JINHA

SÊRT – Two missing girls in the Northern Kurdish province of Siirt have been found held captive in the home of police officers, reports journalist Bahar Kılıçgedik of the newspaper "Taraf." Local NGOs say the state is refusing to take action on the case.

After a 16-year-old girl and 18-year-old young women went missing for two days in the province of Siirt, they were found in the homes of two police officers, one working in the Counterterrorism Unit and one in the Anti-Smuggling and Organized Crime Bureau of the Siirt Police Department. The officers are accused of abducting and sexually assaulting the girls.

The families of the girls assembled outside the police officers' home when they learned of the girls' captivity. The father of the 18-year-old girl originally wanted charges of sexual assault and abduction filed against the officers, but the police department's response has been to attempt to cover up the incident, transferring the two police officers to other departments and representing the incident as a local quarrel.

Rather than the sexual assault and abduction charges requested by the families of the victims, the officers have been issued the vague charge of "deprivation of liberty"—and that only in the wake of outrage that the officers were reassigned without any charges being brought.

Zana Aksu, of the Siirt branch of the Human Rights Association (İHD), is among the local NGO workers who have been attempting to gain access to the case file, which the state is keeping confidential. Her meeting with the governor proved inconclusive. Zana explained thather organization and the Siirt Bar Association have been unable to learn exactly what steps have been taken, but they do know that the state has not contacted lawyers or social workers.

The state has apparently not sought the testimony of the victims, although the families have stopped talking to NGOs. Zana says the state has apparently told the families not to speak to anyone about the incident. Because of the nature of the crime and because one victim is a minor, the law requires a psychologist or educator be present for their testimony, which does not seem to have happened.

As a result, according to Zana, it is verylikely that the state has violated the legal procedure for handling this kind of case.Local NGOs and lawyers are currently pushing for access to the case file and say if necessary they will push for the state's handling of the case to be investigated.

(gc/cm)