Research And Investıgatıon Report
HUMAN RIGHTS ASSOCIATION
Research And Investıgatıon Report Regardıng The Events In Bulanık Dıstrıct Of Muş Provınce Whıch Led To The Kıllıng Of Two People And The Injury Of Seven
16 December 2009
INCIDENT
At around 11:00 in
the morning on Tuesday, 15 December 2009, about one-thousand
people gathered in front of the Democratic Society Party
(Demokratik Toplum Partisi – DTP) building in
Bulanık district of Muş province with the goal of
protesting the closure of the DTP. The assembly wanted to
move to a shopping district near the party building in order
to make a press statement, and the crowd was fired upon with
a long-barreled gun and a pistol from a workplace in the
shopping district, leading to the death of two people and
the injury of seven.
DELEGATION
After
hearing about the above-described incident, the General
Headquarters of the Human Rights Association decided to form
a human rights delegation in its name and to go to the place
where the incident occured. On Tuesday afternoon on 15
December, the General Headquarters of the HRA faxed messages
to the Muş provincial governorship, the Bulanık district
government, and the Bulanık Chief Public Prosecutor’s
Office in order to request interviews and meetings with
them.
The delegation consisted of the following individuals:
1. Muharrem Erbey, Attorney at Law, HRA Vice
President and President of the
Diyarbakır branch
of the HRA;
2. Ali Akıncı, HRA Central Executive
Committee member and East and Southeast Anatolia Regional
Representative of the HRA;
3. Cihan Güçlük, Attorney
at Law, HRA Central Executive Committee
member.
ACTIVITIES CARRIED OUT BY THE
DELEGATION
1. VISIT TO BULANIK
DISTRICT AND THE SITUATION THERE
The human
rights delegation took to the road at 6:30 in the morning on
16 December 2009with the goal of going to Bulanık district
in Muş province. Along Bulanık road it was observed that
police and security forces had been dispatched to Bulanık
district. The delegation arrived in Bulanık at 11:15 in
the morning. The weather in the area was cold and snowy,
and it was observed that all shops were closed, there were
many security forces and police panzers waiting at the
corners of streets, the district government, police station
and some public institutions were under blockade, the
streets and avenues where the incident took place were
closed to access, people were walking in the streets,
everyone had a sulky face, and that tension was
high.
2. EVENTS THAT DEVELOPED DURING THE RETURN FROM
THE GRAVEYARD
Kemal Ağaca, the village
headman of Yoncalı village, was killed on Tuesday 15
December and buried the same night. 19 year old Necmi Oral
was buried at 11:00 on Wednesday 16 December. At the time
that our delegation went to the funeral home to pay our
respects, Oral’s relatives were returning from the
cemetary. While passing by the house of the man who killed
Necmi, Turan Bilen, a few young people became angry, began
to shout insults and throw stones at the perpetrator’s
home. Upon this, security forces indiscriminately fired
gas
bombs at the crowd returning from the cemetary. It
was seen that the deployed gas bombs disturbed both those
returning from the cemetary and the people in the homes in
the area, and that close to two thousand people were
impacted by the gas. Because it was in the area when the
incident occured, the human rights delegation was also
heavily impacted by the gas. It was seen that the deployed
gas burned in the eyes and respiratory pipes and caused
extreme discomfort for five or six minutes. In the
meantime, Muş parliamentary deputies Sırrı Sakık and
Nuri Yaman, along with the mayor of Bulanık, were observed
intervening and trying to forcibly distance the youth from
the vicinity of the house.
3. CONDOLENCE
WISHES
Subsequently, those returning from
the cemetary came to the front of Necmi Oral’s house,
religious obligations were fulfilled together with the
people there, and well wishes were transmitted to the Oral
family. The human rights delegation was introduced to the
family and to the people assembled there and it was
explained that we had come with the goal of investigating
the incident, and snippets of information related to how the
incident developed were taken from people who had come to
offer condolences and many individuals who had witnessed the
event in person.
INTERVIEWS
CONDUCTED
1. Sırrı Sakık –
Independent Parliamentarian from
Muş
Immediately after the event we rushed
from Diyarbakır to Bulanık. An indiscriminate attack on
the public had been witnessed. This event was unacceptable.
The incident in Bulanık began and escalated when an
individual by the name of Turan Bilen fired on a group of
people protesting the closure of the DTP. Bilen has been
protected by some state mechanisms for a long time, and this
event can’t be explained simply as a shopkeeper’s
reaction.
2. Nuri Yaman - Independent Parliamentarian
from Muş
Immediately after the event we
came to Bulanık. This event is not a simple one. We’ve
met with many people. According to what they’ve said, the
first death occured between 11:00 and 12:00. This man had
waited in his workplace with a gun in his hand for a long
time. However, during this period security forces didn’t
go and take his gun or warn him.
3. Ziya Akka – Mayor
of Bulanık
We’re profoundly sad about
the events that occured on Tuesday, December 15. A press
statement was going to be made with the goal of denouncing
the closure of the DTP. I was in Muş. I came back. There
was a provocation during the incident. It had a
relationship with JİTEM. We lost two brothers. Our pain
is huge. Hopefully we won’t experience pain like this
again. I didn’t witness the incident. But many people
say that the event was a volley of gunfire.
4. Rahmi
Çelik – Former DTP Chairman in Bulanık
District
We were leaving our old party
building and going to the shopping district with the goal of
protesting the closure of the DTP. It was around 10:30 in
the morning. The place we were going was about 500 meters
away. There were very many security forces in the streets.
All shops were closed and their shutters were shut.
However, an individual named Turan Bilen – who is known to
be involved with JİTEM – hadn’t closed his shop, and he
was seen in his shop with two other people. This man roams
everywhere with a gun, no one asks him anything, no one can
ask him anything He’s a very dark man. Moreover, many
shots were fired. I don’t know if the person who hit
Necmi was a police officer or the individual named Turan.
It’ll be revealed if a ballistic investigation is
conducted. There were three people in the shop. Those
other than Turan were wearing snow masks. The person named
Turan was wearing a bulletproof steel vest. Gas bombs and
bullets were fired from the area across from Turan’s
shop.
5. Remzi
Demirağ
With the goal of protesting the
closure of the DTP, we were going to make a press statement
between 10:30 and 11:00 at the location of minibus stops at
the beginning of Alpaslan avenue. We were 500 meters away
from the DTP building. Gas bombs were deployed before the
crowd dispersed, and then young people threw stones. Necmi
was hit at 11:30. Turan Bilen – a shopkeeper and salesman
who at the same time roams around with guns, sometimes gets
in panzers, and workers with JİTEM – and the two people
with him hit Necmi. His shop had two floors. The assembled
people were fired on directly from the second floor. First,
one person was firing, and later three people were suddenly
firing. Turan was wearing a bulletproof steel vest under
his jacket. His jacket was bulky and it was noticeable from
far away. The two other people were wearing black snow
masks. I was watching the event from 20 meters away. I saw
Necmi fall at the corner of the Ziraat Bank building. He
was at the corner of the fabric shop. There were 50 meters
in between. I went up to him. He hadn’t died yet. He
was alive. Showing me Turan’s shop, he said “they shot
me from the second floor.” I took him into my hands. My
other friends came to help me. He had been injured in the
back of his head. After carrying him with our hands for a
certain distance we got in a taxi. We brought him to the
hospital.
At about 7:00 in the morning I saw the individual named Turan opening his shop. There were two people. They had a fire extinguisher and cloth sacks. There were heavy things in the sacks. They were middle-sized. It seemed as if there were things like guns and bullets inside. In the morning there were two people there. At the time of the incidents, there were three people. Many times before we had seen this man get in military panzers and go straight to Malazgirt district. This man had also threatened us many times before. He threatened me when I was a DEHAP (Demokratik Halk Partısı – Democratic People’s Party) leader in 1995. As far as I know he had threatened many colleagues from the party. Everyone knows him. He’s involved in cooperation with JİTEM. The state protects him, looks after him, he has a goatee, wears glasses and is about 45 years old. All of the schools’ contracts for uniforms, cloth and other such goods were given to him.
6.
Bircan Demir – Former Member of the DTP’s Party
Assembly
We were going to make a press
statement on Alpaslan avenue with the goal of protesting the
closure of the DTP. About 1,000 people had assembled. We
were as much as 500 meters away from the place we were
going. All of the shops were closed and shuttered. Stones
might have been thrown, I didn’t see. Gas bombs were
deployed. It was about 11:15. At about 11:30 it was said
that someone had been injured and had fallen to the ground.
Following this, I went and met with the Bulanık provincial
governor in the name of the party. I said that shots were
being fired from the second floor of Turan’s shop. I said
the atmosphere was tense. We said that security forces
should be withdrawn from the streets and that we should also
disperse the rally so that the event wouldn’t escalate.
The provincial governor accepted. The police were withrawn.
However, the guns weren’t taken from the individuals in
the fabrics shop. They were still there. They weren’t
taken away. A little bit later, however it happened, events
began again as people were drawing back and shots were fired
from the shop for the second time. The second round of fire
was opened around 13:00 in the afternoon. The assembled
people were fired on directly from the shop. Before, they
were going out and firing. But in the afternoon this
individual was only raising his hand and gun and
indiscriminately raking people with fire without directly
looking at the crowd. In the meantime, other people fell to
the ground.
7. Mehmet Temel – Editorial Director at
Bulanık Bilican Newspaper
On the day of
the incident a press statement condemning the closure of DTP
was going to be made. A mass gathered in front of the
office of the closed DTP. They began to march from
Alparslan Paha avenue straight toward İsakoğlu avenue. A
few young people had already arrived at the entrance to
İsakoğlu avenue and the police interfered in the assembly
by deploying gas bombs. Not having yet arrived at the
banks, the crowd was forced to disperse into side streets.
The sound of youth shouting slogans was coming from the side
streets. A workplace on İsakoğlu avenue known as Mardin
Manifatura (Mardin fabrics shop) opened in the morning
hours. However, I saw the shutters closed later. There was
a fully-equipped group of police directly across from Mardin
Manifatura. Shots were fired from this shop after 20
minutes had passed since the first gas bomb was deployed.
Necmi fell to the ground at a place that was 20 or 25 meters
away from Mardin Manifatura. I saw the moment when Necmi
hit the ground. Immediately after he fell gas bombs were
deployed to the area where he had fallen. When the fog
dissipated a little I brought Necmi to a side street with a
few other people. He was later brought to the State
Hospital in a vehicle. He was worked on at the State
Hospital for a half hour and was later dispatched to Muş.
I returned to the shopping district. The police were
waiting 50 or 60 meters away from the municipality
building.
Because the crowed saw fire being opened fom Mardin Manifatura they began to assemble and move straight toward the municipality. Furthermore, everyone was supposing that Turan Bilen’s shop was closed until Necmi was fired upon. The shop was open in the morning but was closed at the time of the march. When the crowd was heading straight there Turan Bilen went in front of his shop and began to fire. After the crowd retreated and fell apart Turan went to his shop again and closed the shutters, which are the type that can be opened and closed automatically. When the crowd reassembled he went back and opened fire again. I didn’t see if anyone was injured during this gunfire but I saw him raking the crowd. Without going outside himself, he stuck the barrel of his gun straight out and began to indiscriminately fire on the area. Bullets also came to my vicinity. By sheer luck I wasn’t injured. When the sound of gunfire stopped I looked back and saw that village headman Kemal and three other people behind him had been wounded by the gunfire and fallen to the ground. One of them was wounded in the leg. At any rate, the crowd dispersed after the gunfire.
In the place where the event occured as well as its vicinity fog bombs were deployed. You couldn’t see eye to eye. The police went to Mardin Manifatura with panzers and took this individual. Due to the smoke, no one could see anything. The police went in front of the shop and took him quickly. Village headman Kemal was shot around 13:00. While the event was happening the police in the shopping district didn’t intervene with the individual or in the shop in any way. I watched all of these events with a journalist’s reflex. One point I want to emphasize is that all the information about the event was communicated to the national press and media by myself.
I also took some footage. However, when I watched the news later I noticed that the information I’d given had been completely distorted. For example, it was explained by the media that on the day of the incident Mardin Manifatura was hit with molotov cocktails, that Turan Bilen’s car was burned, and that he later opened fire. This is definitely not true. His car was neither burned nor vandalized. He opened fire and shot Necmi without his shop facing any kind of attack whatsoever. The crowd got thoroughly out of control after the police took Turan Bilen away. The events in which his shop and the bank were burned took place after he was taken away by the police.
8. Fatih Aksoy
-Bulanık Provincial Governor
I’ve been
performing duty in the district for about two and a half
years. Until now press statements have been made in the
district scores of times. Once or twice there have also
been protest actions involving the closing of shops. We
never interfered in any of them. As a result, ours is not a
district where events such as these occur. On the day of
the incident 700 or 800 people gathered to make a press
statement. I put 70 police offers employed in the district
on duty as a precaution in response to this. The assembly
began to march toward the area where the press statement
would be made. Upon arriving there, a group of 200 people
went to the shopping district without making a press
statement and without waiting and began to attack shops and
banks.
Turan Bilen, the owner of a shop called Mardin
Manifatura, had kept his shop open during past shop closure
strikes. His shop was also open on the day of the incident.
Moreover, on the day of the incident the police chief met
with him in the morning. He said it would be better if
Bilen closed his shop. But Turan was stubborn. He didn’t
close his shop. After the 200 people-strong mass arrived in
the shopping district four or five people from our district
met with me. They wanted me to withdraw the security
forces. They claimed that they would be able to disperse
the crowd if the security forces were drawn back. I drew
the security forces back a little bit. However, this crowd
of 200 people began to attack shops. The incident with
gunfire began after this. We have surveillance cameras in
the streets in our district but most of them are defective;
one works in the area where the event took place but I
assume that the footage is very poor. One kalashnikov and
one pistol were seized fron Turan Bilen’s shop. Our
research into the event continues but at the moment we’re
prioritizing activities to prevent the events and tension
from continuing. Until now we haven’t gotten any sense
that the security forces were neglegent in relation to this
incident. They definitely didn’t even shoot into the air
during the event. The fact that Necmi had been shot was
registered in the records of the 112 Emergency service at
11:26 in the morning. We know that a total of six bullets
were fired during the incident. And these were rounds from
long-barreled guns. We don’t have any information about
whether or not the pistol was used during the event, our
research is continuing. 3 people always work at Mardin
Manifatura. One of them is a woman. The other two are
sibilings. We don’t have any information about whether or
not individuals who were wearing snow masks were in the shop
at the time of the incident. There was no negligence by
police forces during the incidents. The source of the
incident was the fact that the assembled mass wasn’t
managed or directed and was unguided. During the event
there was no one we could take as a negotiator and no one
who could manage the crowd. The four or five people who
came to meet with me tried to obstruct the events in good
faith but they were unable to control the assembly.
9.
Çağlar Dilek – Bulanık Chief Public
Prosecutor
Because our legal inquiry is
confidential it’s not possible for me to give detailed
information. The investigation is still continuing. Two
people – named Turan Bilen and Metin Bilen respectively
– were detained in connection to the incident. An
investigation was carried out at the place where the
incident occured. Evidence is still being collected.
Statements have been taken at police quarters, however a
statement still hasn’t been taken at the prosecutor’s
office. Stones were thrown at many shops in the shopping
district, the shop belonging to Turan Bilen and banks were
burned. Our research into whether shots were fired before
or after the shops were burned is continuing. The
surveillance cameras are out of order, and the one that
works doesn’t provide sharp footage. For that reason
recordings taken with mobile phones and police cameras are
being investigated. In Turan Bilen’s shop one kalashnikov
and one pistol were seized. We’re researching whether or
not there are permits for these guns. Ballistic
investigations are also being done.
LEGAL PROVISIONS PERTAINING TO TEMPORARY VILLAGE GUARDS AND VOLUNTARY VILLAGE GUARDS
The kalashnikov that Turan Bilen had in his hand the day of the incident in Bulanık was taken from the provincial or district governorship in 1996 in his capacity as a Voluntary Village Guard and the gun has remained in his possession until the present.
The Village Guard system came into effect with Law 442 (The Law on Villages), which was published in the 68th edition of the Official Gazete on 18 March 1924. The system is regulated by article 74 of Law 442, which says the following:
Article 74: If
there are pillagers and activity derived from banditry
during harvest
times, village headmen and
councils can designate as many armed villagers as necessary
as voluntary guards in order to protect the population of
the village. Their names shall be written on a piece of
paper and brought to the district governorship. With the
disctrict governor’s permission, these voluntary
guards (emphasis added) may protect the village
population fom pillagers and bandits together with the
principal guards.
Law 442 was modified in 1985 with law 3175 and also in 1990 and 2007. In the process, the Temporary Village Guard System – which is actually required to be abolished – was strengthened. The law continues:
In provinces determined by the Council of
Ministers, depending on the reasons that necessitate the
declaration of a state of emergency, in the case of
proliferation of instances of violence in or around villages
or under any circumstances in which assaults against the
lives or property of villagers increase for any reason
whatsoever, a sufficient amount of village guards may be
appointed with the request of the provincial governor and
the approval of the Interior Ministry. The number of
village guards to be employed cannot exceed 40,000 people
(emphasis added). The Council of Ministers has the
authority to increase this number to 50,000. An end can be
brought to their employment as temporary village guards
through the same procedure in a situation in which the
conditions that necessitated their employment no longer
exists or according to administrative
necessity.
Articles 76 and 77 of law 3175 clearly
designate the circumstances and manners in which temporary
village guards may use their guns.
Article 76:
Only village guards may use the guns and ammunition with
which they are officially provided. They cannot entrust
these materials with anyone else.
Article
77: Village guards may use guns in the following
circumstances:
1. In a situation in which it’s
absolutely necessary to protect his life from an individual
who has placed it in danger or attacked him while performing
his duties;
2. While performing duty,
in order to rescue a member of the public whose life is
exposed to danger or the threat of rape and no other remedy
can be found and if he’s
overwhelmed;
3. If he aims to apprehend
the perpetrator or suspected perpetrator of a murder who was
caught in the act (in other words while it was being done or
after it was done and evidence connecting him to the murder
was still clearly visible) and the suspect pulls a gun on
him;
4. If an apprehended murderer
escapes and doesn’t obey orders to stop and there’s no
solution other than the use of a gun in order to capture him
again;
5. If a suspicious individual escapes from a residency during a bandit raid and doesn’t comply with orders to stop.
Guards will be punished if they use
their guns in circumstances other than the ones described
above. Even when it’s necessary for a guard to use a gun,
the guard shall take care to insure that his actions result
in injury, not death.
Turan Bile worked as
a shopkeeper at the same time as being a Voluntary Village
Guard. However, the law is clear. In Article 81 it’s
expressed that guards cannot operate shops. So how does
Turan Bilen do this work, why isn’t this
corrected?
Article 81: It’s forbidden for guards to engage in the following business:
1. To
do work other than that associated with being a village
guard, for example to operate shops, coffee houses, or
inns or to be involved in partnerships related to such
work (emphasis added);
2. To abandon his duties without
permission in order to serve himself or anyone from the
village;
3. To benefit in an
unnecessary way from the vineyards, gardens and growing
plains they guard;
4. To graze their
own animals and do shepherding work in the
village;
5. To not affix his badge
identifiying himfself as a village guard on his dress, gun
and wallet or to modify this
badge.
FINDINGS
• It
was confirmed that press statements had been made by the DTP
office in Bulanık district of Muş province for a long time
and on many different dates and that until this incident no
serious problem had ever occured as a result.
• It was
confirmed that there was coordination and communication
between public institutions, the mayor (who was a DTP
member) and DTP party office in Bulanık.
• It was
confirmed that at about 7:00 in the morning of 15 December,
a day on which a press statement concerning the closure of
the DTP was going to be made, Turan Bilen and his brother
Metin Bilen armed themselves in preparation for the
event.
• It was confirmed that Turan Bilen was warned
by security forces against opening his shop in the morning,
as doing so would have made him the only person in the
district coming out against the shop closure
protest.
• It was confirmed that Turan Bilen’s gun
– which was possessed within the framework of the
Voluntary Temporary Village Guard System – ended the lives
of two people (violations of the right to life), and also
caused the injury of seven people.
• Although the
incident involving gunfire continued for at least one hour,
it was seen that police didn’t make any interventions in
the direction of capturing or neutralizing Turan
Bilen.
• It was observed that this incident bears the
quality of being a continuation of other events provoked by
dark forces experienced recently in İzmir, İstanbul –
Beyoğlu, Çanakkale-Bayramiç and various other places in
Turkey.
MAJOR CONCERNS
• Why is it
that security forces only tried to persuade Turan Bilen, who
went to his shop while armed at 7:00 in the morning on the
day of the shop closure protest and press statement? Why
wasn’t the possibilty of an event occuring
anticipated?
• During the march before the press
statement did Turan Bilen step outside and stand in the
street with a gun in his hand? This point can be clarified
with the use of surveillance cameras.
• Why wasn’t
the gun taken from Turan Bilen despite the fact that three
or four people who wanted to make a press statement left the
scene of the incident after fire was opened on the crowd and
went and met with the district governor? Why didn’t the
security forces see and obstruct the firing from the shop
despite the fact that everyone saw it?
• Is it true
Turan Bilen was wearing a steel vest when he was shooting
and that the two people who were with him at the time were
wearing snow masks? Who were the people that were with
him?
• Were the surveillance cameras in the street and
the footage taken by the security cameras that belong to the
Ziraat and Halk banks taken into custody? Were they placed
in the case file as part of the inquiry?
• Is an
inquiry going to be opened about the security forces who
witnessed the incident but didn’t stop Turan Bilen on the
basis of the possibility that they were negligent in their
duties?
• The shooting and death of the village headman
occured around noontime. Were security forces stationed in
front of Turan Bilen’s shop until that time? Did they
witness the events? If so why weren’t the guns taken?
After the second death, what time were the weapons
taken?
• It’s being put forward that the permit for
the weapon Turan Bilen possessed as part of the Voluntary
Temporary Village Guard System was acquired in 1996. Are
these statements true? And has the permit been renewed in
the meantime?
• How many Temporary and Volunteer
village guards are there connected to the Interior Ministry?
• What are the roles, duties and authorities of
Voluntary Village Guards?
• From 1985 until the present
how many crimes have Volunteer and Temporary village guards
been involved in? For how many of these have inquiries and
lawsuits been opened? How many have been
clarified?
• How much money does each Volunteer and
Temporary village guard cost the state? How much has the
total cost to the state been up until now?
• What’s
the explanation for the fact that the destruction created by
the Temporary Village Guard System and Voluntary Village
Guard System, which only comes to the public agenda during
massacres, isn’t being seen and is being
continued?
Muharrem Erbey, Attorney at Law
– Vice President of the Human Rights Association and
President of the Diyarbakır Branch of the
HRA
Ali Akıncı – HRA East and
Southeast Regional Representative
Cihan
Güçlük, Attorney at Law, HRA Central Executive Committee
Member
ENDS