HUDA PAR Law Office and Human Rights Presidency made a written statement on the police raid in Şemdinli's Altınsu (Şapatan) villages, condemned the violence and called authorities to find and punish the perpetrators of the event.

In the explanations, it was stated after that the news of the torture and ill-treatment by the law enforcement officers to the villagers in the village of Şapatan was publicized, a team formed by HUDA PAR interviewed with the victims and the witnesses.

“According to the declarations of the villagers, they were tortured”

On Saturday, August 5, at 23:00 hours, while the Special Operations Police were passing near the village of Altınsu with armored vehicles, a Special Operations Police lost their lives in the clash and someone was hurt resulting from the firing of the members of the organization [PKK], the following remarks regarding the interviews made:

“On this occasion, the Special Operations crews from Şemdinli and Yüksekova raided the village on 06.08.2017 Sunday morning at around 07.00 o'clock and doors of the houses were broken and the houses were entered without consideration of any privacy and villagers were beaten. Some of the villagers have been beaten by security forces while still asleep. All villagers including imam and mukhtar have been gathered next to the mosque and were told: ‘you are helping them and you must tell us where they are going.’ About 60-70 people were directly affected by the raid and the subsequent beating and threats lasted until around 10.00 pm. The curfew was announced on Sunday and ended on Monday. Twenty-six people were detained in police custody and 20 people were kept in custody for 10 hours, then released without detention, 16 were detained overnight, and released on Monday.

“We strongly condemn the unlawful arbitrary treatment to the villagers of Şapatan"

At the end of the statement, “The government should seriously investigate the increasing violations of rights, torture, and ill-treatment, and should not allow the practitioners and their patrons those carry out the old Turkiye’s practices. Legal action against the illegal security forces in the village of Şapatan should have been launched, perpetrators should dismiss from duty and be tried. We strongly condemn this unlawful arbitrary treatment of the villagers of Şapatan and invite the authorities to see that such events should not be experienced again and necessary steps should be taken.” (ILKHA)