4.7 In the State party's opinion, there is no element in the author's escape from Turkey or in his activities in the Netherlands that provides substantial grounds for believing that he faces a personal risk of being tortured if he were to be returned in Turkey. Counsel comments 5.1 In a submission of 26 January 2000, counsel for the author made her comments on the observations of the State party. 5.2 With regard to the Kurdish origin of the author, counsel makes a few remarks in order to explain the confusion that may have emerged during the various interviews. Nevertheless, the ethnic origin of the author is no longer disputed by the State party. Counsel also notes that PKK does not have a membership system for security reasons, which partly explains why the author was not a "member" of any organization. 5.3 Counsel argues that the problems faced by the author while he was in Turkey would indeed draw the attention of the Turkish authorities if the author returned to his country. She also notes that it is usual for more information to become available towards the end of the procedure because more questions are asked and because the author, with only a primaryschool education, may have had some difficulties in understanding questions at the beginning of the procedure. Counsel also argues that people applying for refugee status as soon as they arrive in the State party do not have sufficient time to reflect on their declarations and are subjected to a significant number of obligations during the first weeks of the procedure, which may sometimes lead to confusion. 5.4 Concerning Tunceli, the region of origin of the author, counsel contends that life there has indeed become intolerable and, because the place is a symbol of Kurdish resistance, notes that any person from this area would encounter problems throughout Turkey; this implies that the author could not easily resettle in another part of Turkey. Counsel quotes in this regard the Dutch Foreign Minister who stated that the fact of refusing to be a village guard is interpreted as implicit support for the PKK. 5.5 With regard to the demonstration that took place in The Hague on 17 February 1999, counsel mentions that A. Kisaoglu, a Kurd of Dutch nationality, was arrested in Turkey a few days after the demonstration and badly tortured for five days. According to counsel, the Turkish authorities arrested him because they were informed that his son had been arrested during the demonstration in The Hague. However, it appeared later that this was not the case. Counsel considers that this incident demonstrates that the Turkish authorities can obtain information about political events related to