ANKARA - Members of the Parliamentary Human Rights Commission prepared a report about the death of Haci Olmez who died in the fire opened by gendarme on Turkey-Iraq border on April 8, 2003.
The members of the Commission defended the view that there was violation of human rights in the incident.
The Commission decided to investigate the death of Haci Olmez (37) due to the fire opened by the gendarme in Nizartepe town near Turkey-Iraq border and they charged two deputies to this end. Commission members Faruk Unsal and Cavit Torun went to the region on May 19 and met with Sýrnak Governor, Uludere head official, and prosecutor and they prepared a report about the issue. The deputies talked to Mevlut Olmez, the relative of Hacý Olmez, who was with him that evening. The deputies noted in their report that the region was not a forbidden zone, and Mevlut Olmez survived. Mevlut Olmez told the deputies that ''nobody warned us to stop.''
Gendarme officials who were patrolling the region that night, on the other hand, claimed that they saw two persons by using field glasses who were passing the Iraqi border. Gendarme said they could not identify the persons, they warned them to stop and they opened fire when they didn't stop.
The deputies said in their report that 18 gendarme soldiers all opened fire and 65 projectiles were found in the scene. The report noted that the gendarme could have identified the killed person.
The deputies added in their report that ''the use of 65 projectiles during the incident and soldiers' opening fire rather than trying to capture the persons who were not armed, is the evidence of the use of extreme power. It is not possible to determine that soldiers opened fire deliberately... Nevertheless, our delegation thinks that there is a human rights violation.''
Unsal and Torun submitted their report to the Commission which will discuss the report in the coming days.
(ÖÞ-AÖ) 16.06.2003