ERGI JUDGMENT OF 28 JULY 1998 12 incident occurred, İsa Gündoğdu of the central gendarmerie had had to borrow an armoured personnel carrier from the police because those belonging to the gendarmerie were being used in a mission. İsa Gündoğdu had stated that the firing at the village had only lasted about five minutes whereas the letter from the public prosecutor at the Diyarbakır National Security Court dated 8 December 1994 referred to fighting that had started at 9.30 p.m. and continued into the night, which appeared to corroborate the applicant’s version of events, derived from his family, that the firing had continued for over an hour. The applicant had stated that, as might be expected from sustained shooting, there was widespread damage to the village. He had gone round the village, noting damage to about a hundred houses and had taken a few photographs which indeed revealed bullet marks on two houses. İsa Gündoğdu who had also been in the village the next day had stated that there was damage only to two or three houses and to a car, from at most fifteen bullets. This is another area which could have been elucidated by further information provided by the Government. İsa Gündoğdu stated that photographs of the village had been taken by the public prosecutor. These had not been provided by the Government, which had stated that no photographs had been taken. 39. As regards the details of the clash which had been given, the Commission was again hampered by a lack of direct information. It had initially been provided with a blurred copy of the sketch map by İsa Gündoğdu with the bottom section omitted. This copy showed a key indicating the positions of the terrorists (no. 7) and the security forces (no. 9). A no. 7 had clearly appeared to the east of the village. A no. 9 had appeared to the north-west. There had also been a squiggle in the south not dissimilar to that portraying the security forces’ position to the north-west and which contained a blurred figure. This figure had seemed to be a 9. İsa Gündoğdu when questioned stated that the terrorists were to the south and indicated on the sketch that they would have been close to the position marked with the blurred figure. If the blurred figure had been a 9, this had been a mistake. Major Kuzu had also been adamant that there would be no security forces in the south. In brief, there would be no point: the terrain had not been favourable and they had known the PKK would come from the north and would flee in that direction. Since Major Kuzu had not been present during the clash, on his own testimony, the Commission felt unable to give his evidence much weight. İsa Gündoğdu had based his sketch on what he had heard from the units involved – apparently a brief radio contact. It was strange that at the time he appeared to have marked the security forces as having been present in the south yet was now certain that this must have been a mistake. Many months after the hearing of the witnesses, the