The women who were detained following the clash on May 18 in Dergili (Dêro) neighborhood of Halfeti district of Urfa province and were arrested on the accusation of 'being a member of an illegal organization', were tortured for 12 days in the Gendarmerie and Provincial Security Directorate TEM Branch. The women who were tortured described the torture with Palestinian hangers, beating the soles of their feet, electrocution from the genitals, beating, making them listen to the sounds of the tortured to the attorneys from Urfa Bar. The women who told they were systematically tortured, said they were thretened with mass rape.

 

One of the women G.A who stated that she was tortured until the day she was to be brought to the court, said they weren't even in the neighborhood at the day of the incident, they were taken under custody from a relative's house in Urfa, city center and they were laid on the ground and beaten there.

 

G.A who stated that when they first raided the house they were in, they banged her husbands head against the wall, put a gun to her daughter's head and threatened her that they will shoot her father, handucffed her sons and beat them, said: "My sister in law said she and her husband were beaten in the police car. Then we were taken to TEM Branch, which I later found out. They put me and F.A into one car, my husband and her husband in another and my son in another car and took us to the hospital.When they brought us back to TEM Urfa Branch, I saw my sister on the way to detention room. She was covered in dirt. My niece's face was covered in blood, my sister told me she was tortured, insulted and electrocuted.

 

G.A who stated that she was taken to the second floor of the TEM Branch on the 10th day of her detention, said: "They walked me through a dark corridor they called the archive. The police accompanying me was a dark haired and coloured eyed woman. Her name was Gülay if my memory serves me right. That's what they called her. We started walking through the corridor. Someone said 'stop' the the female police accompanying me. She stopped, I kept walking. Someone pulled my hairi made me turn right and we walked into a room. There were two male and a female police in there. I can recognize them if I ever saw them again. One of the male police insulted me and threatened that he would rape me. He pulled out his gun, pointed at me and told me to speak the truth. I told him I knew nothing.He pulled my hair and dragged me to the wall. He said he would smash my face in to the wall, that he would ripped me apart. He said 'Be thankful to the laws. I would rip you apart with a knife here and now'. Then he told the female cop to take me out of the room or he will kill me.

 

One of the other women who got arrested, F.A, said she was taken under custody a few hours after the clash. F.A who stated that they woke up to the sounds of the gun fire, said their house was raided a few hours after the clash. F.A who stated that the police hit her husband with the gun and her husband fell to the ground,said the police made them lay facedown and kept them like this from 2 A.M to 7 A.M. F.A said: "When they hit my husband I shouted 'stop, don't do it', then they started to hit me too. They were constantly kicking me in the head, one of their kicks landed on my ear, I felt blood oozing out of my ear."

 

F.A who stated that towards morning all of the people in the house were brought to Birecik State Hospital, and was battered in front of the doctors, said: "They took us to TEM Urfa Branch, they put us all in a room apart from each other facing the walls. They ordered us not to turn back. We stayed there for an hour standing our faced turned towards the walls.A female police came and took me upstairs. Someone put a sack on my head and handcuffed me from the back. I didn't see their face. They laid me down on the ground the minute we walked into the room and they started to kick me.They started to undress me. One of them started to electrocute me from my genitals with a cable. I was feeling fainty. They electrocuted me from my nipples, arms and legs. Those who electrocuted me were threatening me with mass rape. I asked them if they did not have mothers, sisters, they started hitting me. They were constantly asking me who I helped. I told them I did not help anyone and I did not know what that was about. But they kept torturing me. I don't know how long it took. Then they took me out of the room. They took away the blindfold in a room looking like an archive.They put me in the detention room. G.A, R.K, K.K and a woman I did not know was already in there. They continued the same torture routine every 2 days while I was there. I know that they were doing the things they done to me to the other women."