Independent deputy and journalist Ahmet Şık drew up a detailed report comprising field research and interviews, focusing on the claim that two (Kurdish) citizens, Servet Turgut and Osman Şiban, were thrown off a military helicopter on 11 September 2020 in Van, eastern Turkey.
Turgut and Şiban were detained in the rural region of the Çatak district of Van, during a military operation and were then taken into a helicopter. Turgut died after 20 days in coma, and Şiban survived with injuries.
In the 38-page report titled “How the lie of the perpetrators turned into 'truth' to cover up the lynch attempt of the state”, the opinions of the witnesses were included in addition to the statement of Osman Şiban, who was under treatment in Mersin.
The report includes information that Şiban was tried to be lynched by 100-150 soldiers and that he was pushed from a helicopter after it landed on the ground.
When the gendarmerie brought the two villagers to two different hospitals the hospital staff were told that "they jumped from the helicopter" and this entered the records as "falling from a height" and thus the phrase "falling from the helicopter" spread, the report said. "In other words, it would not be wrong to say that the lie of the perpetrators has become the truth of the lawyers, and the mass beatings and lynching attempt, which constitutes the original of the event, have been overshadowed" Şık said.
Ahmet Şık and his colleague Yılmaz Ruhi Demir, who investigated the "dropping from helicopter" incident that caused the death of Servet Turgut and Osman Şiban to remain in a coma, made a series of interviews to prepare a report.
Şık stated that his efforts to communicate with the authorities, including Van Governor, Provincial Gendarmerie Commander and Chief Public Prosecutor were rejected.
In the report, the following conclusion was reached regarding the allegation of being thrown from the helicopter:
“The witnesses said the civilian gendarmes who brought Şiban to the hospital told the hospital staff and those in the vicinity that 'These are terrorists. We took them in combat, but they tried to escape by jumping off the helicopter'. From these statements, it will be possible to say that the source of the allegations of 'jumping / throwing / falling from the helicopter' belong to the perpetrators themselves. Based on the possibility that the soldiers thought that this beating / lynching attempt, which resulted in serious injuries, could not be explained, so they said they jumped off the helicopter, and these words were heard by the hospital staff and the families who found their relatives in a coma in the hospital, and the family brought the incident to the attention of the HDP deputy Murat Sarısaç, the lawyers and journalists."
Osman Şiban, who was interviewed by Ahmet Şık, recounts the events as follows:
“I was in front of my own home, together with the kids, having tea. I think it was around 4-5 in the afternoon. I saw that they (soldiers) were bringing Servet Turgut. Two soldiers were in his two arms, and another soldier was pointing his gun at Servet’s back. They had put something like a sack on Servet’s head… I was scared, they were coming at me. At a distance of about 100-150 meters, they started yelling: ‘Who is Osman Şiban?’. I was having tea outside. I dropped the glass upon hearing my name and seeing Servet like that. I raised my hand: ‘I am Osman Şiban’. ‘Come here’, they said. I stood up when they came to me. They removed the sack from Servet’s head. They asked ‘Servet Turgut, is this Osman Şiban?’. Servet said ‘Yes’. They continued yelling: ‘Tell the truth, is this Osman Şiban?’. They asked this three times. Later they asked for my identity card, I gave it. He looked at the card, and pointing to Servet Turgut, he asked me if I knew him. I said ‘Yes, he is Servet Turgut, he is my nephew, how can I not know him’. They told me to go with them, and 4-5 soldiers caught me in the arms. I turned to my kids and said: ‘Don’t be afraid, they’ll send me back, I’ll come back’. They took us to where the hays were.”
Some villagers who witnessed these events started following their relatives who were being detained by the soldiers. After about 300 metres, they were threatened by the soldiers and they went up on a hill at the end of the village, which is about 400 meters from the village, and they started watching from there. The soldiers took Turgut and Şiban to the place where the hays were stacked, and where other soldiers were waiting. The villagers said that “The soldiers made a fire, they created some smoke”, which means that the soldiers were signalling to the helicopters for their evacuation. The villagers said that the soldiers were beating Turgut and Şiban while waiting for the helicopter. (EVRENSEL DAILY)
Hediye Levent
Yusuf Karadaş