Retired Colonel Temizöz Detained Pending Trial

Colonel Cemal Temizöz, former Kayseri Provincial Gendarmerie Regiment Commander, is facing a nine count aggravated life sentences on the grounds of his alleged responsibility for the death of 20 people in the town of Cizre in the province of Şırnak bordering on Iraq and Syria. The 20 people were kidnapped and tortured to death in the years 1993-1995. Temizöz was now taken to the D Type Prison in Diyarbakır, a provincial capital also in the south-east of Turkey.

Temizöz was transferred from the Diyarbakır 7^th Corps Command Military Prison. Now, he is detained in the same prison as journalists Ozan Kılınç, and Gurbet Çakar, Vedat Kurşun and Bedri Adanır, the latter who are tried in the scope of the KCK Diyarbakır Case. The KCK, the Democratic Confederation of Kurdistan, is an umbrella organization with the aim to organize Kurdish people. It also includes the militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). In its annual meeting in August, the High Military Council (YAŞ) retired Temizsöz.

Temizöz is tried together with the former Mayor of Cizre, Kamil Atak, Tamer Atak, Fırat Altın, Hıdır Altuğ, Adem Yakın and Kukel Atak. The trial was continued on 17 September.

Kamil Atak's brother Mehmet Nuri Binzet and the Deputy President of the Human Rights Foundation, Muharrem Erbey, were heard as witnesses. Erbey is currently detained in the context of the KCK Diyarbakır Case.

Erbey stated that he visited Binzet in prison on 23 March 2009 to help him. "We do not look at political preferences. We only look at their status as victims. Soldiers, policemen and relatives of guards apply to us as well. I prepared an application form when I was talking to Binzet. But he was tensed and anxious. He told me that the PKK had killed his father in 1993 and that he became an enemy of the PKK. He was very nervous and talked incoherently. He did not give any names of people or places. He was just telling me about a few things he had experienced in the past. He said things like 'They gave me a weapon and made me a guard when I was 13 years old. I had no childhood'. He expected me not to leave him alone and to help him".

Erbey furthermore said: "Binzet did not want me to leave the prison. I asked him what he wanted exactly. He bent his head and asked me to bring him a t-shirt and trousers. He did not let go of my hand for a long time. This time he wanted money. I transferred 150 TL to his account. I transferred the money and got a receipt for it".

"I saw him again four or five days later. I brought him a t-shirt and trousers. He had prepared a petition of one page. He wrote things like Turks and Kurds were brothers and that we fought together in Çanakkale. He did not give any information on unsolved murders, disappeared people or mass graves. He did not give us any information apart from what he had stated at the prosecution. We did not guide him. How can I take a detainee out of prison and take him abroad. This is a matter of humanity. The impression was evoked as if I was able to organize everything", Erbey argued.

Erbey underlined that the doors of the IHD were open for everybody's application. He stated that he transferred money to Binzet's account once more as a gesture of humanity when he was leaving prison.

"I am imprisoned in the scope of the KCK case because of announcements I made on [Kurdish] ROJ TV and in newspapers. This is all I did. If I was released tomorrow I would do the same again. I am an advocator for human rights. I am not guilty of terrorism", Erbey claimed.

Tension arose during the hearing when Temizöz asked Erbey "Are you acting on behalf of the PKK?" (EÖ/VK)