AHMET ÖZKAN AND OTHERS c. TURKEY (Application n. 21689/93)

The case, which was lodged with the former European Commission of Human Rights by 32 Turkish nationals in April 1993, mainly concerns events which took place in 1993 in the village of Ormaniçi in the Güçlükonak district of the Şırnak province in south-east Turkey. The applicants alleged that, on 20 February 1993, security forces looking for members of the PKK (proscribed as a terrorist organisation under Turkish law) had attacked Ormaniçi, as a result of which two children had died. The applicants further alleged that on the same day the security forces had set fire to houses in Ormaniçi and had taken most of the male villagers into detention. The applicants claimed that these men had been subjected to ill-treatment in detention, resulting in various serious injuries and the death of one villager.

According to the Government, security forces had come under fire from the village. No houses had been deliberately burned and nobody had been injured or killed in Ormaniçi on 20 February 1993. Moreover villagers taken into detention had not been ill-treated.

The applicant relied on Art. 2 (right to life), Art. 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment), Art. 5 (right to liberty and security), Art. 8 (right to respect for private and family life), Art. 25 (Right of individual petition) and Art. 28 § 1 (a) (duty of the respondent State to provide all necessary facilities for the effective conduct of the investigation).

The Court held unanimously that:

there had been no violation of Article 2 (right to life) of the European Convention on Human Rights in respect of the security forces’ opening of intensive fire on 20 February 1993;
there had been both a substantive and procedural violation of Article 2 of the Convention in the case of Mevlüde Ekin as regards the death of Abide Ekin;
there had been no violation of Article 2 of the Convention in the case of Fatma Yıldırım in respect of the death of Ali Yıldırım and the wounding of Emine Yıldırım;
there had been both a substantive and procedural violation of Article 2 of the Convention in the case of Ayşe Ekinci in relation to the death of İbrahim Ekinci;
there had been no violation of Article 3 (prohibition of inhuman and degrading treatment) of the Convention in respect of the security forces’ decision to conduct a systematic search of Ormaniçi and to gather its inhabitants in the village square;
there had been a violation of Article 3 of the Convention as regards the security forces’ treatment of the Ormaniçi villagers held in the village square;
there had been both a substantive and procedural violation of Article 3 of the Convention as regards the manner in which the apprehended Ormaniçi villagers were taken to Güçlükonak and the conditions of their detention in Güçlükonak;
there had been a violation of Article 5 (right to liberty and security) of the Convention on account of the lack of proper custody records in Güçlükonak and Şırnak;
there had been a violation of Article 5 § 1 of the Convention as regards the detention of the apprehended Ormaniçi villagers;
there had been a violation of Article 5 § 3 of the Convention on account of the authorities’ failure to bring the apprehended Ormaniçi villagers promptly before a judge or judicial officer;
there had been a violation of Article 5 § 3 of the Convention in respect of the length of the detention of Ali Erbek;
there had been a violation of Article 8 (right to respect for private and family life) of the Convention in the cases of Hediye Çetin, Mehmet Emin Demir, Kumri Aslan, Hüseyin Sezgin, Mevlüde Ekin, Besna Ekin, İbrahim Ekin, Abdullah Kurt, Mehmet Sezgin, Hamit Ekinci, Rahim Arslan, Ahmet Erbek, Abdurrahman Çetin and Ayşe Sezgin on account of the destruction of their homes;
there had been no failure to comply with former Article 25 (right of individual petition) of the Convention; and
there had been no failure to comply with former Article 28 § 1 (a) (duty of the respondent State to provide all necessary facilities for the effective conduct of the investigation) of the Convention.