GÜLEÇ JUDGMENT OF 27 JULY 1998 13 Some of the leading citizens of İdil, together with the PKK, had organised the demonstration and publicised it energetically. All the villagers had taken part (both adults and children), except for the elderly, since those who did not take part in these demonstrations were killed or punished by the PKK. The victim, Ahmet Güleç, had been a pupil at the town’s senior high school and, as such, like all the pupils of the school, had been obliged to take part in the demonstration. If he had not done so, he would have been punished by the PKK. At that time, İdil was a “protected” area: that is, the PKK controlled people’s movements. If he, Abdülselam Güleç, had been found in his uncle’s house, he would have been forced to participate in the demonstration. The population of İdil district was essentially made up of nomads, who lived in İdil in winter and moved up into the mountains in summer. These people were armed, possessing one or two guns per family in order to protect themselves from the wolves and thieves in the region. There were contacts between members of the PKK and these nomads. In March winter was not yet over and the village nomads did not migrate to the mountains until May. At the time of the demonstration there must therefore still have been a large number of nomads in İdil. Mr Güleç asserted that the victim had told him, on an unspecified date, that the PKK had contacted him to try to persuade him to join their movement. (c) Abdurrahman Abay (mayor of İdil at the material time) (statement taken over the telephone) 32. On 4 March 1991 he had been in his office. The demonstration had taken place about a kilometre away. He had not realised it was happening until he heard shots. He had telephoned the police who had informed him that there were two dead and a number of wounded. He had not left his office. He was not responsible for security in the town. That was the responsibility of the police and the gendarmerie. Mr Abay acknowledged that he had signed the complaint lodged by leading citizens of İdil against the gendarmerie commander. At first, he had thought that the gendarmes had used excessive force against the demonstrators. However, on reflection, he recognised that the gendarmes had acted in the way they had in order to avoid losing control of the situation, so he had withdrawn his complaint.