Turkey’s pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Bedia Özgökçe has applied to the Parliamentary Human Rights Commission on the claims of torture and ill-treatment in Altınsu (Şapatan) village in Şemdinli district of Hakkari province. Deputy Özgökçe demanded that the commission inspect the claims at the scene. Meanwhile, the people who were battered in custody filed a criminal complaint to the prosecutor’s office.
Thirty-six villagers who were detained following a clash between Turkish security forces and the armed militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) were allegedly tortured by security forces. The villagers were taken into custody after an operation on Sunday by security forces against the PKK militants in the village of Altınsu in Hakkari province. One police officer was killed and one security force member was wounded during the conflict. Twenty of the villagers were released on Monday morning, while 16 were still under custody at the district police department.
The Dihaber news agency, which published pictures of the villagers, claimed they were tortured while in custody. The report said more than 100 people, including old women and children, were gathered and beaten in a square after their houses were raided and doors were broken at night.
The residents of the village, who were threatened with death, went to get a battery report from a doctor, who refused to give it, saying they were responsible for what happened to them since they did not support the Turkish government.
HDP deputy Özgökçe has said in her parliamentary inquiry that “It was alleged that the villagers gathered at the village square by law enforcers were beaten and that the doctor treating the villagers, who were taken into the hospital prior to the detention, refused to give medical report and said ‘these are all your fault’.”
After the images of tortured villagers and women were covered by the media, Hakkari Governorship has mede a statement and claimed that making reports of the images is a “terror propaganda.”
Meanwhile, on Wednesday morning, it was reported that Turkish security forces raided several houses in the village of Sulak (Bafê) in Şırnak’s İdil district. Two people were detained in the operation during which soldiers broke the doors and windows of the houses they targeted. The detainees were taken to the district security directorate.
Also, Ayşe Hezer, a 53 years old Kurdish woman who was detained in Şırnak’s İdil district, was jailed with charge of “membership to a terrorist organisation” and “spreading propaganda for a terrorist organisation.” The woman has been sent to Midyat M Type Closed Prison.
