JINHA

AMED - After a 22-year-old woman was abducted by state-armed "village guards" in Northern Kurdistan (Turkey), her family is demanding justice.

22-year-old L.K. and her family headed to the mountain plateau near the town of Kulp, Turkey, in Diyarbakır province, to feed their animals. They were sitting in their tent when six armed men who her mother Fahriye has identified as state-armed "village guard" paramilitaries raided the tent. They taped L.K.'s hands, legs and mouth and carried her away.

L.K.'s father, Mehdin, went to the local police station to file a complaint. Police called him several days later and told him that his daughter had gone with the village guards of her own free will and that they would take no action. "For my daughter to give testimony about this at a police station, she would have to have her ID, but I have her ID," said Mehdin. The family say the state is protecting the armed men.

The family has applied to the Human Rights Association in the city of Muş for help.

(gc/cm)