ERGI JUDGMENT OF 28 JULY 1998
(b) for the Commission
Mrs G.H. THUNE,
3
Delegate;
(c) for the applicant
Ms F. HAMPSON, Barrister-at-Law,
Mr K. BOYLE, Barrister-at-Law,
Ms A. REIDY, Barrister-at-Law,
Counsel.
The Court heard addresses by Mrs Thune, Ms Hampson, and Mrs Akçay.
AS TO THE FACTS
I.
THE PARTICULAR CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE CASE
6. The applicant, Mr Muharrem Ergi, a Turkish citizen of Kurdish
origin, was born in 1954 and lives at Incirliova, Aydın.
7. The application was brought on behalf of the applicant himself, his
deceased sister, Havva Ergi, and her young daughter. It concerns complaints
relating to an incident on 29 September 1993 in which Havva Ergi was
killed.
The village in which the events took place has two names: an old
Kurdish name of Gisgis and an official Turkish name of Kesentaş. The latter
name has been used below.
8. The facts in this case are disputed.
A. The applicant’s version of the facts
9. A week before the incident on 29 September 1993 in the applicant’s
village of Kesentaş, Cuma Bali, one of two “collaborators” in the village
had been killed by the PKK (Workers Party of Kurdistan). The day before
the incident, Ibrahim Halil, the other “collaborator” had moved, under the
protection of Ziyaret village guards and apparently with the assistance of
gendarmes, from the applicant’s village to Ziyaret, a village five kilometres
away. A “collaborator” is described by the applicant as someone spying for
the State as distinct from members of the village guards.
10. On 29 September 1993, the security forces set up an ambush in the
vicinity of the village purportedly to capture members of the PKK. They
consisted, inter alia, of a commando unit and village guards from Ziyaret.
Security forces were located in or near a cemetery 600 metres