TURKEY / EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS JUDGMENT:
Mehmet Kaya v Turkey
Press Release: 20 February 1998 Case Update
This case is concerned with the killing of Abdulmenaf Kaya, the applicant's brother on 25 March 1993, in the vicinity of Dolunay village in the district of Lice, south-east Turkey, in circumstances which are disputed by both parties. The applicant claimed that his brother was shot dead while unarmed by soldiers of the security forces while the Government claimed that on that day, soldiers came under fire from members of the PKK and that the applicant's brother was killed in the course of the gun battle which ensued. The Public Prosecutor of Lice initiated a preliminary investigation but decided not to take any action. On 20 July 1993 the file was transferred to the Public Prosecutor of the Diyarbakir State Security Court where the case is apparently still pending.
In its judgment of 19 February 1998, the European Court of Human Rights found that Turkey had violated the Convention in that the authorities had failed to conduct a proper investigation into the killing of the applicant's brother. This amounted to a breach of article 2 (right to life). However, in relation to the allegation of deliberate killing of Abdulmenaf Kaya, the Court decided that there was an insufficient factual and evidentiary basis on which to conclude beyond reasonable doubt that the applicant's brother had been intentionally killed by the security forces and held that there was no breach of article 2 on this account. The Court further held that Turkey had breached article 13 (right to an effective domestic remedy) as a result of the deficiency of the official investigation into the circumstances surrounding the killing of the applicant's brother. Having reached this conclusion, the Court did not think it necessary to consider the applicant's complaint under article 6 (access to court). Further, the Court unanimously held that there had been no violation of articles 2, 6 and 13 in conjunction with article 14 (freedom from discrimination).
The Court ordered the Government of Turkey to pay compensation to the surviving widow and children in the sum of £10,000 for non-pecuniary damages and legal costs to be paid within the next 3 months.
The present case is the fifth one assisted by the KHRP to reach the European Court of Human Rights: the other four cases concerned issues of destruction of villages (Akduvar v Turkey and Mentes v Turkey) and torture (Aydin v Turkey and Aksoy v Turkey). An analysis in the form of a report as well as the text of these judgments are available from the KHRP. A further 8 cases have been decided on by the Commission and a majority of them are about to reach the Court. So far, 66 cases assisted by the KHRP have been declared admissible either in full or in part. For more information about the above, please do not hesitate to contact KHRP.
The Kurdish Human Rights Project (KHRP) has assisted these applicants in
bringing their case before the European Commission of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
For further information please contact: Kerim Yildiz,
Executive Director / Fiona McKay, Deputy Director / Sally Eberhardt, Public
Relations Officer Kurdish Human Rights Project on the address below.
Please e-mail KHRP at khrp@khrp.org,
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