Statement of FERHAT KAYA regarding arrest and ill-treatment following work on BTC pipeline

On 05.05.2004 while I was at my business place, someone called Ziya Avsar from Haskoy-Hocvan in Ardahan [Northeast Turkey] whose land was being affected by the BTC pipeline came to see me around 11-12. In the past I had assisted Ziya Avsar in bringing an application to ECtHR because his land had been affected by the pipeline and he had been a victim as a result. In my capacity as chairman of DEHAP Ardahan Centre District and also because in the past I had intermediated in his application to ECtHR, he again came to me and asked me for help against the new victimisation he had experienced. Because of his Kurdish origin he was not able to express the matter in Turkish; I called the BOTAS authorities and talked about his victimisation. Ziya Avsar was crying and saying that he would go and lie down in the way of the work machines and die if necessary. On the phone they told me that there was not an authorised person present there, but they would pass the situation to the authorities. Following this I persuaded Ziya Avsar advising him to wait for the news.

At 13.00-14.00 I went to Egitim-Sen (Education Union) Ardahan Branch to participate a meeting being held there. After the meeting on my way to my business place while I was passing by the Central Police Station which is in the same street, I was taken by the policemen to the police station by force, saying, "Ferhat Kaya, you are under arrest." They twisted my arms to the back and dragged me.

In the station they said to me that on 06.05.2004 I had a court hearing which is what they had arrested me for. I said to them that if I had a court hearing I could go by myself. However they said the instruction had come from the prosecutor, and that they would not let me out. They were manhandling and insulting me in an extreme way. I found a moment and called my workplace using my mobile phone to inform my family that I was arrested. The policemen cut the phone conversation by taking the phone away from me so that I could not let my family and my fellow party members know about my arrest.

Later they took me to Ardahan State Hospital to get a health report. Again they were insulting me in an extreme way and humiliating me verbally on the way to the hospital. In front of the people, in public, they were treating me in an injurious way.

Later on the way back from the hospital when we entered the police station they went further with their insults. They took all the goods I had on me. One policewoman was yelling at me with the words, "You, the dishonourable member of the PKK, traitor, you seller of the country." I assume this was the time of duty shift at the station, because there were many policemen at the station. The other police officers were insulting my party identity and my family. At the moment I said to them not to swear at me, the policewoman slapped me on the face saying, "You are defending the terrorists here and you are also a terrorist." Many policemen began to hit me. They lay me down on the floor and kicked me. They dragged me on the floor by pulling me holding my hands and legs. They stepped on me and tortured me. One of the policemen loaded his long-barrelled gun and pointed it to me. He was saying, "I will kill this traitor, I will kill him." When colleagues later tried to take this policeman outside, the windows of the door to the police station were broken. I think this happened when they were trying to take the long-barrelled gun from him. At that time I was on the floor and the smashed glass fell over me.

After a while they again took me to the hospital and I was so-called "treated". Because the police officers talked to the doctor, they took me away as soon as the bleeding parts of my body were bandaged. I have extreme pains in my back and abdominal region. I have not been examined and treated thoroughly. The prosecutor who ordered my arrest came to the hospital and said to the policemen, "Take him away," and they took me to another police station and put me in a lockup.

In the past the same prosecutor who had me arrested had brought a case against me because in my speech at a congress I had used the title 'Mr' for the Kurdish people leader Abdullah Ocalan who is kept on an island on his own. And I had been tried at Erzurum State Security Court and sentenced to six months heavy imprisonment as a result of this case.

Since my activities in relation to the BTC pipeline, I have often been subjected to such practices. Quite often I have been threatened and insulted in direct calls to my mobile, home and business phone.

Again there has been a conspiracy against me regarding my detention and arrest. These are systematic practices to intimidate me, my family and the people around me.

They try to hide the truth from the court and the public with groundless information by claiming they did not torture me. Whereas in spite of the fact that I was not examined and have not received a thorough treatment, I have a report from Ardahan State Hospital confirming that I had received blows which is a cause for loss of work.

Furthermore they arrested me claiming it was for my hearing, but I was arrested and sent to prison on 06.05.2004 without appearing in court. In other words I did not have a hearing. Later on they claimed that they had arrested me to determine my address for the court, whereas my address is permanent and obvious.

I am being subjected these kinds of practices because I have been protecting the rights of the victims whose lands are affected by the BTC pipeline. Even all the lawyers in Ardahan have been engaged to BOTAS.

The practices against me are completely political. They are motivated systematically to intimidate and deter me. They are related with my party activities and my activities in relation to the pipeline. In spite of the fact that I did not commit any crime I was arrested and put in prison and tortured in the police station.

In Ardahan Criminal Court of First Instance I was tried with charges of resisting against duty officers, and insulting and giving damage to the state property. The charges against me are completely groundless and beyond the truth. Because I was wrongfully arrested and ill-treated at the police station, I brought a case to Ardahan Criminal Court of First Instance. The concerned police officers also are being tried by this court.

Ferhat Kaya, Chairman DEHAP Central District, Ardahan