GÜLEÇ JUDGMENT OF 27 JULY 1998
(o)
25
Cüda Demir (born in Turkey in 1975, now living in Germany)
44. Ms Demir stated that the demonstration had been called in protest
against searches carried out by the army and arrests made on 2 March 1991
in a village near İdil.
Ms Demir had taken part in the demonstration together with
Ahmet Güleç, who had been a school friend of hers. There were no lessons
because of the demonstration. They had decided to take part with other
pupils from the senior high school. There had been many demonstrators and
they were not acting under anyone’s orders. They were not carrying
weapons or stones.
With regard to the circumstances surrounding the death of Ahmet Güleç,
Ms Demir stated that she was with him in the middle of the crowd when
they found themselves trapped between the gendarmes who were barring the
road in front of them (about 150 metres away) and a Panzer tank which was
following close (5 or 6 metres) behind the demonstration, having come from
the centre of town. The armoured vehicle had fired from behind the
demonstrators, many times, at random and directly at the demonstrators,
although this was not necessary to bring them under control. She had seen
Ahmet Güleç fall to the ground beside her when the shooting first started.
He had remained lying on the ground while the demonstrators were running
off into the adjacent streets. She had taken refuge in a house from which she
had called her father. She had got home about two hours later. At that time,
she could still hear shots. She had later found out that her friend had died.
(p)
Hüsnü Demir (born in 1966, manager of a café opposite the Turkish Electricity
(TEK) building in Atatürk Street, İdil, at the material time, currently living in
Germany)
45. On the day in question Mr Demir had gone to his café at 6 a.m. At
about 8 a.m. the demonstration began. It was a large one. The demonstrators
did not have weapons, or stones or sticks. They were chanting slogans such
as, “Stop the torture, stop the repression”.
The soldiers had formed a barricade in front of the demonstrators. The
Panzer, which suddenly appeared behind the crowd, fired into the air, at the
ground and in the direction of the demonstrators. One person was hit by a
bullet and fell to the ground about ten to twenty metres in front of
Mr Demir’s café. All the other demonstrators dispersed. The Panzer had
been about 100 to 150 metres from the café. Ahmet Güleç was lying on the
ground in front of the café, before the post office.