SELÇUK AND ASKER JUDGMENT OF 24 APRIL 1998 7 No reply to this enquiry was included with the documents from the investigation file provided to the Commission. Similarly, it appeared from that file that no statements were taken from the alleged perpetrators of the burning or from other villagers who might have witnessed events. 25. On 30 November 1994, the public prosecutor, Mr Erdal Yatmis, issued a decision of non-jurisdiction, stating that the matter concerned allegations of damage to property occurring in the winter months of 1993 during an intensive clash between the security forces and the PKK, and that since the security forces were involved in the course of their administrative duties, jurisdiction lay with the Administrative Council (see paragraph 44 below). Pursuant to this decision, the file was transferred to the Kulp District Governor on 30 November 1995. E. The Commission’s findings of fact 26. The Commission conducted an investigation with the assistance of the parties and accepted documentary evidence, including written witness statements and copies of the duty log of Kulp gendarmerie for the periods in question. Three delegates of the Commission heard the oral evidence of ten witnesses, including the applicants, Mr Asker’s wife and Mrs Selçuk’s brother-in-law, and five other former inhabitants of İslamköy or its neighbouring hamlets (Necmettin Korkmaz, Tevfik Karaaslan, Sait Memiş, Celal Şeker and Şah Şimşek), and CO Cömert, in Ankara in February 1996. Four of the witnesses whose presence had been requested failed to attend the hearings, including the public prosecutors from Lice and Kulp (see paragraph 25 above). In addition, despite repeated requests from the Commission’s secretariat and delegates, the Government failed to provide the complete set of records relating to the activities of the security forces in the Kulp district in June 1993. In relation to the oral evidence, the Commission was aware of the difficulties attached to assessing evidence obtained orally through interpreters (in some cases via Kurdish and Turkish into English). It therefore paid careful attention to the meaning and significance which should be attributed to the statements of witnesses appearing before its delegates. In respect of both written and oral evidence, the Commission was aware that the cultural context of the applicants and the witnesses made it inevitable that dates and other details (in particular, numerical details) lacked precision and did not consider that this by itself impinged upon the credibility of the testimony.