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Turkey’s Babacan Condemns Torture of Kurdish Citizens

The chair of the Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA), Ali Babacan (File photo: Reuters)
The chair of the Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA), Ali Babacan (File photo: Reuters)
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Turkey’s Babacan Condemns Torture of Kurdish Citizens

The chair of the Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA), Ali Babacan (File photo: Reuters)
The chair of the Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA), Ali Babacan (File photo: Reuters)

Head of Turkey's opposition Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA) Ali Babacan condemned the torture of two Kurdish farmers who were detained by Turkish soldiers and pushed out of a helicopter in September.

The former deputy prime minister called on the Turkish government to investigate the incident and uncover its circumstances.

Babacan also denounced the arrests targeting members of the party, saying that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan should not issue warrants for people who worked on the 2015 peace talks between the government and Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Erdogan accuses the DEVA party, Turkey’s second-largest opposition party and the third-largest parliamentary bloc, of being the political arm of the PKK, which Ankara considers a terrorist organization.

Meanwhile, four Turkish journalists are facing imprisonment for reporting that security forces threw the two Kurdish citizens from a police helicopter while being transported to detention in Van district, east of the country.

The two men identified as Servet Turgut, 55, and Osman Siban, 50, were arrested on September 11.

Police raided the offices of Mezopotamya and Jin news agencies and arrested the four journalists.

Van’s Public Prosecution demanded the imprisonment of the four journalists because their meetings with unknown sources were considered a “crime,” and banned any reports on the case.

Last week, the authorities blocked both sites after they reported that Turkish security forces had detained two Kurdish men and pushed them out of a helicopter in Van province.

Following the incident, Turgut succumbed to his injuries, while Siban still suffers from amnesia.

The Turkish police also prevented DEVA deputies from offering their condolences to the family of Turgut.

Amnesty International urged Ankara to immediately conduct an “independent and impartial” investigation into the matter. 


“These claims must be immediately investigated in an independent and impartial way, and persons suspected of carrying out the alleged torture or other ill-treatment must be brought to justice with a fair trial.”

However, the media office of Van governor issued a statement denying the claims, saying that Turgut fell from a rocky place and resisted arrest.

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Cyprus Can Help Rid Syria of Chemical Weapons, Search for its Missing, Says Top Diplomat

FILE PHOTO: A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdullah
FILE PHOTO: A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdullah
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Cyprus Can Help Rid Syria of Chemical Weapons, Search for its Missing, Says Top Diplomat

FILE PHOTO: A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdullah
FILE PHOTO: A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdullah

Cyprus stands ready to help eliminate Syria’s remaining chemical weapons stockpiles and to support a search for people whose fate remains unknown after more than a decade of war, the top Cypriot diplomat said Saturday.

Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos said Cyprus’ offer is grounded on its own past experience both with helping rid Syria of chemical weapons 11 years ago and its own ongoing, decades-old search for hundreds of people who disappeared amid fighting between Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriots in the 1960s and a 1974 Turkish invasion, The AP reported.

Cyprus in 2013 hosted the support base of a mission jointly run by the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to remove and dispose of Syria's chemical weapons.

“As a neighboring country located just 65 miles from Syria, Cyprus has a vested interest in Syria’s future. Developments there will directly impact Cyprus, particularly in terms of potential new migratory flows and the risks of terrorism and extremism,” Kombos told The AP in written replies to questions.

Kombos said there are “profound concerns” among his counterparts across the region over Syria’s future security, especially regarding a possible resurgence of extremist groups like ISIS in a fragmented and polarized society.

“This is particularly critical in light of potential social and demographic engineering disguised as “security” arrangements, which could further destabilize the country,” Kombos said.

The diplomat also pointed to the recent proliferation of narcotics production like the stimulant Captagon that is interconnected with smuggling networks involved in people and arms trafficking.

Kombos said ongoing attacks against Syria’s Kurds must stop immediately, given the role that Kurdish forces have played in combating extremist forces like the ISIS group in the past decade.

Saleh Muslim, a member of the Kurdish Presidential Council, said in an interview that the Kurds primarily seek “equality” enshrined in rights accorded to all in any democracy.

He said a future form of governance could accord autonomy to the Kurds under some kind of federal structure.

“But the important thing is to have democratic rights for all the Syrians and including the Kurdish people,” he said.

Muslim warned that the Kurdish-majority city of Kobani, near Syria’s border with Türkiye, is in “very big danger” of falling into the hands of Turkish-backed forces, and accused Türkiye of trying to occupy it.

Kombos said the international community needs to ensure that the influence Türkiye is trying to exert in Syria is “not going to create an even worse situation than there already is.”

“Whatever the future landscape in Syria, it will have a direct and far-reaching impact on the region, the European Union and the broader international community,” Kombos said.