3. Since the address in Izmit of the witness Harun Emir is known, instructions should be sent to the Izmit Criminal Court of Major Cases so that he can be heard in court... 11. Since the accused have informed the court that tortures have reached inhuman magnitudes and that unless an end is put to these tortures they will join the hunger strikers. They have asked the court to inform the pertinent authorities about the situation. This demand has been found appropriate and the Martial Law Command should be so informed with the Minutes of this hearing attached. June 21, 1983 Mr. YATRON. Thank you very much, Ms. Laber, for your testimony and also for your excellent recommendations. Our next witness is Mr. Buz. Mr. Buz, will you please proceed. STATEMENT OF SAHABEDDIN BUZ, FROM TURKEY 1 Mr. Buz. Mr. Chairman and worthy members. My name is Sahabeddin Buz and I have lived since 16 years in Germany. While on a visit home in Turkey, I was arrested the night of September 18-19, 1982. I was first brought to the local precinct of the local military police and then, from there, transported with blindfolded eyes to the political police in Antakya. Toward evening on the following day, I was brought blindfolded into a room. There I was asked if I knew why I was there. After I answered "no," a number of police officers began striking me. I was subsequently informed that I had to reflect on the reason I was brought there. Later that night, I was once again fetched and confronted with the same question. Once again, the brutal beating was repeated. I was slugged and kicked back and forth between police officers. During this episode, one of my teeth was knocked out. Afterwards, I fell unconscious and awoke the next morning. My entire body was swollen. I could barely see and could not move. I was given nothing to eat or drink the whole day. Toward evening, the same form of torture was reapplied to me. Following these 2 days of beatings, I was next brought into a room equipped with a built-in beam and furnished with a number of meat cleavers. I was hung up by my wrists so that only the tips of my toes were touching the floor with the majority of my weight being suspended. This suspension method of torture, also administered with blindfolded eyes, lasted 4 days and nights. 'This statement is translated as it is spoken; only the English/translated version is printed herein. Besides not having been given anything to eat or drink, I was also threatened with having to eat my own excrement. During these 4 days, I had sandbags and fists slammed against my stomach and chest. In addition, my genitals were crushed. Though I still couldn't make any kind of a statement after 4 days, the falaka was inflicted upon me, for about 10 to 14 days. A tire was placed around my head and across my right arm. so that I had to lay on the floor, my feet bound together in a device. A number of officials with wooden and rubber truncheons continuously beat the soles of my feet until they split open or I fell unconscious. Afterwards, my feet were submerged in salt water. Since I still denied all the accusations made and yet a charge was supposed to be fabricated, I was subjected to electric shocks. I was once again brought into a room; this time the floor was wet and once again a tire was placed around my head and across my right arm. Then electrical wire was attached to my ears, nose, penis, and toes. Electricity was conducted in erratic intervals. This lasted 2 days and nights. As a result, I was very often unconscious. In order to revive me, cold water was constantly poured over me so that I might again feel the electric shocks. After this treatment, I was told that I had 3 hours to sign the prepared confession; otherwise, I'd be killed and my corpse would be found in a sack in the mountains of Antakya. Since I could only take this threat seriously and could not endure the torture any longer, I signed without having read or acknowledged the contents. When I was eventually brought to court, I was acquitted. Despite this, the local marshal law commanders imposed upon me without any grounds the orders not to leave the country. With the help of friends, the municipality of Hanover, and Amnesty International, I succeeded in returning to Germany. [The prepared statement of Mr. Buz follows:] PREPARED STATEMENT OF SAHABEDDIN BUZ, FROM TURKEY On September 4, 1982 I travelled to Turkey in order to settle the matter of my military service. I was supposed to report for duty on November 1, 1982. During the late night of September the 18th and into the early hours of September 19, my father's house in Guemuesgoeze/Antakya was surrounded and thoroughly searched by about twenty members of the military police, who were looking for banned books and weapons-of which they found nothing of the sort. At the end of this, they informed my father that I had to come with them to headquarters in order to make a statement. I was brought in a military car to the military's local precinct in Harbiye. After arriving, my eyes were blindfolded and I was forced into another car which brought me to an unknown place. After a twenty-five minute drive, I was led into a building and shoved into a room, in which there already were three Afghan refugees. The next morning, a commissioner of the political police (Ali Tiras) entered and asked which of the detainees had come from Germany. Immediately after I identified myself, I was met with punches in the face and handballs pounded against my chin, on the grounds that when a member of the police enters the room you are supposed to stand-up. After a short while he entered once again. After all of us had sprung to our feet, he once again struck me, this time with the question, of how I came to be standing. Other members of the political police entered the room at different intervals and beat me, during the course of which they struck me in the face, head, all over my body and with the intention of intimidating me, stamped on me with their feet. This treatment lasted until late in the afternoon. Toward evening I was brought blindfolded into another room. There I was asked if I knew why I was brought there; after I answered no, a number of police officers began beating me. I was subsequently told that I had to reflect on the reason I was brought there. Late that night, I was fetched and once again confronted with the same question. Once again, the brutal beating was repeated during which I was slugged and kicked back and forth between police officers. During this episode one of my teeth was knocked-out. Afterwards, I fell unconscious and awoke the next morning. My entire body was swollen; I could barely see and could not move. I was given nothing to eat or drink the whole day. Toward evening, the same form of torture was reapplied to me. I was my Following those two days, I was brought into a room equipped with a built-in beam furnished with a number of meat cleavers. strung-up to this by my wrists, so that only the tips of toes were touching the floor; the majority of my weight being suspended. This suspension-method of torture, also administered with blindfolded eyes, lasted four days and nights. Besides not having been given anything to eat or drink, I was also threatened with having to eat my own excrement. During these four days, I had sandbags and fists slammed against my stomach and chest. In addition, my genitals were crushed. In the midst of this, I was reproached with having supposedly travelled five times in 1975 to the German Deomocratic Republic (this assertion was not true). There were further questions, about the formation of the Communist Party and its leadership structure. I was summoned to write down the history of the Turkish Left from 1965-1982. the beam. I was seated at a bench. While one of the officials (Husesyin) pressed a writing implement into my hands and continuously hit my forehead with his fist, the other (Muammer) played with his gun in front of me. Though I still couldn't make any kind of a statement, after four days, the falaka was inflicted upon me. A tire was placed around my head and across my right arm, so that I had to lay on the floor, and my feet were bound together in a device; a number of officials with wooden and rubber truncheons contin uously beat the soles of my feet until they split-open. Afterwards, I was forced to stamp my feet in salt water, something which I was unable to do. Thereupon, my feet were forcibly dunked into the salt water by the officials. This torture lasted for about ten to fourteen days, it always took place at night, and likewise, on the weekends during the day. During this time, the following questions were asked and re spectively made into assertions: -the Youth Center in Hannover was a Maoist/Leninist Organization -IG-Metall publishes a German-Turkish publication, complete with a hammer and sickle, to which I supposedly subscribed and regularly read |