ABUSES: A Policy of Denial
Amnesty International
International Secretariat
1 Easton Street
London WC1X 8DJ
United Kingdom
Tel: (44) (71) 413 5500
Fax: (44) (71) 956 1157
TURKEY
A policy of denial - update 1
This document updates Turkey: A policy of denial
(EUR 44/01/95). It covers the period November
1994 to February 1995. It contains additional
information on the concerns outlined in that
report, and should be read in conjunction with
it.
Torture
The General Director of Police Mehmet AAar,
answering continuing criticisms over torture,
told the daily newspaper Cumhuriyet (Republic):
"Careful examination reveals that there are
no allegations of torture of those detained for
drugs or common criminal offences, but in the
most simple anti-terrorist investigation
allegations of torture are put forward ... The
aim is to undermine the success of the police in
their struggle with terrorism" (13 December
1994). The special conditions (incommunicado
detention for up to one month) which apply to
those interrogated for offences under the
Anti-Terror Law provide an opportunity for
torture, and it is therefore those detainees who
are most at risk. Most of the 29 people who died
in custody in 1994 apparently as a result of
torture were being interrogated under the
Anti-Terror Law*1. However, Amnesty
International has received in the past many
serious allegations of torture of people being
interrogated for common criminal offences,
including cases of death in custody. A number of
recent allegations, several of them concerning
minors, show that the practice is
continuing.
In November a 13-year-old boy, Abdullah Salman,
wrongly accused of theft, reported that he had
been blindfolded, beaten, choked and subjected
to electric shocks through his toes while
interrogated at ώiώli Police
Headquarters in Istanbul. Bruising on his
shoulders, arms and neck was confirmed by a
medical report.
Scrap collectors Murat YumaroAlu and 15-year-old
Turgay
AdΥgu["]zel were taken into custody on
20 December. Their friends Ufuk Caner
O["]zcan, Ibrahim Pervane, Bu["]lent
AdΥgu["]zel, Ender Yo["]re were
taken into custody on 23 December. All were
interrogated on suspicion of theft at MordoAan
Gendarmerie Post in ώzmir. Several of the
detainees claimed that they had been subjected
to severe beatings, falaka (beating on the soles
of the feet), and given electric shocks. Three
claimed that they had been handcuffed to a radio
mast in the gendarmerie yard and left exposed to
rain and cold weather for three days. A
television company filmed one of the detainees
cuffed to the mast. Ufuk Caner O["]zcan
recounted that he had been beaten with a stick
until it broke, and that the broken stick was
then forced into his mouth, leaving him with
injuries on the inside of both cheeks and severe
bruising.
On 26 December they were taken for a medical
examination at
MordoAan Health Centre, where, apparently under
pressure from the Gendarmerie Commander, the
doctor reported no signs of ill-treatment. In a
second examination, however, at the Karaburun
Forensic Medicine Centre, examination revealed
extensive bruising, burns and marks of trauma.
Twelve-year-old Do["]ner Talun was detained
in the C[,]ubuk
district of Ankara on suspicion of stealing
bread. She alleged that she had been beaten and
subjected to electric shocks during five days'
interrogation at Ankara Police Headquarters.
Medical reports describe evidence consistent
with her allegations of torture.
According to a report in O["]zgu["]r
U["]lke (Free Land) of 23
January, Sultan Aygu["]n and her husband
Garip Aygu["]n were detained in Istanbul on
18 January in connection with a traffic
accident. Garip Aygu["]n reported that in
attempting to induce him to confess to other
traffic offences, the police blindfolded him and
subjected him to falaka. Sultan Aygu["]n
said that she had been handcuffed to a radiator,
beaten and subjected to threats that her
daughter would be taken into custody and raped.
The couple reportedly received medical reports
from the Forensic Medicine Institute confirming
injuries.
The State Minister with responsibility for Human
Rights, Azimet
Ko["]ylu["]oAlu, made efforts to draw
attention to the incident of
torture at MordoAan Gendarmerie and to condemn
such practices. However, the Chief of Istanbul
Police stuck to the customary policy of denial
when Amnesty International expressed concern
that ώu["]kru["] Taώ and a
number of others might be tortured when detained
at Istanbul Police Headquarters on 5 January. On
16 January, the Chief of Istanbul Police replied
to a member of Amnesty International's Urgent
Action Network:
"ώu["]kru["] Taώ [et
al] were brought to the Anti-Terror Branch
because of their activities in the illegal
Revolutionary Communist Party of Turkey. During
their period of detention, they were not
subjected to any ill-treatment". ώu["]kru["]
Taώ told Amnesty International:
"Torture took place somewhere that seemed
to be below the cells. It was wet underfoot and
smelled badly of excrement. They hung me by the
arms seven or eight times. They bound my
forearms together behind my back with a thick
material. Sometimes they hung me high with my
feet off the ground, sometimes low with the tips
of my toes just touching. When I passed out they
took me down and brought me round with cold
water. Of course, I was completely naked and
blindfolded. They also laid me down and beat me
on the soles of the feet. They attempted to rape
me with a truncheon - by pushing it against my
rectum. They squeezed my
testicles. They also pulled my hair. The torture
sessions mainly took place at night, but also
towards the evening. Everybody who was detained
was at least beaten, as far as I know. ώeyda
Gu["]l and Hu["]seyin Demirli were
suspended by the arms, and Kemal YadΥrgΥ
was tortured too. The women were sworn at and
sexually harassed. I heard Ismet Dursun shouting
and screaming several times. When I met him on
the way to the toilets his eyes were bruised and
he told me that he had been tortured very badly.
He could not make his way to the toilet on a
couple of occasions, and I helped".
On 14 January, the day after he was released,
ώu["]kru["] Taώ was given a
medical report by the Forensic Medicine
Institute stating, "examination of ώu["]kru["]
Taώ revealed a 2x3cm purple-violet bruise
on the right thigh, and 3-4 stripe-like
hyperaemic marks under the right armpit. The
person says that he cannot raise his right
arm... excused from normal work for 3
days." A diagnostic report issued by the
Istanbul Treatment Centre of the Turkish Human
Rights Foundation on 18 January 1995 shows
radiological and EMG evidence of "damage to
the brachial plexus", and states that
"the complaints, findings of investigations
and diagnosis are consistent with torture".
Prisoners of Conscience
The Turkish Government has still not acted on
its promise to reform Article 8 of the
Anti-Terror Law, which outlaws "separatist
propaganda", and under which people can be
imprisoned for up to five years for the
expression of their non-violent opinions. Oral
C[,]alΥώlar, a journalist whose own
conviction under Article 8 and two-year-prison
sentence is before the Court of Appeal, told
Reuters on 18 December 1994: "A
democratization package exists as a kind of
fantasy. I see absolutely no proof at all that
democratization will succeed. All the promises
that [Prime Minister Tansu] C[,]iller has given
to European leaders are to appease them."
Some of the targets selected for prosecution
under Article 8 are
so extraordinary that it is almost as if the
prosecutors intended to bring the Turkish legal
system into disrepute. Yaώar Kemal,
Turkey's most renowned living writer, will face
trial at Istanbul State Security Court for an
article published in the German magazine Der
Spiegel on 9 January 1995, in which he accuses
the Turkish authorities of waging a
"campaign of lies" to cover up human
rights violations in the southeastern provinces.
A sentence of three years' imprisonment imposed
on DoAu
Perinc[,]ek, President of the Workers' Party (ώώc[,]i
Partisi), was confirmed by the Court of Appeal
on 5 November 1994. The conviction under Article
8 was for a speech he had made in a television
panel interview prior to the 1991 general
election. One of the `incriminating' statements
selected for the indictment was: "We cannot
have unity by force. We can only achieve unity
by recognizing and accepting the wishes of the
Kurdish people with good will and in a spirit of
brotherhood." It is expected that he will
soon be arrested.
Human rights defenders - cause for
international concern
Two separate trials involving six human rights
defenders*2 indicted under Article 8 of the
Anti-Terror Law resulted in acquittal on 11
January 1995. The prosecutions, which related to
reports on human rights violations published by
the Turkish Human Rights Association (HRA) and
its sister organization, the Turkish Human
Rights Foundation, had provoked considerable
concern inside Turkey and abroad. The final
hearing was attended by many diplomatic
representatives, as well as observers from
Amnesty International and other non-governmental
organizations.
Not all of those acquitted walked free, however.
Sedat Aslantaώ,
former President of the DiyarbakΥr branch
of the HRA, remained in custody because he is
already serving a three-year-sentence imposed
under Article 8 for a speech he made at the
HRA's annual general meeting in 1992. His speech
contained no advocacy of violence and Amnesty
International considers him a prisoner of
conscience. Other prisoners of conscience are
Sedat Aslantaώ's colleagues from DiyarbakΥr
HRA - four board members who were arrested in
December 1994 for publishing a report on human
rights violations in the provinces under state
of emergency. The three lawyers Mahmut ώakar,
Nimetullah Gu["]ndu["]z and Abdullah
C[,]aAer, and the fourth board member, Melike
Alp (f), have been charged with membership of
the illegal Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK), under
Article 168 of the Turkish Penal Code (TPC).
Prison sentences of up to 15 years are being
sought by the prosecution, as well as the
permanent closure of the branch of the HRA in
DiyarbakΥr. This branch, currently under
threat of closure, is the last branch still
functioning in the 10 provinces under emergency
legislation. The indictment contains no evidence
whatsoever to suggest that the four imprisoned
officials are members of the PKK. An Amnesty
Interational observer will attend the first
hearing of their trial at
DiyarbakΥr State Security Court.
Kurdish deputies sentenced to long prison
terms
In a verdict given by Ankara State Security
Court on 8 December, eight Kurdish parliamentary
deputies, tried on capital charges of treason,
were given prison sentences, after the charges
had been changed at the last minute to
"separatist activities".
Orhan DoAan, Hatip Dicle, Selim Sadak, Ahmet
Tu["]rk, and Leyla Zana*3 were sentenced to
15 years' imprisonment under Article 169 of the
TPC for "sheltering or assisting"
members of the PKK. Sedat Yurttaώ was
sentenced to seven years and six months for the
same offence, while Mahmut AlΥnak and SΥrrΥ
SakΥk were each sentenced to three years
and six months for "separatist
propaganda".
The Appeal Court has to ratify the verdict. The
chief prosecutor
already announced that he would appeal, because
the sentences were too light and the defendants
should have been given the death sentence for
treason. Mahmut AlΥnak and SΥrrΥ
SakΥk were released pending appeal. All
were members of the mainly Kurdish Democracy
Party (DEP) or its predecessor, the People's
Labour Party (HEP), both banned by the
Constitutional Court for "separatism".
The deputies were accused mainly on the basis of
public statements they had made, which contained
no advocacy of violence. There were also
allegations that contacts amounting to
conspiracy had taken place. Most of the evidence
to support these allegations consisted of
statements given by so-called
"confessors" in exchange for a
reduction of sentence, and was seriously flawed
or proved to be plainly false.
Amnesty International welcomed the release of SΥrrΥ
SakΥk and
Mahmut AlΥnak, and believes that most, if
not all, of the convicted parliamentary deputies
are or were prisoners of conscience held in
contravention of Article 10 of the European
Convention on the protection of Human Rights and
Fundamental Freedoms, relating to the right to
freedom of expression. The organization awaits
the reasoned judgment of the court to give a
final opinion on the convictions and the
fairness of the trial.
O["]zgur U["]lke - censorship by the
bomb
O["]zgu["]r U["]lke (Free Land),
a Kurdish-owned newspaper, was closed on the
orders of Istanbul State Security Court on 3
February 1995. While highly partisan in its
approach to the conflict in southeast Turkey,
O["]zgu["]r U["]lke*4 and its
predecessors had a record of accurate reporting
of human rights violations committed by
government forces in the region under state of
emergency. As a result, the newspaper was
subjected to almost daily confiscations,
prosecutions, and detention of journalists, many
of whom made complaints of torture. This
judicial offensive was mirrored in a sustained
campaign of extra-legal attacks. Seven
journalists and several distributors of
O["]zgu["]r U["]lke and its
predecessors were shot dead. Two
journalists "disappeared". The
assailants in most of the attacks remained
unidentified, but in several cases the
circumstances suggest security force
involvement. On the morning of 3 December the
newspaper's printing facility and headquarters
in Istanbul and its Ankara bureau were severely
damaged in very powerful explosions in which one
person, Ersin YΥldΥz, was killed, and
18 injured. Many of the staff, including some
who were injured, were detained immediately
after the explosion. The following day the
Interior Minister Nahit Menteώe suggested
that "they may even have bombed
themselves" - a statement which recalls his
theory that villagers in the Tunceli area were
burning their own villages in an attempt to win
compensation.
In reporting the closure of
O["]zgu["]r U["]lke, Reuters
stated
that the newspaper served as a "vital
conduit for information" on the PKK and on
the Kurdish minority. Noting that human rights
violators invariably shy away from all scrutiny,
Amnesty International fears that the closure of
O["]zgu["]r U["]lke and the
threatened closure of DiyarbakΥr Human
Rights Association branch contribute to creating
the conditions for a further increase in
torture, death in custody,
"disappearance" and extrajudicial
execution in the area under state of emergency.
Human rights abuses committed by PKK guerrillas
Although the number of prisoners and civilians
killed by the PKK
apparently declined in December and January, the
practice has
continued. For example, according to reports, Reώit
C[,]oban and the shepherd Murat Yaώar aged
18 were taken prisoner by PKK guerrillas at
Erdemli village, near Sason in Batman province,
and shot dead on 16 January 1995.
On 1 January PKK guerrillas attacked the village
of HamzalΥ, which had accepted arms and
joined the village guard system, apparently
unwillingly, just a few days earlier. Nineteen
people were killed in the attack, including nine
children, seven women and two village guards.
The PKK appear to have abandoned their campaign
of killing
teachers, described in Turkey: A policy of
denial in the appeal case of Ersoy Yorulmaz, a
teacher abducted and killed by PKK guerrillas.
The change in policy may have resulted from the
widespread condemnation of such abuses from
inside and outside Turkey. In December and again
in January the organization committed itself to
abide by Common Article 3 of the Geneva
Conventions of 1949 which forbids ill-treatment
or killing of civilians and members of armed
forces who have laid down their arms or been
taken prisoner.
FOOTNOTES/ENDNOTES
*1 The provisions of the Anti-Terror Law cover
many non-violent
offences (demonstration, separatist propaganda,
etc) as well as armed political activities.
*2 From the Turkish Human Rights Foundation,
Yavuz nen (President) and Fevzi Argun (board
member). From the Turkish Human Rights
Association, AkΥn Birdal (President), Hsn
ndl (General Secretary), Sedat Aslantaώ
(Deputy President) and Erol Anar (newsletter
editor).
*3 Wife of Mehdi Zana, appeal case appended to
Policy of Denial
*4 zgr lke was preceded by two similar
publications, zgr Gndem and Yeni lke.
