On 2 October 1993 the four Kurdish men named above were taken from their homes by police and members of the “special team” (heavily armed police used in anti-insurgent operations). They are currently being held at Binsekizyuz Evler police interrogation unit in Elazig, and there are fears that they may be tortured in incommunicado detention. It is thought they may have been detained in connection with a commercial boycott on 15 August, the ninth anniversary of the PKK’s first major armed attack. Since that date, the employees and passengers of Kerim Yilmaz’s coach service have reportedly been harassed by the police.
