KurdistanObserver.com

The head of IHD branch office in Diyarbakir, Selahattin Demirtas, says some 300 people remained missing in the mainly-Kurdish southeast of Turkey.

JAMES C. HELICKE

AP- Jan 30, 2005-For more than a decade, Aydin Demir petitioned Turkish authorities to be told the fate of his brother.

Then one day in November, villagers uncovered soiled clothing and what appeared to be the remains of the brother and 10 other Kurds, last seen when they were detained by the military, in a mass grave at the bed of a creek outside his village.

What happened next signaled a small but important shift - driven largely by the nation's bid to join the European Union - in the government's relations with its formidable military, which had long enjoyed free rein in its battle against outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party  (PKK) members.

Instead of shrugging off the grisly find, lawmakers rushed to the overwhelmingly Kurdish southeast to investigate: They conceded the remains did indeed appear to be those of the missing villagers and even suggested the military may have had a hand in their disappearance. They then called for those responsible to be brought to justice.

 Democratic reforms spurred by Turkey's European aspirations are forcing the country to examine the brutal conflict between the military and the PKK, and for the first time to seriously consider possible abuses by security forces. Some 37,000 people have died in the conflict, which erupted in 1984.

 The changes are startling in a country where questioning the military has long been taboo and insulting the armed forces is a criminal offense.

 Even Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has joined in criticizing Turkey's law-and-order apparatus, expressing outrage after Turkish police in November shot and killed a 12-year-old schoolboy in the southeast they said was a terrorist. Erdogan expressed doubts that the child was involved in militant activities.

As part of its EU bid, Erdogan's government has carried out sweeping reforms that expand freedom of expression, grant Kurds the right to teach their language, and trim the military's influence in politics.

 "This is the first time that there's such a serious discussion," said Selahattin Demirtas, the head of Turkey's independent Human Rights Association in Diyarbakir, the largest city in the region.

"But this is just a small example," added Demirtas, who said some 300 people remained missing in the region. "It's important that all of these cases are examined one by one."

The boy's shooting was front page news in Turkey. But Turkish media and lawmakers have been more restrained in their discussion about the mass grave and careful not to directly blame the military, which is still deeply revered by much of Turkish society.

 Demir and other villagers say Turkish soldiers rounded up his brother and the others, tying them up and beating them to gain information about rebels before burning the village of Alaca to the ground 11 years ago.

 "We just left with the clothes on our back. They burned everything, even the food," he said. "We had nothing to do with the (rebels). Nobody did."

 The Turkish military has denied burning down villages and contends that forced evacuations were carried out to protect civilians. Human rights groups say Turkey burned more than 1,000 villages as part of a strategy to clear the countryside and deny the PKK local support.

 The lawmakers are continuing their probe, which began last month. Human rights groups have praised the investigation, but noted it was too early to say whether the probe meant that action would be taken or that a deeper public inquiry into abuses was imminent.

 Still, the lawmakers' interest in the case marks a major shift from the past.

 "These are claims that need to be investigated ... no matter what happens," said Mehmet Elkatmis, chairman of parliament's Human Rights Commission, which is conducting the probe.

 After the villagers disappeared, Demir and other relatives repeatedly petitioned Turkish authorities for information about the missing people, but failed to find anything out.

 In the meantime, nine villagers, including Demir, took their case to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, which in 2001 found Turkey liable for the deaths of the missing people. The court fined Turkey 382,340 British pounds (then U.S.$546,746).

 The recent killing of the Kurdish schoolboy also illustrates the changes in the region where fighting recently picked up after a lull following a 1999 unilateral rebel cease-fire.

 Ugur Kaymaz and his 34-year-old father, Ahmet, were shot outside their home in Kiziltepe, near the Syrian border.

 Police said they were pursuing members of the PKK and authorities said the two were "terrorists" - the label given to the PKK members by Turkey - and were killed in an exchange of fire with police.

 Human rights groups questioned any involvement by the boy and suspicions quickly emerged about official accounts of the incident.

 Lawmakers investigating the case pointed out the boy was shot repeatedly from behind.

 Four policemen have since been removed from their posts and charged with using excessive force. But many, including the family, were outraged that the policemen were not charged with a more serious crime and by prosecutors' insistence that the boy died in an exchange of gunfire. Lawmakers said they could find no evidence to support that claim.

 "We were given hope by the public discussion in the deaths," the boy's uncle, Murat Kaymaz, said. "But we were disappointed again when it came time for prosecutors to prosecute the crime."