Reference: 207/2021/172-2199
Subject: Mr. Yannis Vasilis Yaylalı’s Membership and Application
To Whom It May Concern,
I am writing to you in order to inform you about the status of Mr. Yannis Vasilis Yaylalı, who is a member of the Human Rights Association (İnsan Hakları Derneği -İHD), which is the oldest and largest human rights organization in Turkey and has been working to promote and protect human rights and freedoms since 1986. İHD’s works include daily documentation and reporting of human rights violations in the country as well as thematic reports in addition to its regular monthly and annual reports.
Mr. Yannis Vasilis Yaylalı was a member of our association’s Şırnak Branch. Mr. Yaylalı has subjected to various pressures, like many other citizens and members of association, since the political power did not approve of his views.
While serving his compulsory military service in Mardin and Şırnak in 1994, Mr. Yaylalı witnessed numerous village evacuations and burnings along with numerous war crimes committed against civilians and the PKK militants by the state in the pre-dominantly Kurdish places under the guise of fighting the PKK. During the same period he was taken prisoner by PKK militants during an armed clash and was held hostage for 2 years and 3 months in PKK camps. He was retrieved by a delegation formed by members of İHD, HADEP and MAZLUM- DER in December 1996 along with other captives.
Mr. Yaylalı went through a phase of self-criticism during the time he spent at the PKK camps and while serving the military about the war crimes he was a witness to and shared such information with the international press. Such state of affairs led to his prosecution by a State Security Court on charges of membership in the PKK and disseminating propaganda for the organization and to his subsequent detention upon his return to Turkey. Mr. Yaylalı was subjected to torture and ill-treatment while incarcerated in a military prison and he was forced to become an informant for the state. After three and a half months in prison, he was sent back to the troops he was serving for at the time he was taken prisoner and there he announced his conscientious objection refusing to be called to arms, which this time led to his being subjected to torture and ill-treatment for another ten months.
Mr. Yaylalı then returned to Samsun, where his family was living, but harassment and intimidation by the state forces did not stop and was forced to move to istanbul. He worked at different jobs and continued to work for peace as a conscientious objector and peace
activist there. Mr. Yaylalı learnt that his ancestors were in fact Pontian as his research revealed, and changed his name İbrahim Yaylalı to “Yannis Vasilis Yaylalı.”
Mr. Yaylalı faced many a prosecution due to his conscientious objection and peace activism while he was sent to Samsun/Bafra T-Type Prison in 2010 where he was incarcerated for about a year.
Mr. Yaylalı was among the organizers of such important events as the “Peace March from Roboski to Ankara,” initiated in September 1 World Peace Day, in order to keep the Roboski Massacre of 2011 on the agenda and assumed a pioneering role in holding “conscientious objection” workshops in Roboski village. Mr. Yaylalı lived in Roboski for a while and carried out activities to eliminate rights violations there. He also was an active member of our association during this period. He faced intensive pressure from security officers due to the activities they conducted at the Roboski Association which they founded with the villagers there and he was imprisoned once again between April 2017 and July 2018. He was released under supervised control on 25 July 2018. Mr. Yaylalı conferred with lawyers affiliated with our association while he was in prison, which can be found in our association’s reports as well.
It indeed is a fact that the state of human rights and freedoms has always been far from ideal in Turkey. Yet, the number of cases pertaining to violations of the right to life, practices and policies infringing on the prohibition of torture and ill-treatment, violations in prisons, enforced disappearances, violations of the rights to freedom of expression and association have further increased especially following the fall of the peace process in 2015 along with the restart of armed conflict and the state of emergency that was declared after the failed coup attempt of 15 July 2016. You can find iHD’s reports on these cases in Turkish and English at the association’s official website: https://www.ihd.org.tr/td d slug 2/ and https://ihd.org.tr/en/category/c38-reports/
We do hope that you find our letter, written upon the request of the applicant, useful for your review of Mr. Yannis Vasilis Yaylalı’s asylum application to your country. Please do not hesitate to contact us should you need further information or have further inquiries about the subject.
Yours sincerely,
Human Rights Association ( İnsan Hakları Derneği )
Türkiye