Financial Times - 4 December 2004

A group of Turkish academics, writers and artists has called for an independent inquiry into the killing of a 12-year-old Kurdish boy by police last month. The case is casting an unfavourable light on Turkey’s ability to meet European Union demands that it reform its huge and sometimes unaccountable security apparatus. Ugur Kaymaz and his father, Ahmet, were killed two weeks ago in the south-eastern town of Kiziltepe, near Turkey’s border with Syria, in what officials said was an operation against "armed terrorists". Preliminary investigations, including one by parliament’s human rights committee, concluded that the two were unarmed and may have been innocent civilians.

Four police officers have been suspended during investigations into the incident. The events have caused dismay in Turkey, drawing attention to an upsurge of violence in the predominantly Kurdish south-east and the use of heavy-handed tactics by the security forces.
It has also raised questions about whether legislation to bolster civil and human rights is being implemented in remote provinces.
The EU is to decide on December 17 whether to open membership talks with Turkey. Brussels is pressing for the implementation of legislative reforms, including an overhaul of the country’s antiquated penal code.
Tahir Elci, a lawyer who made representations to the authorities about the incident, said: "This government makes big claims about democratisation and human rights but [this incident] shows that it has little influence in implementing them."
The group of intellectuals rejected the official account of the incident - that the police suspected the two were armed and preparing a terrorist operation, and that identification was difficult in the dark. Media reported that Ugur Kaymaz was hit by 13 bullets, and that his family said he was helping his father, a truck driver, to prepare for a trip to Iraq.
"A 12-year-old boy who had been playing with his friends two hours earlier did not represent a clear and present danger" to the security of Turkey, the intellectuals said. "Are we living in a country where everyone [who goes about] in the dark gets shot?"
The incident has caused much soul-searching. Huseyin Guler, a member of parliament’s human rights committee, said: "How could a 12-year-old boy be a terrorist?" He added that there was no immediate evidence that Mr Kaymaz and his son were preparing a terrorist attack or that they resisted when they came under fire.
It has also led to anguished editorials questioning the tactics of Turkey’s security forces.
Adnan Ekinci, a columnist for the daily Radikal, wrote yesterday that without a proper explanation, which the interior ministry has yet to provide, it would "have no meaning other than confirming the poor record of the security forces".
Others complained about what they claimed was the excessive focus given to Kurdish victims of state violence while the deaths of soldiers and police in terrorist attacks were ignored. Emin Golsan, a columnist for the daily Hurriyet, wrote yesterday that 47 soldiers had been killed in the past five months, in an upsurge of violence by Kurdish rebels.
Some local officials acknowledged the difficulty of enforcing change in the autonomous culture of the security forces, including the police and military. Efkan Ala, governor of Diyarbakir province, home to many ethnic Kurds, told CNN Turk TV Turkey’s reform process was a long-term project. He said: "Some will learn the easy way and some will learn the hard way." Is the EU ready for Turkey?