KHRP / BHRC 2006c. Village guards<strong>The</strong> village guard system was created on 26 March 1985 by a clause added by Law no3175 to the 1924 Village Law (Law no 442). <strong>The</strong> system is currently operat<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> 22prov<strong>in</strong>ces <strong>of</strong> south-east and eastern <strong>Turkey</strong>. Little is known about the pr<strong>in</strong>ciples bywhich village guards are appo<strong>in</strong>ted or dismissed, or <strong>in</strong>deed what their duties entailprecisely, s<strong>in</strong>ce the Implement<strong>in</strong>g Regulation on Law 3175 is classified on grounds<strong>of</strong> ‘national security’. 35Accord<strong>in</strong>g to the M<strong>in</strong>istry <strong>of</strong> the Interior, as <strong>of</strong> 7 April 2006, there were 57,714 villageguards <strong>in</strong> the region. <strong>The</strong>re are also voluntary village guards: civilians who volunteerto become guards with the ostensible purpose <strong>of</strong> protect<strong>in</strong>g themselves and theirfamilies aga<strong>in</strong>st armed opposition groups. Although the hir<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> all village guardsshould have been discont<strong>in</strong>ued <strong>in</strong> accordance with a government decree <strong>of</strong> 2000, alocal news report has reported that 650 voluntary village guards have recently beenhired <strong>in</strong> the Sason district <strong>of</strong> Batman 36 . <strong>The</strong> mission was concerned to learn thatthose villagers who agree to become village guards are more likely to be <strong>of</strong>fered theopportunity to return to their village and similarly granted rehabilitation assistanceunder the Project. 37<strong>The</strong>re is much evidence <strong>of</strong> violence and other crim<strong>in</strong>al activities on the part <strong>of</strong> thevillage guards. In 2003, seven villagers went back to their village <strong>in</strong> the region <strong>of</strong> Muşand were killed by the village guards 38 . Accord<strong>in</strong>g to the M<strong>in</strong>istry <strong>of</strong> Interior, between1985 and 2006, over 5,000 crimes by village guards were reported. Approximatelyhalf <strong>of</strong> these were ‘terror related’, whilst the rema<strong>in</strong>der concerned crimes aga<strong>in</strong>stproperty, crimes aga<strong>in</strong>st <strong>in</strong>dividuals <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g murder and attempted murder, andsmuggl<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> forestry products and arms. 39 <strong>The</strong> mission suspects that the actualnumber <strong>of</strong> such <strong>in</strong>cidents is <strong>in</strong> fact much higher, as a result <strong>of</strong> both the TurkishGovernment’s frequent failure to record and <strong>in</strong>vestigate compla<strong>in</strong>ts aga<strong>in</strong>st villageguards, and the reluctance <strong>of</strong> victims to report such events, for fear <strong>of</strong> recrim<strong>in</strong>ation.<strong>The</strong>se issues have been recognised by the ECtHR, notably <strong>in</strong> a recent and damn<strong>in</strong>gjudgment aga<strong>in</strong>st the Turkish Government, which found it <strong>in</strong> violation <strong>of</strong> Articles 2and 13 ECHR <strong>in</strong> relation to the kill<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> Mehmet Bilg<strong>in</strong> and the failure <strong>of</strong> the localauthorities to adequately <strong>in</strong>vestigate the <strong>in</strong>cident and prosecute the perpetrators. 40Mr Bilg<strong>in</strong> was shot and killed by village guards <strong>in</strong> August 1994. He had been35 TESEV and Norwegian Refugee Council ‘Overcom<strong>in</strong>g a Legacy <strong>of</strong> Mistrust: Towards ReconciliationBetween the State and the <strong>Displaced</strong>’ , Norwegian Refugee Council, May 2006, page 2036 See ‘Sason’da 2 b<strong>in</strong> 259 Korucu’, Batman Gazetesi 16 June 2005, available at www.bianet.org37 FFM Interview with Van branch <strong>of</strong> İHD, 3 July 200638 FFM Interview with Van branch <strong>of</strong> Göç-Der, 3 July 200639 Article <strong>in</strong> Radikal , 27 July 200640 Bilg<strong>in</strong> v <strong>Turkey</strong>, Application No 40073/9826
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Status</strong> <strong>of</strong> <strong>Internally</strong> <strong>Displaced</strong> <strong>Kurds</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>Turkey</strong>forcibly evicted <strong>in</strong> 1992 from his village <strong>of</strong> Datvaran, Batman prov<strong>in</strong>ce, to the centre<strong>of</strong> Batman, and, unable to adapt to his new environment, frequently wandered onthe roads between the surround<strong>in</strong>g villages.2. Problems with the Project<strong>The</strong> mission identified a number <strong>of</strong> problems with the Project, which it found failsto meet the necessary <strong>in</strong>ternational standards <strong>of</strong> redress. <strong>The</strong>se <strong>in</strong>clude the failureto provide adequate resources, mak<strong>in</strong>g return reliant on various conditions, and<strong>in</strong>timidation by state security forces, as expla<strong>in</strong>ed further below.a. Failure to provide adequate and consistent resources<strong>The</strong> implementation <strong>of</strong> the Project has not been sufficiently transparent, as identifiedat page 23 above, and the authority to allocate payments rests with the governorshipand sub-prov<strong>in</strong>cial governorships, which have created <strong>in</strong>consistencies <strong>in</strong> theallocation <strong>of</strong> f<strong>in</strong>ancial assistance for returns <strong>in</strong> the different prov<strong>in</strong>ces. 41 Moreover,villagers who wish to return to their villages – or have no choice to return dueto lack <strong>of</strong> funds and extremely harsh liv<strong>in</strong>g conditions <strong>in</strong> the cities - are seldomprovided with adequate build<strong>in</strong>g materials and/or health and education services tosupport the number <strong>of</strong> people <strong>in</strong> the villages.Ru<strong>in</strong>ed Build<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>in</strong> Taşnacak, July 2006<strong>The</strong> mission visited the hamlet <strong>of</strong> Taşnacak 42 <strong>in</strong> Gürpınar prov<strong>in</strong>ce 43 . Here, the41 FFM Interview with Göç-Der, 3 July 200642 Xirabedar <strong>in</strong> <strong>Kurdish</strong>43 4 July 200627
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