SELÇUK AND ASKER JUDGMENT OF 24 APRIL 1998 18 As with the above-mentioned Akdivar judgment, this ruling is confined to the particular circumstances of the present case and is not to be interpreted as a general statement that remedies are ineffective in this area of Turkey or that applicants are absolved from the obligation under Article 26 to have normal recourse to the system of remedies which are available and functioning. III. MERITS A. Alleged violation of Article 3 of the Convention 72. The applicants, referring to the circumstances of the destruction of their homes and their eviction from their village, maintained that there had been a breach of Article 3 of the Convention, which reads: “No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.” 73. The Government denied that there had been any security operation in the village on the dates in question and submitted that the houses had been burned by PKK terrorists (see paragraphs 18 and 19 above). There had therefore been no violation of Article 3 imputable to the State. 74. The Commission found the burning of the applicants’ homes in their presence to be acts of violence and deliberate destruction in utter disregard for their safety and welfare, depriving them of most of their personal belongings and leaving them without shelter and assistance. It noted in particular Mr Asker’s age and infirmity and the traumatic circumstances surrounding the burning of his house, which put him and his wife in danger from smoke and flames as they tried to save their belongings, and the fact that Mrs Selçuk had been induced to plead with CO Cömert who had insulted and pushed her. It accordingly found that the applicants had been subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment. 75. Article 3, as the Court has observed on many occasions, enshrines one of the fundamental values of democratic society. Even in the most difficult of circumstances, such as the fight against organised terrorism and crime, the Convention prohibits in absolute terms torture or inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Unlike most of the substantive clauses of the Convention and of Protocols Nos. 1 and 4, Article 3 makes no provision for exceptions and no derogation from it is permissible under Article 15 even in the event of a public emergency threatening the life of the nation (see, inter alia, the above-mentioned Aksoy judgment, p. 2278, § 62).