The first hearing took place on 17 October 2003. Lawyers Sezgin
Tanrikulu, Sabahattin Korkmaz, Burhan Deyar and Habibe Deya are
indicted, on the grounds of article 240 of the Turkish Penal Code and
Article 59/1-2 of the Law on Legal Profession, for "misconducting
duty" and "abusing their legal responsibility" in connection with
compensation cases of 96 villagers from Çaglayan village of Kulp
district (Diyarbakir), Ziyaret and Uluocak villages of Lice district
evacuated and burned in the years 1993 and 1994.
The indictment dated 3 June 2003 argued that "defendant lawyers were
trying to acquire unjust gains by convincing some people that they
were going to get house and money from the state although their
villages were not evacuated or burned". However, "the fact that those
villages had been evacuated was also established with a report by the
Provincial Directorate of Public Works" Sezgin Tanrikulu said in his
testimony. According to the same report "the houses of 28 families in
Derecik field had been fired with all the properties inside, thus
tents and blankets had had to be sent to these villages". After the
lawyers had seized the governorship for 96 villagers, the Governorate
warned Province Gendarmerie Commandership to make an investigation on
the issue whose stated that the claims had been unfounded and filed
an official complaint against the four lawyers.
On 3 July, court case was launched against the lawyers."The trial
against Diyarbakir’s Bar lawyers is a legal scandal while the real
motive behind the prosecution is to prevent them from denouncing the
forced evictions and house demolitions resulting in massive forced
displacement, carried out between 1989 - 1999 as a form of punishment
against the Kurdish population living in the Southern and South-
Eastern part of Turkey" the two organizations said.
House demolitions and forced evictions in the region were often
accompanied by other human rights violations, including brutality,
humiliations, threats, enforced disappearances, extra-judicial
executions and torture. Overall, no actions have been taken by the
Turkish authorities in order to guarantee an independent
investigation into the circumstances of these events, identify those
responsible, bring them before a competent and impartial tribunal and
apply the penal, civil and/or administrative sanctions provided by
law. Most of the victims of house demolitions and forced evictions
did not receive redress and compensation. Moreover, an important
number of the victims were often forced to fill-in a formatted
petition confirming that they abandoned their rights to redress and
compensation. Victims are also often afraid that the seeking of legal
action might well prevent their return to their homeland.
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders is very
preoccupied by this judicial proceeding against lawyers, which is a
flagrant violation of article 9.3.c of
the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, which states that :
"Everyone has the right, individually and in association with others,
to offer and provide professionally
qualified legal assistance or other relevant advice and assistance in
defending human rights and fundamental freedoms".
In light of these developments before the Diyarbakir Heavy Penal
Court on Friday, the Observatory urges the Turkish authorities:
1. to drop the charges against Mr Sezgin Tanrikulu, Sabahattin
Korkmaz, Burhan Deyar and Habibe Deyar
2. to conform with United Nations Basic Principles on the Role of
Lawyers, adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in 1990 establishing
that Governments have the
duty to ensure that lawyers can full fill their functions without
fear of harassment or improper interference. (The Principle 16 states
that Governments shall ensure that
lawyers (a) are able to perform all of their professional functions
without intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference;
and (c) shall not suffer, or be
threatened with, prosecution or administrative, economic or other
sanctions for any action taken in accordance with recognized
professional duties, standards and ethics);
and to put an end to any kind of harassment and intimidation against
the defendants and allow them to carry out their professional duties
as lawyers without any fear or
hindrance.
3. to form an independent commission to compensate the victims of
forced evictions, house demolitions and related injuries and
violations;
4. to lift village guard system as their practices are posing a
psychological obstacle against return;
5. to permit the victims to return back their homelands and that
during the return of the victims the ownership has to be granted
based on the extract from the land register;
6. to conform with the provisions of the Declaration on Human Rights
Defenders, adopted by the United Nations General assembly on December
9, 1998, as well as the international and regional human rights
instruments ratified by Turkey.