3. The author states that if he were returned to Turkey he would be
arrested, would again be tortured and might be killed in an
extrajudicial execution.
The State party's observations
4.1 In a note verbale dated 14 December 1999, the State party
declares that it does not contest the admissibility of the
communication.
4.2 As to the merits of the communication, the State party explains
that the Swiss Appeal Commission on Asylum Matters considered
that the author's statements concerning the period from 1994 until his
second arrest in 1996 were not credible since he had no longer been
in Elazig as from 1994. Moreover, it is difficult to believe that the
author would have hidden at the home of one of his friends, T.K.,
since that person was particularly vulnerable politically and his
telephone was being tapped by the Turkish security forces. In the
opinion of the Federal Office for Refugees, there was no causal link
between the author's possible arrest in 1993 and his departure from
Turkey in 1996.
4.3 Furthermore, the State party emphasizes that the Swiss Appeal
Commission on Asylum Matters, unlike the Federal Office for
Refugees, considers that the allegations concerning the author's arrest
and subsequent torture are also lacking in credibility. It was highly
doubtful that the author would have been able to continue his
business activities for a period of 18 months after having been
arrested and tortured, given the effectiveness of the repression by the
Turkish security forces.
4.4 Similarly, the State party points out that the medical examination
of the author simply accepted at face value the author's explanation of
the causes of the disturbances from which he was suffering, without
questioning them. For that reason the Swiss Appeal Commission on
Asylum Matters refused to allow a second medical examination.
4.5 In the view of the State party, the arguments presented by the
author in his communication add nothing to those presented to the
Swiss authorities. On the contrary, in his communication he claims
that he was tortured not in 1993 but in 1994, whereas in the Swiss
internal proceedings he repeated on several occasions that the events
did take place in 1993, in July at the latest.