to counsel, this shows that the police in Turkey are still looking for the author. Counsel doubts therefore the information given by the Swiss embassy in Ankara according to which the author is not listed by the police. 9.2 Counsel acknowledges that the Swiss authorities have examined the author’s file in a detailed manner, but contends that its examination lacked depth and that the evidence in favour of the author has not been properly evaluated. In this connection, counsel claims that the State party appreciates more the information acquired by its own mission in Turkey than the information provided by the author. Counsel does not deny the contradictions and inconsistencies in the author’s story but submits that the Swiss authorities never took into account the effect of torture on the author’s memory and ability to concentrate. Counsel adds that the hearings in themselves create considerable stress leading to mistakes and that only in rare cases refugee claimants do not contradict themselves during the procedure. Moreover, counsel questions the seriousness of the contradictions and their relevance to the heart of the author’s claim. 9.3 As regards the meeting with the member of parliament, counsel recalls that the parliamentarian confirmed this meeting in a letter and that he has explained that he was caught by surprise by the phone call from the Swiss embassy, which interrupted him in his work. 9.4 Counsel rejects the State party’s suggestion that the lawyer in Turkey wrote his letter as a favour to the author and points out that a copy of the authorization to represent the author’s wife was enclosed. Counsel submits that the written document submitted by the author should carry more weight than a report based on a telephone conversation, during which misunderstandings may have occurred. 9.5 Counsel maintains that the author would be in danger if returned to Turkey and denies that he could seek refuge in another part of the country. In this connection, counsel submits that the situation continues to deteriorate and that the author has already had to flee Izmir, and that his wife, who resettled in Bursa, has again seen the situation deteriorate there. Counsel claims that not only listed persons run the risk of being arrested, but that large groups are being threatened with arrest, especially young people and those who originally come from Tunceli. According to counsel, it is no longer possible to avoid places at risk. 9.6 Counsel does not deny that the Swiss authorities take the situation in Turkey into due account when deciding refugee claims by Kurds, as is shown by the fact that 50 per cent of the refugee claimants from Turkey are granted asylum and that another 25 per cent are provisionally allowed to stay in Switzerland. In the instant case, however, counsel claims that the author’s file was not examined with the requisite objectivity. 9.7 Counsel submits that, despite the fact that Turkey has ratified the Convention against Torture, it has never actually tried to combat torture, which is still common practice in the country. Counsel states that more and more persons disappear in detention and that hardly any action is taken against alleged torturers. Counsel doubts whether, in these circumstances, the ratification of the Convention can be used against the author’s claim that he fears torture. Counsel argues that the mere fact that a country has ratified the Convention does not discharge a State party from its obligations under article 3 to determine whether substantial grounds exist for believing that a person would be in danger of being subjected to torture in that country. In -73-