SELÇUK AND ASKER JUDGMENT OF 24 APRIL 1998 5 14. The security forces then went to Mrs Selçuk’s house. They ejected her and some neighbours’ children who were staying with her, poured petrol on the house and set fire to it. Villagers were again prevented from assisting and CO Cömert pushed Mrs Selçuk, leading her to understand that she should leave the village. She stayed that night in a neighbour’s house in İslamköy and the following day went to live with her daughter in Diyarbakır. 15. Approximately ten days later, on or about 25 June 1993, the soldiers returned to the village and burned down the mill co-owned by Mrs Selçuk and three others. Three other houses were set on fire in the village, two of them destroyed. Mrs Selçuk’s brother-in-law, Mr Nesih Selçuk, telephoned her in Diyarbakır with the news. 16. Mr and Mrs Asker left İslamköy on or about 25 June 1993; they saw the smoke from the fires as they were leaving. They went initially to Kulp, where Mr Asker lodged a petition with the District Governor, setting out the losses caused by the security forces and naming “Recep” as the commanding officer. The District Governor apparently accepted the petition and referred it to the police, but Mr Asker never received a response to it. The headman (muhtar) of İslamköy at the time, Mr Sait Memiş, also allegedly informed the District Governor approximately ten days after the incident that the houses had been burnt, although he attributed the burning to the PKK. C. The Government’s version of the facts 17. In his evidence to the Commission’s delegates (see paragraph 26 below), CO Cömert explained that he had been stationed as commander of the Central Kulp gendarmerie between 15 July 1991 and 3 August 1993. He had visited İslamköy on three occasions and knew Mr Asker and most of the other inhabitants. He did not, however, visit the village during the month of June 1993 and he had received no reports of any houses being burnt there at that time. When asked why he thought the applicants had named him, he told the delegates that untrue allegations of this type had been made against him in the past in newspapers and a book. 18. The Government contended that the applicants’ complaints were concocted by others and that they were acting under the influence of the PKK and/or with a view to obtaining money.