Independent Istanbul Deputy Ahmet Şık announced a comprehensive report on the torture Osman Şiban and Servet Turgut were subjected to and the fact that they were thrown out of a military helicopter by the soldiers on September 11 with a press release he held at the parliament. It was stated that during the report called 'How the lies of the perpetrators turned into truth to cover up the lynch of the state' was being prepared, Osman Şiban was interviewed, and appointments were requested from state officials. 

 

STATEMENT OF OSMAN ŞİBAN

 

According to the interview Ahmet Şık made with Osman Şiban, Şiban said the followings: "I was in front of my house with the kids. I was drinking tea. I don't remember the exact time but it was around 4 or 5. I saw that soldiers were bringing Servet Turgut. He had soldiers in both of his arms and another soldier pointing his gun to him from behind. There were a very crowded group of soldiers following them. There was a sack on Servet's head. I thought to myself that these soldiers were very dangerous and I wondered why they put a sack over his head. I was scared. They were coming towards me. They shouted at me 100 -150 meters away. They asked 'Who is Osman Şiban?' I was drinking tea outside of my house at the time. I dropped the glass when I saw Servet like that and heard my name. I raised my hand and said, 'I am Osman Şiban'. They said 'Come here', I stood up but they were already there beside me. They removed the sack over Servet's head and asked him if I was Osman Şiban. He said 'Yes, he is'. They were still shouting and asking him if I was Osman Şiban, they asked 3 times and he answered every time, told that I was Osman Şiban. They told 'Tell the truth, is this Osman Şiban?' Then they asked me for an ID. I gave them my ID. He looked at my ID card and asked if I knew Servet Turgut. I told them 'Yes this is Servet Turgut. How can I not know him, he is my nephew.' They told me to go with them. 5 soldiers caught me from my arms, dragging me. I told the kids not to be afraid and that I was going to come back. They took us to the haystack."

 

When asked why the soldiers detained him and asked him his name, Osman Şiban said: "There are nomads (koçer) close to the place where the clashes took place. They asked the nomads where they came from and why they were there. The nomads told them 'Osman Şiban gave me this field." This is how they learned my name. I own this village and this house. I inherited it from my grandfather. I have the certificates of ownership. The nomads told them they rented that field from me and gave the money to me. They told that they did not came to the field without permission. They told the soldiers that it was my field and they rented the field for work." That's how the soldiers learned my name. Then the soldiers asked where I was and the villagers showed them my house. They climbed up the hill to my village and saw Servet. He was sewing sacks filled with hay. He had a packing needle in his hand. They beat him there and told him to show them my house. Then they take Servet with them and came to our village."

 

Osman ŞİBAN explained what happened inside the helicopter during the flight after being detained: 

 

"They took us to the place where we keep the hay. Then a military helicopter arrived. They beat us and forced us into the military helicopter. A few soldiers got on the helicopter with us, there were around 20 soldiers in the helicopter. They didn't accuse us of anything when they detained us or in the helicopter. I was looking at the soldiers when one of them punched me in the face all of a sudden. He shouted, "It's forbidden to look at us. It's forbidden to speak or look around". He kept hitting me and Servet too. There were bodies in the helicopter. They were members of the organization they said. They were in body bags. They showed us the face of one of them. They told me I knew him. I said I didn't know him. They started to beat me again. They dropped me on the body bag while they beat me. They were talking on the radio. I heard someone say 'Take them to the barracks in Van. We couldn't speak with Servet in the helicopter at all. We couldn't. They made us face the floor so we couldn't see what they were doing to one another but they beat us so bad. I heard a soldier say 'Don't beat the old one, he's gonna die' for Servet."

 

'AROUND 100-150 SOLDIERS SWOOPED DOWN ON US'

 

According to Osman ŞİBAN's statement, a large group of soldiers were waiting at the helicopter pad when it landed in Van Provincial Gendermerie Regiment Command. According to the statement of Osman Şiban who couldnt see the 100-150 soldiers before he was thrown from the helicopter, the lynch that killed Servet Turgut and put him i a coma begun: 

 

"The helicopter landed. All of the soldiers got off from the helicopter. I was still in it. I looked outside and saw that there were a lot of soldiers outside. Around 100-150 soldiers were there. They were armed, waiting. One of them shouted, "Get those terrorists here!" They threw the bodies from the helicopter first. Then they threw us. They pushed us from our backs. We hit the ground. I saw one say 'These terrorists are alive'. Then all of those soldiers, nearly 150 soldiers swooped down on us. They were lynching us with kicks and punches. They dragged us on the ground, hitting us. They were constantly hitting us. I don't know what they did to us. They trempled my head. We were beaten in the helicopter and beaten after we landed. They called us 'terrorists' while they beat us. We are villagers. We are citizens in this country. They called us terrorists. I don't know how long the beating took. I don't remember what they did to us after that. I passed out. I don't know how we ended up at the hospital. I saw someone standing over me when I opened my eyes in the hospital. It turned out to be a lawyer. I was too scared. I started to cry. There were a lot of police officers too. I told him 'Don't give me back to the soldiers, they will kill us'. He told me 'Don't be scared, I am here. Your relatives are here. They can't beat you anymore'. That's all I remember.. That's what they did to us."

 

THE CLAIM THAT THE TWO MEN WERE THROWN FROM THE HELİCOPTER

 

However, according to the interviews conducted with the eyewitnesses in the city center of Van, it was understood that the source of the claims that Osman Şiban and Servet Turgut were thrown from the helicopter was actually the soldiers. According to the statements of the villagers, Osman Şiban and Servet Turgut was exposed to brutal beating during the time between 16.00-17.00 when they were detained, and the time when they landed in the Van Provincial Gendermerie Regiment Command. 

 

The statement of the soldiers who told the hospital employees that they jumped from the helicopter was recorded as 'falling from a height' in the report, and therefore percieved as 'thrown from a helicopter'. It looks like the torture that put Osman Şiban in a coma and killed Servet Turgut that was reported by the soldiers that they jumped from the helicopter to cover up the beating and the torture, reflected to the families and later to the public opinion, that they were thrown from the helicopter. 

 

In other words, it wouldn't be wrong to say that the lie of the perpetrators have turned into the truth of the victims' families, which covered up the mass beating and the torture. It is also possible to say that the fact that Osman Şiban who survived the torture was pushed from the helicopter that landed on the ground by the soldiers and fell on the concrete floor, was misunderstood that he was thrown from the helicopter while it was in the air due to the trauma he experienced, had a role in the spread of the claim. When we look at what ŞİBAN says, it is understood that the two men being dropped from the helicopter is only a detail of many hours of torture and mass beating, and the incident that killed TURGUT and seriously injured ŞİBAN was essentially heavy torture and mass beating.