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@Killing of the Mayor of Hilal
- Yakup Kara and Four Villagers
In August 1991, Amnesty International published the following information about the killing
of Yakup Kara and four others who were travelling with him by taxi (Southeast Turkey:
Attacks on Human Rights Activists and Killings of Local Politicians. AI Index: EUR
44/114/91):
"On 28 June 1991 Yakup Kara, mayor of the small town of Hilal near Uludere in the
province of Hakkari, his driver Mehmet Ürün, technicians Ali Benek and Hamit Kara and
contractor Hüseyin Babat were shot and their bodies burned by three persons in commando
uniforms and balaclava hoods, according to 80-year-old Mehmet Kara, the sole survivor.
Observers noted that this took place in broad daylight within a quarter of a mile of a small
security post, and one kilometre from _enoba Brigade Post where helicopters and village
protectors were ready for action. The deaths were initially announced by the authorities as
the work of the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) on the grounds that Yakup Kara was a target
as a leader of the local village guards. (The village guards are a paramilitary force set up to act
as a local militia against the PKK. Villagers frequently complain that they are placed under
extreme duress to join the village guard force - including harassment of their families, burning
of villages, destruction of crops, beating and torture.) However, Yakup Kara's brother has
stated that the family has always opposed the village guard system, that Yakup Kara received
threats because of his opposition to the system, and that he was detained and tortured four
times, most recently during 1990, for this very reason. The PKK denied responsibility for the
murders."
In its issue of 17 May 1992, the political magazine 2000'e Do_ru (Towards 2000)
published new information: an account of the killing of Yakup Kara allegedly given by a
captain whose name is not disclosed. The captain is reported to have stated: "The mayor of
Hilal was killed by village guards, with the full knowledge of _enoba Mobile Gendarmerie
Headquarters. The village guards were from the Babat family."
In a separate account published in the same article Yakup Kara's brother stated that his
inquiries revealed that nine people carried out the killing - five village guards, whom he
names, one village guard whose name he has not discovered, and three unnamed members
of the Special Team force. He further stated that Yakup Kara's vehicle had been stopped for
Amnesty International August 1992
AI Index: EUR 44/66/92
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Killing of the Mayor of Hilal and Four Villagers
30 minutes at the _enoba Headquarters before he was given permission to continue his
journey. The shooting took place shortly afterwards.
In its issue of 24 May 1992, 2000'e Do_ru published a further account of the killing, this
time by a non-commissioned officer (NCO), also unnamed who described the incident from
an even closer viewpoint:
"The killing of Yakup Kara, the mayor of Hilal, was planned in the Gendarmerie
Border Battalion. It was the 26 or 27 June. It was at night, after 8pm. Lieutenant Colonel
Re_it Demir, commander of _enoba Border Tactical Gendarmerie Regimental
Headquarters, Major _smail Ayhan, commander of _enoba Border Gendarmerie Battalion
and chief village guard Haz_m Babat got together at the Battalion. The captain who related
the incident to you last week obviously did not know the details. Hüseyin Babat, Hamed
Kara and Ali Benek, who were in the taxi with Yakup Kara, were killed by mischance.
Because it was thought that another group of people were in the vehicle. Salih Tunç,
headman of Akduman village, Sad_k Kara, headman of Hilal District, and Hac_ Kayac_,
headman of Ball_ village were supposed to be in the taxi.
"The mayor of Hilal, Yakup Kara, and the other headmen were opposed to the village
guard system. Their deaths were planned using the counter-guerrilla tactic. The plan was as
follows: the mayor and the headmen were told 'You are to come in the morning to the
Brigade'. We heard that Yakup Kara was going to get the other headmen and bring them to
the Brigade. He was going to meet the headman of Ball_ village in Uludere, and get the
other two along the way.
"The Babats were going to carry out the killing. Haz_m Babat is a chief village guard.
Babat was going to get something out of it. They said: `Your father-in-law is the former
mayor of Hilal. When Yakup Kara is dead, we will have your father-in-law re-elected.'
Haz_m Babat chose about 10 village guards. They ambushed between _enoba and Besta.
Yakup Kara's taxi was stopped. They were got out of the vehicle and killed. Only Mehmet
Nuh Kara, 70 years old, was spared. This old man was found 4 km away from the incident
by soldiers.
"The interesting part of the incident starts here: an NCO or lieutenant went to the scene
that day, and told Lieutenant Colonel Re_it Demir by radio. The NCO first said that there
was a dead body. We always listen to such radio conversations. Do you know what
Lieutenant Colonel Re_it Demir's reply was? `Have a good look around, son. There should
be five corpses!' Afterwards he gave news over the radio that there were five corpses. There's
more. Lieutenant Colonel Re_it Demir went to the scene of the incident. He gets a PKK
leaflet out of his pocket and leaves it there. He then calls the Major-General at the Battalion
and says `The PKK did it, and they left a leaflet.' He returns to the Battalion a little later.
AI Index: EUR 44/66/92
Amnesty International August 1992
Killing of the Mayor of Hilal and Four Villagers
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"I am sure of one thing - I am sure that Brigadier General Atilla Özkan at __rnak
Brigade Command knew about the plan."
The magazine 2000'e Do_ru reportedly submitted its information to the government
authorities with an appeal to investigate. Yakup Kara's family is said to have submitted a
formal application to the Prosecutor at the State Security Court in Diyarbak_r to open an
investigation into these allegations. The Turkish authorities reportedly are investigating the
killings on the grounds that the PKK committed the murders. After opening an investigation
the Prosecutor's Office in __rnak decided that it was not competent to handle the case and
referred the investigation to the Prosecutor's Office at the State Security Court in Diyarbak_r.
Amnesty International is deeply concerned about the continuing series of killings in
southeast Turkey targetting human rights activists, local politicians, journalists and villagers
who refuse to participate in the village guard system or are suspected of links with the PKK.
The killing of Yakup Kara, the mayor of Hilal, and his four fellow-travellers was the first such
incident that received wide publicity. Since then more than a hundred killings have been
reported from the Kurdish provinces under State of Emergency in which involvement of the
security forces has been alleged. In spite of strong evidence to that effect, the Turkish
authorities have consistently failed to respond to Amnesty International's appeals for the
establishment of commissions of inquiry into these killings, as recommended by the United
Nations Principles on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-Legal, Arbitrary
and Summary Executions (1989).
Amnesty International continues to urge that an exhaustive and impartial investigation is
carried out without further delay into the circumstances in which Yakup Kara and his four
fellow-travellers were killed in June 1991. The organization has called on the Turkish
authorities to make public the methods and findings of such an investigation and to bring
those responsible to justice.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Turkey has a Kurdish ethnic minority which is estimated to number some 10 million people,
living mainly in southeastern Turkey. Since August 1984, when guerrillas of the PKK started
armed attacks on the security forces, an alarming number of reports of ill-treatment of
detainees by the security forces have come from the eastern and southeastern provinces.
More than 4,000 lives have so far been lost on both sides and among the civilian population
in the context of the continuing fighting. Emergency legislation is in force in 10 provinces in
the region and the Emergency Legislation Governor in Diyarbakir has extraordinary powers
over three additional provinces.
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Killing of the Mayor of Hilal and Four Villagers
Yakup Kara, showing marks of torture from earlier detention
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Amnesty International August 1992