VAN - Cengiz Şiban, brother of Osman Şiban who was thrown out of the helicopter with Servet Turgut, said the soldiers made them kneel in the town square andm threatened them with death.

 

Osman Şiban who was taken into custody by the soldiers on September 11 and turned up at the intensive care unit was discharged from the hospital yesterdat. Servet Turgut on the other hand, is still at the intensive care unit.

 

Both men's family and lawyers filed criminal complaints against the torturers. Relatives of Şiban and Turgut told us about the day of the incident. 

 

Cengiz Şiban told that his brother is a shopkeeper in Mersin and he comes to the neighborhood in summers. Stating that there are only 6 hours in the neighborhood and they were able to return there with the permission of the authorities, Şiban said: "I told them we were going to the village. They told us we can go back and that the enterance to the village is allowed. We come to the village and stay for 6 months every year. We cultivate our fields in that time. We go back to Mersin in the winter."

 

Stating that on the day of the incident they heard gun fires and helicopters, Şiban said: "After the reconnaisance the soldiers landed in the village. We didn't go to the highlands that day, only Servet Turgut did. When they landed in the middle of the village, the soldiers summoned us. They made us kneel and told us terrorists came to the village. We told them we didn't know and we haven't seen anyone. They said they were grieving a fellow soldier angrily and asked for our IDs. They checked our IDs and told us to stay on our knees until they left the village."

 

Stating that the soldiers came back at night, Şiban said: "They brought Servet Turgut too.They asked who Osman Şiban was. Osman introduced himself. They took him with Servet. We followed them. A soldier pointed his gun at us and told us not to follow or they will shoot all of us. They took them up the hill and forced them into the helicopter. We didn't hear from them for 3 days after that. There were no phone signal at the village." 

 

Stating that they went to some place where there is a phone signal 2 days later and informed their relatives, Şiban said: "They told us they were in Van, and in a very bad shape too. They told us they were beaten to death, tortured. They were treated unfairly and unlawfully. We want to be heard."

 

Turgut's son who said his father is still at the intensive care unit and he is fighting for his life, Hüseyin Turgut said: "Our village was burned down back in the 90's. We had to migrate. My father worked as a shopkeeper in Mersin until 2015. My father came to Van later. He planted our lands and did animal husbandry."

 

Turgut said: "He was tortured. The hospital report proves he was thrown out of the helicopter. His ribs are broken. He has bleeding in his brain, ruptures in his lungs, broken bones in his hands and face and feet.Everyone knows that my father is innocent. They not only took him into custody unlawfully, they tortured him. What can a farmer do that wrong? We want those responsible to be punished."

 

 

MA / Cemil Uğur