) 17.Henüz kimliği bilinmeyen 1 kişi 18.Medeni Orak (45) 19.Rohat Karakoç 22.Hasan Korkmaz(60)
Dargeçit: 1.İdris Cebe(18), 2.Takyedin Oral(adult male) 3.Necim Kılıç(67) 4.Sabahat Kılıç(28) 5.Fatma Kılıç(adult woman)
[1] https://en.tihv.org.tr/recent-fact-sheet-on-curfews-in-turkey-between-the-dates-16-august-2015-5-february-2016/
[2]According to the statement of Ministry of Interior on January 11th, 2016, 14 thousand 68 members of security forces became active in operations in districts where curfews are declared. Moreover, it’s known that hundreds of armored military vehicles such as tanks, panzers, cannons etc. are dispatched to the relative districts/cities.
[3] These people are: 7 months old still birth of Güler Yanalak due to gunshot through the womb of mother. Şerdıl Cengiz (21-Bağlar district), Şiyar Salman (18-Bağlar district), Şiyar Baran (13-Seyrantepe district), Mizgin Koçyiğit (who thought to be Güler Eroğlu first- Dağkapı Square), Salih Baygın(70-Melik Ahmet Street), Çekwar Çubuk (16-Dağkapı Square), Hüseyin Hüseyinoğlu (22-Bağlar district) in DİYARBAKIR and Emire Gök (39-Gırnavas Mah.) and Hüseyin Ahmet(22-Işık Önder Street) in NUSAYBİN [Note: In Nusaybin, the curfew was declared first in some districts. On 4th day it was broadened to whole district.] and Mehmet Gündüz (45-Feridun district) in SİLVAN.