The Status of Internally Displaced Kurds in Turkey: - Kurdish Human ...

KHRP / BHRC 20064. Provision of Acceptable Forms of EvidenceLaw 5233 provides compensation to those who suffered material damage, or whoserelatives were killed or injured as a result of damage, inflicted by both state securityforces and armed opposition groups. However, requirement placed on each applicantto document the evictions, most of which were carried out by state security forces orvillage guards, places an undue burden of proof on the applicants which it is oftenimpossible to meet. As a result, compensation claims are frequently inconsistentlydetermined. The mission learnt of other evidentiary issues hampering villagers’access to compensation. These are detailed below.a. Gendarme evidenceThe official decision to evacuate a village will have been made by the Ministry ofInterior. The majority of the related documentation is kept in the offices relating tothe state of emergency – to which only gendarmes, not ordinary individuals, haveaccess. The gendarmes will only hand over these documents when requested bythe commissions. As most of the villages were not subject to an official evacuationand, because the state does not wish to implicate itself in alleged violent action,often villages are denied compensation for lack of evidence. 67 Further, Cevat Aktaşreported to the mission that, in the case of a death where a gendarme possessesa report on the incident, it is more likely that the compensation claim will beaccepted. 68 This raises understandable obstacles for those who have no such report,which is frequently the case. The mission believes that allowance should be madefor those applicants who do not have supporting police documentation, given theusual circumstances of the deaths.b. Proof of ownershipThe mission confirmed the concerns of the 2005 mission - that those who have notitle deeds often find it difficult to prove ownership of the land. 69 Cadastral surveysare conducted on a periodic basis since the establishment of the Republic in 1923,but not all the land has been included within these surveys. As a result, some ofthe land on which villagers built their properties, farmed crops and grazed theiranimals is zilyet, or traditional land which has not been registered. For example,the mission met with an IDP whose village, Beytüşşebap in Şırnak province, was67 FFM Interview with Cevat Aktaş & Mehmet Nuri Yıldız, Van Bar Association member, 3 July200668 FFM Interview, 3 July 200669 Ibid38