E/CN.4/1991/17 page 62 190. On 15 October 1990 the Special Rapporteur addressed a letter to the Government of Turkey informing it that his attention has been drawn to a recent report containing, inter alia, detailed descriptions and testimonies of alleged victims of torture in various towns and regions during the period March 1989 to June 1990. Most of the allegations concerned torture or ill-treatment of detainees while they were being held incommunicado in police custody, soon after their detention. Most of the alleged victims were suspected of membership of or activity for banned political groups (such as "Devrimci Sol", "Devrimci Yol", the Turkish Revolutionary Communist Party-TDKP and the Turkish Workers and Peasants' Liberation Army-TIKKO). Alleged methods of torture included severe beating on various parts of the body, including "Falaka", or beating on the soles of the feet, suspension by the arms in the form of a crucifix, electric shocks applied to sensitive parts of the body, squeezing of testicles, spraying of sensitive parts of the body with ice-cold water from high pressure hoses, sexual assaults, as well as psychological torture such as threats of death. 191. With regard to the situation in the Turkish Kurdish provinces, it was alleged that torture was often applied not only to persons suspected of political offences but also to members of their family. It was further alleged that the security forces sometimes rounded up the population of entire villages in that region, while searching for members and supporters of guerrilla groups, and beat or ill-treated them. Such incidents were reported in the villages of Darusu, in Van province, Bakiran in Lice district, and Kizik. 192. In mid-April 1990 soldiers reportedly arrested 16 people belonging to the Ayalp family in the village of Kiragli, in Bozova/Urfa. They included four minors, Sait Ayalp, 16, Bekir Ayalp, 14, Cengiz Tuncer, 16, and Abdullah Ayalp, 16. It was alleged that they had been tortured. Later, three members af the family were released and the others were taken to Diyarbakir prison. 193. The cases of the following individuals, who were allegedly tortured while in police custody, were transmitted to the Government: Solmaz Karabulut, Fatma Ozyurt, Haydar Soylemezoglu, Yusuf Ali Yildiz, Eyliphan Baser, Haci Yildiz, Ltitfu Demirkapi, Erol Bektas, Hakan Korkmaz, Cemal Gulmez, Glilay Zengin, Gliltekin Glilbahar, Ali Aziz Kacar, Mehmet Tok, Burhan Caglar Usta, Ali Atalay, Ahmet Akyuz, Ibrahim Turk, Slirkrli Tore, Vedat Celik, Seref Kasikci, Kubilay Selcut, Tuna Ozdamir, Selami Nazlim, Murat Karayel, Ismail SSumez, Mustafa GUI, Memduh Aydogan and Muharram Ozkan (all of them activists in a workers organization known as "Emekciler Dernegi1'); Ali Asian and Mehmet Torus, co-owner and editor-in-chief, respectively, of a magazine called "Hedef", Bulent Solgun, Nuriye Akbaba, Zehra Pekin, Ufuk Gtirbuz, Mahmut Sahindogan, Hasan Sahindogan, Murat Ceviz, and Sendar Cekic Abasoglu. (It may be noted that, with regard to Zehra Pekin and Ufuk Gurbuz, the Special Rapporteur had sent an urgent appeal on 24 January 1990, and that the Government replied on 22 March 1990 that the two had admitted being members of DEMKAD, and that the allegations of torture had been thoroughly examined by the competent authorities and it was established that they had not been subjected to any form of ill-treatment while in custody. It was further affirmed that these findings were confirmed by medical reports. However, the information subsequently received by the Special Rapporteur contained the detailed testimonies of the two persons, which appear to contradict the Government's affirmation).