 Executive Summary
In an ostensible effort to combat the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK) insurgency during the 1980s and 1990s, state security forces forcibly displaced thousands of rural communities in the Kurdish regions of Turkey. Some 3,500 towns and villages were destroyed during this time. Illegal detention, torture and extra-judicial execution by both state forces and village guards also took place. Today, the majority of these villages remains demolished and there are no plans for their reconstruction. Between 3 and 4 million villagers were forced from their homes and are still not allowed to return. Most internally displaced people (IDPs) are unable to return to their homelands because of obstruction by village guards, landmines and poor socio-economic conditions.
The return of persons displaced during the armed conflict in east and south-east Turkey to their homes is one of the most pressing issues that Turkey will encounter. The European Commission’s 2004 and 2005 Progress Reports on Turkey’s accession to the EU both described the situation of IDPs as ‘critical’. The steps taken by the Government to address the problem are so far limited to the Return to Villages and Rehabilitation Project, which intends to secure the economic infrastructure for return, and the Law on Compensation for Damage Arising from Terror (Law 5233). It is generally felt that these measures are not sufficient to solve the problem, since the village guard system, the landmines, the region’s economic underdevelopment and the danger of renewed armed conflict all continue to present significant obstacles to return which fail to be addressed by the Government. This report summarises the results of a fact-finding mission to Van, south-east Turkey, and Ankara, in July 2006 to investigate the operation and effect of the above two programmes in practice. Contents
List of Abbreviations / 9
Executive Summary / 11
Background: Turkey’s International Obligations to Provide Redress To Idps / 13
Introduction: The Situation of IDPS in South-East Turkey / 13
1. Universal Declaration of Human Rights / 14
2. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights / 15
3. UN Guiding Principles / 16
4. European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms / 17
5. EU Accession 18
Section 1: Return to Village and Rehabilitation Project / 21
Introduction: Aims and Objectives / 21
1. Obstacles to Return / 23
2. Problems with the Project / 27
Section 2: Law on Compensation for Damage Arising From Terror / 31
Introduction: Aims and Objectives / 31
1. Overview of the Machinery of the Compensation Law / 32
2. Lack of Independence of Assessment Commissions / 34
3. Exclusion from Compensation / 36
4. Provision of Acceptable Forms of Evidence / 38
5. Lack of Compensation for Suffering and Distress / 40
6. Failure to Provide Legal Aid for Applicants / 41
7. Delay in Processing Claims / 41
8. Approval Needed for Large Claims / 43
9. Arbitrary Calculations and Low Awards / 43
10. Failure to Meet International Standards of Redress / 45
Conclusion / 47
1. Return to Village and Rehabilitation Project / 47
2. Law 5233 / 47
Recommendations / 49
Annex 1 – Law 5233 / 51
Annex 2 – Law 5442 / 59
Annex 3 / 63 Introduction: The Situation of IDPs in South-East Turkey
IDPs who live in the cities suffer from unemployment, lack of housing, little access to education and health services, and issues of social adaptation. Those who lived in the villages are not accustomed to urban living and they find it hard to adapt without any social or economic assistance. They are used to farming the land and surviving from livestock. Since the 1990s, the major cities in the south east have been inundated with villagers from the regions, with a consequential effect on the city’s original inhabitants.
Van currently has 380,000 citizens of Turkish nationality, of which 200,000 are IDPs. In Bostaniçi district, official figures show that 14,000 people – 90 per cent of the inhabitants - are IDPs. In fact it is believed that the figure is actually closer to 18,000. The mission interviewed a number of families living in Bostaniçi, whose testimony can be found at Annex 3.
Mesut Değer, an MP for Cumchuriyet Halk Partisi (Republican People’s Party, CHP) and a member of the Human Rights Commission, informed the mission that, prior to forced evacuations, the population of Diyarbakır was 350,000. Today, it is more than 1.5 million. Unemployment figures have risen as a result. For example, in Diyarbakır, the official unemployment figure is 20 per cent; however the actual figure is in fact 60 per cent. The lower official figure reflects the fact that IDPs do not register with the relevant municipal authorities. As a result of the increased unemployment, there is a parallel increase in robberies and prostitution, whilst the number of suicides of young women has increased due to early marriages and feelings of depression caused by unemployment. Kurdish Human Rights Project
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Kurdish Human Rights Project (KHRP) is an independent, non-political, non-governmental human rights organisation founded and based in London, England. KHRP is a registered charity and is committed to the promotion and protection of the human rights of all persons living within the Kurdish regions, irrespective of race, religion, sex, political persuasion or other belief or opinion. Its supporters include both Kurdish and non-Kurdish people.
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The Bar Human Rights Committee is the international human rights arm of the Bar of England and Wales. It is an independent body primarily concerned with the protection of the rights of advocates and judges around the world. It is also concerned with defending the rule of law and internationally recognised legal standards relating to the right to a fair trial. The remit of the Bar Human Rights Committee extends to all countries of the world, apart from its own jurisdiction of England & Wales.
Printed in Great Britain
December 2006
Published by the Kurdish Human Rights Project (London)
ISBN(ten) 1 905592 05 1
ISBN(thirteen) 978 1 905592 05 0
Layout & Design: Torske & Sterling Legal Marketing: www.lawyermarketing.co.uk
Keywords: Turkey, fact-finding mission, Kurds, compensation commissions, internally displaced persons, IDPs, redress, Law 5233, Return to Village and Rehabilitation Project
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