Item 2 - Appendix 2: Statements from the Applicant's Father

16pp

Statements (in Turkish with English translation) made by Şerif Aksoy following the killing of Zeki Aksoy. Includes:
a) Statement (in Turkish with English translation) given by Şerif Aksoy to Mahmut Şakar, lawyer, of the Human Rights Association in Turkey, sent to the Kurdistan Human Rights Project following the killing of Zeki Aksoy. He states that he wishes to continue his son's application but asks that his name not be revealed as he is in fear for his life. Attached are a letter (in Turkish) from Şerif Aksoy to H.C. Krüger, Secretary to the European Commission of Human Rights, authorising Kevin Boyle and Françoise Hampson to be his legal representatives, and a contextual letter from Şakar reiterating the danger Şerif finds himself in (29 April 1994);
b) Statement of Şerif Aksoy to the Kurdistan Human Rights Project as taken by Şakar. Şerif states that he did not believe that his son, Zeki Aksoy, was killed because of internal conflict within the PKK ('There is no reason for the PKK militants or some other illegal organizations to kill my son'). He notes that Zeki was a correspondent for Özgür Gündem, an opposition newspaper in Kızıltepe. He states he does not know of Abdülkadir Aydın, the man accused of killing his son by the Turkish Government, and believes that the killing was committed by Turkish security forces. Şerif notes that he was also interrogated and tortured by the security forces. Şakar wishes to keep Şerif's testimony secret for as long as possible because his life is in danger (13 October 1994);
c) Statement of Şerif Aksoy to the Kurdistan Human Rights Project as taken by Abdullah Çağer of the Diyarbakır branch of the Human Rights Association in response to questions sent by the Project. Şerif states that shopkeepers saw Zeki Aksoy being taken from his welding shop in a white Ford Taurus, but do not wish to identify themselves out of fear for their own safety, and that 'many people who have witnessed incidents and only talked about them to the people around them have themselves been killed in a similar manner'. Şerif spoke to the prosecutor on the day of the incident to identify his son's body but has had no contact with the prosecutor since. The statement is not dated but is stamped as being received on 24 November 1994.

• Turkish

• English