Ertak v & Timurtaş v Turkey
State Responsibility in ‘Disappearances’
Kurdish Human Rights Project
Compte d’auteur
The cases of Timurtaş v Turkey and Ertak v. Turkey highlight the problem of ‘disappearances’ which have been prevalent in Southeast Turkey during the past fifteen years of armed conflict in the region between the Turkish security forces and the PKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party). A state of emergency declared in 1987 in five provinces still remains in place in certain areas, together with a system of State Security Courts. Brutal violations of human rights such as ‘disappearances’, torture and killings were particularly rife in the period 1993 to 1995 but stiff continue today.1
In the two cases that the subject of this report, young Kurdish men were taken into custody and never seen again by their families. In the case of Mehmet Ertak, someone who shared a cell with him testified that he had been brutally tortured. Sightings of Abdulvahap Timurta? in detention were also reported. In each case, the fathers of these men made persistent inquiries about the whereabouts and fate of their sons, but were ... | 
