KURT JUDGMENT OF 25 MAY 1998 4 The facts 9. The facts surrounding the disappearance of the applicant’s son are disputed. 10. The facts presented by the applicant in her final observations on the merits of her application in the proceedings before the Commission are contained in Section A below. This account of the facts also addresses her allegation that she and her lawyer have been subjected to intimidation by the authorities on account of her decision to lodge an application with the Commission. The applicant did not reconstitute her version of the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of her son in her memorial to the Court, relying rather on the facts as established by the Commission in its report (Article 31) adopted on 5 December 1996. 11. The facts as presented by the Government are set out in Section B. 12. A description of the materials submitted to the Commission is contained in Section C. A description of the proceedings before the domestic authorities regarding the disappearance of the applicant’s son, as established by the Commission, is set out in Section D. 13. The Commission, with a view to establishing the facts in the light of the dispute over the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of the applicant’s son, conducted its own investigation pursuant to Article 28 § 1 (a) of the Convention. To this end, the Commission examined a series of documents submitted by both the applicant and the Government in support of their respective assertions and appointed three delegates to take evidence of witnesses at a hearing conducted in Ankara on 8 and 9 February 1996. The Commission’s evaluation of the evidence and its findings thereon are summarised in Section E. A. Facts as presented by the applicant 1. Concerning the disappearance of the applicant’s son 14. From 23 to 25 November 1993 security forces, made up of gendarmes and a number of village guards, carried out an operation in the village of Ağıllı. On 23 November 1993, following intelligence reports that three terrorists would visit the village, the security forces took up positions around the village. Two clashes followed. During the two days they spent in the village they conducted a search of each house. A number of houses, between ten and twelve, were burnt down during the operation, including those of the applicant and Mevlüde and Ali Kurt, Mevlüde being her son’s aunt. Only three of the houses were near the clashes. Other houses were burnt down on a second occasion during the military operation. The