GÜLEÇ JUDGMENT OF 27 JULY 1998 21 Mr Kurt had not immediately ruled out the possibility that the security forces had fired on the demonstrators. He had been completely impartial and had begun his investigation with an open mind. He had come to the conclusion that the gendarmes had intervened after the victim’s death. The complaint filed against the gendarmerie commander had really been an emotional reaction intended to tarnish his reputation. Major Karatan had been armed only with a handgun. The crew of the Condor armoured vehicle had controlled the situation effectively. If the machine gun mounted on the vehicle had been fired towards or at the crowd, there would have been a large number of deaths. The fifty-two spent cartridges referred to in the Administrative Council’s decision had come from bullets fired in the air by the gendarmes. The twenty-nine spent cartridges referred to in the report on the incidents and in the public prosecutor’s report of October 1991 had come from weapons used by the demonstrators. The reference to “weapons registered” related to the weapons seized during searches and preserved as exhibits. Mr Kurt had interviewed only those people who had been listed by the gendarmerie commander as injured. The difference between the number of injured referred to in his report and the number mentioned by the chief of police could be explained by the fact that some people had gone to hospital and received immediate attention there whereas others had been admitted. Some people did not immediately realise that they had been injured, while others did not inform all the relevant authorities. He had seen the injured gendarmes in their barracks. Their injuries had been caused by stones and other hard objects which had been thrown at them, not by bullets. The commanding officer was responsible for operations. The troops had taken up their positions on his orders. If a subordinate misapplied one of the commanding officer’s orders, or acted outside the scope of that order, the subordinate was answerable for the consequences. He thought that the commanding officer of the district gendarmerie had given appropriate orders. When the police proved to be unable to handle the situation, the gendarmerie had intervened. Major Karatan had therefore intervened in good time and taken the appropriate steps. Where the investigating officer was not a gendarmerie officer, the chief of police or his deputy could investigate the case. If no such person was available, someone else, an engineer for example, could act as the investigating officer.