Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to
2025 gvnet.com/torture/Turkey.htm
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CAUTION: The following links
have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on
this page and others to see which aspects of Torture by Authorities are of
particular interest to you. You might
be interested in exploring the moral justification for inflicting pain or
inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment in order to obtain critical
information that may save countless lives, or to elicit a confession for a
criminal act, or to punish someone to teach him a lesson outside of the
courtroom. Perhaps your paper might
focus on some of the methods of torture, like fear, extreme temperatures,
starvation, thirst, sleep deprivation, suffocation, or immersion in freezing
water. On the other hand, you might
choose to write about the people acting in an official capacity who
perpetrate such cruelty. There is a
lot to the subject of Torture by Authorities.
Scan other countries as well as this one. Draw comparisons between activity in
adjacent countries and/or regions.
Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper
resources that are available on-line. ***
ARCHIVES *** Torture Has Reached
"Unprecedented Levels" Uzay Bulut,
International Policy Council, Gatestone Institute,
27 July 2022 www.gatestoneinstitute.org/18715/turkey-torture
[accessed 28 July
2022] "We saw his
body while washing it. There was a scar on his neck as if he had been hanged
with a clothesline. Both of his eyes had burst. Blood was coming from his
eyes. His nose was completely broken and filled with cotton. There was such a
large swelling and bruise on his chest it looked as if a tree had been stuck
there. His upper lip was almost as big as a palm. His right foot was
stitched." — Hikmet Yılmaz, elder brother
of Ferhan Yılmaz, evidently tortured to death
in Silivri prison on April 10, 2022. "Both of his
hands have cuts and stitches.... His whole body is bruised.... He can't see
any more. They tortured him so much he has lost his eyesight. They hit him so
much in the head that his head shakes all the time. His eyes start moving as
if he had a stroke.... He has seven stitches on one arm and six on the
other...They put him in a cell where there was feces of other prisoners. They
told him to eat the feces. They beat my son and hanged him twice. And then
removed him from the rope. He also hanged himself once... He said they made
him do it... They put a razor blade there and told him to cut himself. They
waited there so he had to cut himself." — Beyaz
Çelik, mother of prisoner Halil
Kasal, who was tortured at Silivri
Prison. 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Turkey U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/turkey/
[accessed 9 August
2021] DISAPPEARANCE Domestic and international
human rights groups reported disappearances during the year that they alleged
were politically motivated. In February the
Ankara Bar Association filed a complaint with the Ankara prosecutor on behalf
of seven men reportedly “disappeared” by the government, who surfaced in
police custody in 2019. One of the men, Gokhan
Turkmen, a civil servant dismissed under state of emergency powers following
the 2016 coup attempt, alleged in a pretrial hearing that intelligence
officials visited him in prison, threatened him and his family, and urged him
to retract his allegations that he was abducted and tortured while in
custody. In April the Ankara prosecutor declined to investigate Turkmen’s
complaints. Six of the seven men were in pretrial detention on terrorism
charges at year’s end. The whereabouts of the seventh were unknown. TORTURE AND OTHER
CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT Reports from human
rights groups indicated that police abused detainees outside police station
premises and that mistreatment and alleged torture was more prevalent in some
police facilities in parts of the southeast. The HRA reported receiving
complaints from 573 individuals alleging they were subjected to torture and
other forms of mistreatment while in custody or at extracustodial
locations from January through November. The HRA reported that intimidation
and shaming of detainees by police were common and that victims hesitated to
report police abuse due to fear of reprisal. In its World Report
2020, Human Rights Watch stated: “A rise in allegations of torture,
ill-treatment and cruel and inhuman or degrading treatment in police custody
and prison over the past four years has set back Turkey’s earlier progress in
this area. Those targeted include Kurds, leftists, and alleged followers of Fethullah Gulen. Prosecutors do
not conduct meaningful investigations into such allegations and there is a
pervasive culture of impunity for members of the security forces and public
officials implicated.” ARREST PROCEDURES
AND TREATMENT OF DETAINEES Rule of law
advocates noted that broad use of pretrial detention had become a form of
summary punishment, particularly in cases that involved politically motivated
terrorism charges. The trial system
does not provide for a speedy trial, and trial hearings were often months
apart, despite provisions in the code of criminal procedure for continuous
trial. Trials sometimes began years after indictment, and appeals could take
years more to reach conclusion. Council of Europe
anti-torture Committee publishes two reports on Turkey Executive Summary,
CPT/Inf (2020) 24,
5 August 2020 [accessed 5 August
2020] POLICE CUSTODY - As was the case during
the CPT’s 2017 visit, the delegation received a considerable number of
allegations of excessive use of force and/or physical ill-treatment by
police/gendarmerie officers from persons who had recently been taken into
custody (including women and juveniles). These allegations mainly consisted
of slaps, kicks,
punches (including to
the head and/or face) and
truncheon blows after the
persons concerned had been handcuffed or otherwise brought under control. A
significant proportion of the allegations related
to beatings during
transport or inside
law enforcement establishments,
apparently with the aim of securing confessions or obtaining other
information, or as a punishment. Further, numerous detained persons claimed
to have been subjected to threats and/or severe verbal abuse. Moreover, a
number of allegations were once again received of excessive use of force and/or
physical ill-treatment by
members of the
mobile motorcycle intervention teams
(so-called ‘Yunus’) in Istanbul. In
a number of
cases, the allegations
of physical ill-treatment were supported by
medical evidence, such
as bodily injuries
documented in medical
records or directly observed by medical members of the
delegation. Turkey drops
investigation into demise of teacher who was tortured to death Stockholm Center for
Freedom SCF, 19 May 2020 [accessed 19 May
2020] The Istanbul chief
public prosecutor has decided to drop an investigation into the death of Gökhan Açıkkolu, a teacher
who died after enduring 13 days of torture and abuse in police custody in
İstanbul, the Kronos news website reported. Açıkkollu died under
suspicious circumstances on August 5, 2016 while in police custody after
suffering a heart attack. It has previously been documented with witness statements
and medical reports that he had endured torture during his 13 days in
custody. Nordic Monitor
reveals content of censored Council of Europe torture report on Turkey Nordic Monitor, 11
May 2020 [accessed 11 May
2020] “I was struck all
over my body, especially my face, eyes and head. I was gasping for breath and
collapsed on the floor, whereupon they lifted me up and continued the same
treatment. I sustained many fractures to the head,
blood was flowing from all over my body, which continued for a long time. I
do not exactly remember when the bleeding stopped. But what I know for sure
is that the blood was never wiped away but instead dried on my body,” he
recalled. The spree of blows
and cursing continued during his entrance into the building. At a certain
point, his shirt torn away, his trousers and shoes removed, he was thrown
into a ward in his underwear. Yet, his ordeal did not stop there. “In the ward, I was
kept on my knees facing the wall for a long time under a shower of blows and
insults. Freedom House
Country Report 2020 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/turkey/freedom-world/2020 [accessed 15 May
2020] F3. IS THERE PROTECTION
FROM THE ILLEGITIMATE USE OF PHYSICAL FORCE AND FREEDOM FROM WAR AND
INSURGENCIES? Torture at the
hands of authorities has remained common after the 2016 coup attempt and
subsequent state of emergency. Human Rights Watch has reported that security
officers specifically target Kurds, Gülenists, and
leftists with torture and degrading treatment, and operate in an environment
of impunity. Prosecutors do not consistently investigate allegations of
torture, and the government has resisted the publication of a European
Committee for the Prevention of Torture report on its detention practices. Lawyers demand
release of tortured prisoner held in Turkey Steve Sweeney,
Morning Star, 17 March 2020 morningstaronline.co.uk/article/w/lawyers-demand-release-tortured-prisoner-held-turkey-video-footage [accessed 7 April
2020] Ezgi Cakir of the People’s Law Office visited Mr Kocak in the high-security Kiriklar F-Type prison in the west coast city of Izmir
today. Speaking in a video
message filmed outside the jail, she said that her client showed signs of
beating and torture, with his veins bursting as a result of his treatment at
the hands of security officials. Mr Kocak had been tied up and hung while his arms and feet
were handcuffed, she said. She said that he
was kept like this for five days during which time he was raped with a baton
while prison doctors, guards and the police stood laughing alongside members
of the Turkish National Intelligence Organisation. He was not allowed
to use the bathroom and was forced to sit in his own urine and faeces as prison officials refused to clean him, she
said. German-Turkish
journalist says Erdogan let him be tortured in Istanbul prison TurkeyPurge 11 May 11 2019 turkeypurge.com/german-turkish-journalist-says-erdogan-let-him-be-tortured-in-istanbul-prison [accessed 11 May
2019] For the first time
since being released from Turkish custody, German-Turkish journalist Deniz Yücelspoke about the
torture he experienced while being held in pretrial detention at a prison
near Istanbul. In addition to
verbal insults, Yücel told the court that he was
also exposed to physical violence, including blows to his feet, chest, back
and the back of his head. The assaults always took place where no cameras
were installed. In a library at the
prison, one of the guards punched Yücel hard in the
face. Another guard threatened him, saying: “What are the Germans paying you
to betray your fatherland? Speak or I’ll rip out your tongue.” Yücel said that there
was no doubt in his mind that the abuse he suffered in prison amounted to
torture. “The extent of the
violence was not too great; it was less about inflicting physical pain than
about humiliating and intimidating me. Perhaps they wanted to provoke a
reaction out of me. But even so, this was a case of torture,” he said. The psychological
element to the mistreatment also qualified it as torture. Yücel
said that the abuse “was carried out in an organized way that sought to
systematically violate the dignity of the person being abused.” Erdogan's hunt for Gülenists, at home and abroad, includes abductions,
torture and disappearances AsiaNews, Istanbul,
20 December 2018 [accessed 23
December 2018] One of them is Tolga, who was abducted in an Ankara street last year and
was held for 92 days (which he counted by placing small paper balls in the
cracks of the walls of his cell every time he got the first of his two paltry
meals). In this three-month
period, he lost 21 kilos and endured beatings, electric shocks, sleep
deprivation and sexual abuse. He remembers with surgical precision the
protocols used "in the archipelago" of torture, perpetrated by
"professionals" linked "to the State". Turkish
teacher tells story of horrific torture under 30-day police detention in
Ankara Stockholm Center for
Freedom SCF, 2 November 2018 [accessed 6 November
2018] “I was subjected to
severe torture. They threatened me, saying, ‘Either you will talk or you’re
going to die.’ After they tortured me, they showed me to my wife. They said,
‘There’s no way out for you, your wife won’t leave here, either.’ They
increased the dose of torture day by day. They threatened me by saying that
they were going to rape my wife. They put a bag over my head. I couldn’t
breathe. I started to think I was dying.” These sentences belong
to Mustafa K. (40), a Turkish teacher who was detained and tortured as part
of the Turkish government’s massive post-coup witch hunt targeting alleged
members of the Gülen movement. Journalist Sevinç Özarslan interviewed
Mustafa K. and wrote his horrifying story for online news outlet GriHat. Suspicious
Deaths and Suicides in Turkey Stockholm Center for
Freedom SCF, March 2017 stockholmcf.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Suspicious-Deaths-And-Suicides-In-Turkey_22.03.2017.pdf [accessed 6 August
2018] SCF is committed to
serving as a reference source by providing a broader picture of rights
violations in Turkey, monitoring daily developments on fact-based
investigative journalism and documenting individual cases of the infringement
of fundamental rights. The founders of SCF are top-notch journalists who had
managed national dailies in Turkey and worked for leading media outlets before
they were forced to leave. They have the expertise, human resources and
network on the ground to track events in Turkey despite serious challenges. Probe
Launched into Torture of Construction Worker at Police Station in Urfa Ayça Söylemez,
BIA News Desk, İstanbul, 20 July 2018 [accessed 22 July
2018] Living homeless in Mardin, construction worker D.D. was heavily tortured
when he was caught by police with a fake ID that he was carrying for tobacco trafficking,
and then he was arrested. Torture continued at Security Directorate where he
taken to after being arrested. D.D. told that he
was subjected to “electric torture, sexual torture, strap and falanga” for six days in Akçakale
District Gendarmerie Commandership and Şehit Nusret Bey Gendarmerie Posts,
and three days in Urfa Security Directorate after being arrested. Report:
Turkish soldiers torture Kurdish shepherds in Şemdinli Stockholm Center for
Freedom SCF, 1 June 2018 stockholmcf.org/report-turkish-soldiers-torture-kurdish-shepherds-in-semdinli/ [accessed 3 June
2018] Taş (56) told MA that
a group of eight soldiers approached them and asked where members of outlawed
Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) were. Taş said:
“We told them that we just woke up and took our animals out, so we didn’t
know. As soon as we said that, the soldiers started to torture us. They took
my staff and started to beat me with it. Then they beat us with the butts of
their guns. They kicked and slapped us for a long time. After this torture
they took me to the banks of the river, pushed my head in the water and said,
‘You are a terrorist, we will kill you.’ They beat us for over two hours.” Taş said they lost
consciousness due to the torture and that their relatives found them hours
later at the top of a mountain in a woodland area out of sight where they had
been left to die. Abducted
Turkish citizen subjected to heavy torture at Ankara Organized Crime Bureau Stockholm Center for
Freedom SCF, 22 April 2018 [accessed 24 April
2018] Ümit Horzum, a Turkish
citizen who was abducted from his car in Ankara on December 6, 2017 and
handed over to the Ankara police last Monday, is being subjected to torture,
torment and excruciating pain at the Ankara Police Department’s Organized
Crime Bureau, Turkish journalists Erk Acarer and Bülent Ceyhan
tweeted. According to
journalist Ceyhan, who tweeted on Friday, Horzum is
being held at the Ankara Police Department’s Organized Crime Bureau and
sustained broken ribs and a burst eardrum after he was brought there. UN
expert says deeply concerned by rise in torture allegations UN Human Rights
Office of the High Commissioner, Geneva, 27 February 2018 www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=22718&LangID=E [accessed 24 March
2018] The UN Special
Rapporteur on torture, Nils Melzer, expressed serious concerns about the
rising allegations of torture and other ill-treatment in Turkish police
custody since the end of his official visit to the country in December 2016. Melzer said he was
alarmed by allegations that large numbers of individuals suspected of links
to the Gülenist Movement or the armed Kurdistan
Workers’ Party were exposed to brutal interrogation techniques aimed at
extracting forced confessions or coercing detainees to incriminate others. Reported abuse
included severe beatings, electrical shocks, exposure to icy water, sleep
deprivation, threats, insults and sexual assault. The Special
Rapporteur said no serious measures appeared to have been taken by the
authorities to investigate these allegations or to hold perpetrators
accountable. Kurdish
reporter sentenced to more than 8 years Ozgun Ozcer,
Xindex, 19 December 2017 www.indexoncensorship.org/2017/12/kurdish-reporter-sentenced-8-years-torture-evidence-ignored-court/ [accessed 20
December 2017] A MESSAGE TO ALL
JOURNALISTS
- “No legal action was taken against the police, despite 20 witnesses
confessing to having testified against Türfent
under police pressure. One of the witnesses even told the court during the
first hearing that police pulled two of his teeth with pliers in order to get
a testimony from him,” Fatih Polat,
the editor-in-chief of the left-wing daily Evrensel,
told Index on Censorship. “Eventually, Türfent was
handed a sentence [with terms] arranged by [the police].” Police
torture reported in Southeast Turkey Ahval News, 4 December
2017 ahvalnews.com/human-rights/police-torture-reported-southeast-turkey [accessed 4 December
2017] “Physical torture
was carried out: electrocution, bastinado, beatings, etc.” he wrote in his
submission to the association. He cannot use his
left hand from the wrist down. His nose is covered in wounds and there are
scars across different parts of his body. There is extreme bruising above the
left part of his groin. The scars resemble those made through electrocution.
He struggles to talk and his entire body shakes. Despite all this,
my brother has not been brought to a doctor. His arrest and torture continue. Alternative
report to the Committee against Torture – Turkey
[PDF] London Legal Group,
London, March 2016 tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CAT/Shared%20Documents/TUR/INT_CAT_CSS_TUR_23458_E.pdf [accessed 8 August
2017] EXECUTIVE SUMMARY -- Excessive use
of force by police officers and prison guards continues to be extensively practiced in
Turkey. In Turkey’s detention
facilities, overcrowding and poor living conditions remain unresolved, and
torture and ill-treatment of inmates, including beatings, sexual and
psychological harassment, and rapes, are still common. Turkey does not respect principles of
juvenile justice and Turkey’s anti-terrorism laws allow juveniles to be
detained for their alleged participation in pro-Kurdish protests. In 2014, there were 133 reported cases of
torture against children by either police officers or prison guards. Serious
cases of child abuse have been documented, in particular in Pozanti, Mugla, Sincan and Şakran juvenile
prison facilities. Failed
Turkish coup attempt sympathizers suffer torture & rape – Amnesty Russia Today - RT
News Network, 24 Jul, 2016 www.rt.com/news/353032-turkish-authorities-torture-detained/ [accessed 25 July
2016] According to these
reports, police held detainees in stress positions for up to 48 hours, denied
them food, water and medical treatment, verbally abused and threatened them
and subjected them to beatings and torture, including rape and sexual
assault. Based on the
information given by a person on duty at Ankara Police Headquarters’ sports hall
to Amnesty, a detainee suffered severe wounds after apparently being beaten
by police. He could not stand up or focus his eyes and he eventually lost
consciousness. Police refused to allow this detainee to receive basic medical
treatment and a police doctor reportedly said: “Let him die. We will say he
came to us dead.” According to the
evidence obtained by Amnesty, 650-800 male soldiers were being held in the
Ankara police headquarters sports hall. At least 300 of them had signs
proving that they were beaten, with some of them even having broken bones.
About 40 were unable to walk because of serious injuries sustained in
custody. Torture
in Turkey International
Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims (irct) Developed in
collaboration with SOHRAM-CASRA (Centre for social Action, Rehabilitation and
Readjustment for Victims of Torture), TOHAV (Foundation for Social and Legal
Studies) and TIHV/HRFT (Human Rights Foundation Turkey), August 2014 www.irct.org/Admin/Public/DWSDownload.aspx?File=%2fFiles%2fFiler%2fpublications%2fCountry+factsheets%2fCF+Turkey+-+PUBLIC+EDIT+pdf.pdf [accessed 23 June
2015] Torture and
ill-treatment remains a systematic problem in Turkey. The occurrence of
torture and other forms of ill-treatment has increased in recent years
alongside regressive legal amendments and the changed practices and attitudes
of State authorities. Measure
introduced to prevent suicides in prison a form of torture for inmates Today's Zaman,
Ankara , April 24, 2015 www.todayszaman.com/anasayfa_measure-introduced-to-prevent-suicides-in-prison-a-form-of-torture-for-inmates_378925.html [accessed 10 May
2015] The prisoners are
monitored by guards who go from cell to cell asking each prisoner every
thirty minutes if she is OK, a practice that has become torture for the
prisoners at night. “The inmates who
were sentenced to life imprisonment are made to live in isolation for the
rest of their life. They are neither instructed to work nor allowed to talk
with others. These people are not monsters. The [Interior] Ministry, instead
of improving the conditions in prison, tells guards to ask [the prisoners] if
they are OK,” said Ülgen. European
court convicts Turkey in police torture case Today's Zaman,
Istanbul, 18 March 2015 www.todayszaman.com/diplomacy_european-court-convicts-turkey-in-police-torture-case_375608.html [accessed 31 March
2015] policy.dfns.net/2015/03/17/todays-european-court-convicts-turkey-in-police-torture-case/ [accessed 8 August
2017] The European Court
of Human Rights has convicted Turkey in a case filed by a man who complained
he had been subjected to ill-treatment at the hands of the Turkish police
during his detention in 2000. The man, Şükrü Yıldız,
was detained on Dec. 10, 2000, as he, along with three other people, was
writing slogans on walls in İstanbul. Police fired shots as they moved
to detain the men. During the detention, one of the men sustained an injury
to the ear and another suffered head wounds, from which he later died. Yıldız, who sustained minor head injuries, said
in his application to the European court that during his detention police
officers kicked him in the head while forcing him to get inside their car. He
was hospitalized until Dec. 18, 2000, and underwent an operation for a skull
fracture with a depression in the right parietal region, according to a press
release issued by the court on Tuesday. The European court
ruled that Turkey violated Article 3 of the European Convention on Human
Rights, which prohibits inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment. Human
Rights Watch World Report 2015 - Events of 2014 Human Rights Watch,
29 January 2015 www.hrw.org/world-report/2015/...
or
www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/wr2015_web.pdf [accessed 18 March
2015] TURKEY COMBATING IMPUNITY - Great obstacles
remain in securing justice for victims of abuses by police, military, and state
officials. In April 2014, the government introduced a law giving immunity
from prosecution to personnel of the National Intelligence Agency (Milli İstihbarat Teşkilatı, MİT), unless the agency itself
expressly authorizes prosecution. This measure, which is incompatible with
Turkey’s human rights obligations, creates a risk that intelligence personnel
might be immune from accountability for serious human rights violations
committed during their duties, including torture. At time of writing, the law
was under appeal before the Constitutional Court. Despite thousands
of killings and disappearances of Kurds by state officials in the 1990s, only
a handful of trials of officials have taken place. The 20-year statute of
limitations on the prosecution of unlawful killings remains a major obstacle
to justice and many cases risk being timed out without urgent action to
address it. Stronger efforts to combat impunity are vital to support the
Kurdish peace process. In June, a military court upheld a decision of non-prosecution
in the case of the attack by the Turkish Air Force in December 2011 that
killed 34 Kurdish villagers near the village of Roboski (Ortasu) close to the
Iraqi Kurdistan border. Six policemen
arrested for torture in Istanbul police station Doğan News Agency,
Istanbul, 26 November 2014 [accessed 14
December 2014] The 26-year-old
man, identified only by the initials Ş.Ş., went to the Sultanbeyli Fatih Police station
to receive a subpoena two weeks ago. While there, two groups who had been in
a fight requested his help to mediate, after which he told them to ask for
the police’s help and left the station. Ş.Ş. was
allegedly called by the police again to help mediate between the two groups.
He returned to the station, where one police officer allegedly shouted him,
“Who do you think you are? How can you mediate here?” The man says he was
then beaten by several police officers with batons, the butts of their guns,
and claims that they attempted to push a soda bottle into his anus. He later
received a medical report saying that he could work for 15 days due to
injuries sustained. Mother follows son
into suicide following latter’s torture by police Hürriyet Daily News, Istanbul,
3 March 2014 [accessed 13 March
2014] “While I was in
custody, I forced to take off all my clothes. They told me to lean against
the wall. I was made to cough, and I was forced for a while to wait while squatting.
They then made me listen to the voice of someone crying and pleading with the
police. I was hit and subjected to verbal insults,” he said. Onur Yaser Can said he was again called to the police station
on June 3, 2010, on the grounds that there had been a problem with the date
on his initial testimony. The architect said police again threatened him,
demanded that he become an informant and forced him to sign a different
statement before releasing him. Still operating the
under alleged impression that he was a drug dealer, police began following Onur Yaser Can. On June 23,
2010, he was again called to the station; however, fearing a repeat of the
earlier torture and threats, the man committed suicide. New anti-torture
agency to start its work Journal of Turkish
Weekly JTW, 1 March 2014 www.turkishweekly.net/news/163883/new-anti-torture-agency-to-start-its-work.html [accessed 1 March
2014] In a statement
following the symposium, TIHV said the anti-torture agency lacks the
authority, structure, resources, functional independence, and legal
protection to fulfil its duties. Since the anti-torture mechanism has no
independent budget and only 70 staff members, critics say it will struggle to
supervise the country's detention centres: 1,326
gendarmerie posts in the southeast, almost 400 prisons, and police stations
in all 81 provinces and 831 counties. Warden Sentenced to
Life For “Neglecting Torture” Ayça Söylemez,
BIA News, İstanbul, 11 November 2013 www.bianet.org/english/human-rights/151225-warden-sentenced-to-life-for-neglecting-torture [accessed 11 Nov
2013] Turkey’s Supreme
Court of Appeals announced its verdict on Engin Çeber case, approving the life sentence of a prison
administrator for “neglecting torture” setting a landmark to find a prison
warden guilty even though he didn’t directly take part of torture. The court approved
the life sentences for guardians Selahattin Apaydın and Sami Ergazi as
well as former prison warden Fuat Karaosmanoğlu. "Warden Karaosmanoğlu did not participate in the torture
sessions. He was merely the superior of those who tortured [Çeber] and failed to stop them when he could. He consequently
received a life-time sentence. This verdict has gone quite far, and if
authorities follow through with it, then a security office director, for
instance, can also receive as hefty a sentence as the police officer who
commits the actual torture. This represents a significant step in preventing
torture," Tanay said on October 1. Turkey: End
Impunity for State Killings, Disappearances Human Rights Watch,
Istanbul, September 3, 2012 www.hrw.org/news/2012/09/03/turkey-end-impunity-state-killings-disappearances [accessed 4 January
2013] The Turkish
government should take action to address statutory time limits, witness
intimidation, and other obstacles to the prosecution of members of security
forces and public officials for killings, disappearances, and torture, Human
Rights Watch said in a report released today. Those responsible for
the serious human rights violations committed after the September 1980
military coup and against the Kurdish civilian population in the 1990s,
during the conflict between the state and the armed outlawed Kurdistan
Workers’ Party (PKK), have never been held to account. Hundreds of deaths
in custody and summary executions by the security forces risk being deemed
time-barred for prosecution because of a 20-year limitation on murder
investigations contained in Turkey’s previous penal code. Thousands more state-perpetrated
killings of Kurds from the early 1990s could be similarly excluded from
prosecution and trial in the coming three years. “Old laws that
curtail investigations into serious human rights abuses in Turkey have
allowed the security forces and public officials to get away with murder and
torture,” said Emma Sinclair-Webb, senior Turkey researcher at Human Rights
Watch. “It is vital that Turkish authorities act now to ensure there are no
time bars on victims getting justice.” Conclusions and recommendations
of the Committee against Torture U.N. Convention
against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment -- Doc. CAT/C/TUR/CO/3
(2011) www1.umn.edu/humanrts/cat/observations/turkey2011.html [accessed 10 March
2013] C. Principal
subjects of concern and recommendations Torture and impunity 7. The Committee is
gravely concerned about numerous, ongoing and consistent allegations concerning
the use of torture, particularly in unofficial places of detention, including
in police vehicles, on the street and outside police stations,
notwithstanding information provided from the State party that combating
torture and ill-treatment has been a “priority item” and while noting the
reported decrease in the number of reports on torture and other forms of
cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment in official places of
detention in the State party. The Committee is furthermore concerned by the
absence of prompt, thorough, independent and effective investigations into
allegations of torture committed by security and law enforcement officers
which are required by article 12 of the Convention and at the pattern of
failure to conduct these. It is also concerned that many law enforcement
officers found guilty of ill-treatment receive only suspended sentences,
which has contributed to a climate of impunity. In this respect, it is a
matter of concern to the Committee that prosecutions into allegations of
torture are often conducted under article 256 (“excessive use of force”) or
article 86 (“intentional injury”) of the Penal Code, which proscribe lighter
sentences and the possibility for suspended sentences, and not under articles
94 (“torture”) or 95 (“aggravated torture due to circumstances”) of the same
Code (art. 2). Absence of
effective, prompt and independent investigations into complaints 8. The Committee is
concerned at the continuing failure of authorities to conduct effective,
prompt and independent investigations into allegations of torture and ill-
treatment. In particular, the Committee is concerned at reports that
prosecutors face obstacles in effectively investigating complaints against
law enforcement officers and that any such investigations pursued are
commonly conducted by law enforcement officers themselves, a procedure which
lacks independence, impartiality and effectiveness, notwithstanding Circular
No. 8 of the Ministry of Justice pursuant to which investigations concerning
allegations of torture and ill-treatment shall be conducted by the Public
Prosecutor and not by law enforcement officers. In this respect, the
Committee is further concerned at the lack of clarity surrounding the current
system of administrative investigation into allegations of police abuse,
which lacks impartiality and independence, and that prior authorization for
investigating the highest level law enforcement officers is still permitted
under the Criminal Procedure Code. The Committee is also concerned by reports
that independent medical documentation of torture are not entered into
evidence in court rooms and that judges and prosecutors only accept reports
by the Ministry of Justice’s Forensic Medicine Institute. Furthermore, while
noting the project launched in 2006 to introduce an “Independent Police
Complaints Commission and Complaints System for the Turkish Police and
Gendarmerie”, the Committee is concerned that no independent police
complaints mechanism is yet in place. The Committee is concerned about a
pattern of delays, inaction and otherwise unsatisfactorily handling by
authorities of the State party of investigations, prosecutions and conviction
of police, law enforcement and military personnel for violence, ill-treatment
and torture offences against its citizens (arts. 12 and 13). Restrictions on
fundamental legal safeguards 11. The Committee
is concerned at restrictions in the enjoyment of fundamental legal safeguards
against torture and ill-treatment as a result of the introduction of new laws
and amendments to the 2005 Code of Criminal Procedure. In particular, the
Committee is concerned: (a) at the denial of a suspect’s right to contact a
lawyer until 24 hours after arrest under the Law on Combating Terrorism (Law
No. 3713); (b) at the denial of of legal aid for
suspects accused of offences carrying a sentence of less than five years of
imprisonment (Law No. 5560); (c) at the absence of a statutory right to an
independent medical examination; and (d) that the statutory right to
immediate access to a medical doctor is restricted to convicted prisoners
(art. 94, Law No. 5275). The Committee is concerned at reports of the
presence of a public official during the medical examination of a detainee
notwithstanding that this is forbidden by law unless the medical personnel so
requests for reasons of personal security. (art. 2) Registration of
detainees 18. The Committee
is concerned at reports that suspects are held in police custody without
being officially registered and, in this respect, notes with concern the
vague provision in law that registration of detainees shall occur “within a
reasonable time” upon arrest (art. 2). AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL From an old article -- URL not available Article was
published sometime prior to 2015 TORTURE AND OTHER ILL-TREATMENT Allegations of
torture and other ill-treatment in official places of detention persisted. In
June, the Parliament passed legislation to create an Ombudsman’s Office and a
separate national human rights institution. The national human rights institution
lacked guarantees of independence. At the end of the year, it was unclear how
or whether it would fulfil the obligations of the Optional Protocol to the UN
Convention against Torture in providing independent monitoring of places of
detention. Other independent mechanisms promised by the government, such as a
police complaints procedure, were not established. In March, boys held
at Pozantı prison in the southern province of
Adana were transferred, following allegations that prison officials had subjected
them to abuse, including sexual abuse. An official investigation continued at
the end of the year. The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture
visited Pozantı prison in June but its report
was not publicly available at the end of the year. EXCESSIVE USE OF
FORCE There were frequent
allegations of excessive use of force by police during demonstrations,
including beatings, throughout the year. Three deaths at demonstrations,
allegedly as a result of excessive use of force, were reported. ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Freedom House
Country Report - Political Rights: 3 Civil Liberties: 3 Status: Partly Free 2009 Edition www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2009/turkey [accessed 4 January
2013] LONG URL
ç 2009 Country Reports begin on Page 21 [accessed 13 May
2020] However, Amnesty
International has accused the Heavy Penal Courts of accepting evidence
extracted under torture. The court system is also undermined by procedural
delays, with some trials lasting so long as to become a financial burden for
the defense. The current
government has enacted new laws and training to prevent torture, including a
policy involving surprise inspections of police stations that was announced
in 2008. A government human rights report issued for the first time in 2008
found that the combined category of torture and ill-treatment was the
third-most-common complaint in 2007, after property rights and health care.
The Human Rights Foundation of Turkey has reported that the number of people
subjected to violence or ill-treatment has increased slightly since 2005
after falling sharply overall since 2000. A man arrested for participating in
a demonstration died in custody in October 2008, after he was allegedly
beaten; 60 police and prison officials were indicted. Prison conditions can
be harsh, with problems including overcrowding and practices like extended isolation
in some facilities. Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61680.htm [accessed 4 January
2013] 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61680.htm [accessed 7 July
2019] TORTURE
AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT – The law
prohibits such practices; however, members of the security forces continued
to torture, beat, and otherwise abuse persons regularly. Incidents of
torture and abuse declined during the year but remained widespread. Courts rarely
convicted security officials accused of torture and tended to issue light
sentences when they did convict (see section 1.d.). According to the HRF,
there were 657 credible cases of torture or abuse reported at its 5 national
treatment centers through November. Of these, 180 cases involved torture or
abuse inflicted during the year; the rest involved incidents that occurred
previously. A number of human rights observers claimed that only a small
percentage of detainees reported torture and abuse because they feared
retaliation or believed that complaining was futile. An attorney for Abdulkadir Akgul, Ergin Demir, Cigerhun Erisen, Zubeyit Keserci, and Muzaffer Keserci claimed law
enforcement officials tortured his clients during their July detention in Van
Province. According to the attorney, security forces were present during his
clients' medical examinations, preventing doctors from recording their
injuries. In August Servet Alcinkaya, reporter for
the daily Cumhuriyet, claimed Istanbul police
severely beat him in detention. He said police held him overnight without
allowing him to contact relatives and released him the next day. In October three
juveniles said Ordu police repeatedly beat them,
squeezed their testicles, and threatened to rape and kill them while they
were held in detention following an incident at a local concert. Medical
examinations of the juveniles reportedly confirmed signs of beatings on their
bodies. Also in October,
broadcast media outlets aired footage of employees abusing children at the
Malatya State Orphanage. Images included employees beating children who were
stripped naked and sitting in a bathtub. Several of the children told police
their caretakers had forced them to eat excrement. Physicians subsequently
examined the children and reported finding evidence that 21 of 46 had been
subject to torture, including severe beatings and hot water burns.
Authorities pressed charges against five employees and removed four others
from their posts. The trial and investigation continued at year's end. In December Orhan Kara, Velat Haci Ali, Idban Kaplan, Seref Inanc, and Nezir Ayan claimed that police
tortured them during their detention in Silopi, Sirnak Province. Erdal Kuzu, an attorney and HRA official who visited the
detainees, said police beat the detainees, administered electric shocks to
their genitals, forced them to strip and sprayed them with cold water, and
placed guns to their heads and threatened to kill them. Kuzu
claimed that the prosecutor declined to record the detainees' torture claims,
and he claimed the detainees were denied access to prison medical facilities. There were no
developments in the reported 2004 cases of torture of Mehmet Nurettin Basci, Mehmet Gazi Aydin, Sezai Karakus, or several persons detained by police during a
raid of the Yeniden Ozlem
publishing house. There were no
developments in the investigation of the alleged rape and torture of DEHAP
official Gulbahar Gunduz
in 2003. Attorneys for Gunduz applied to the ECHR
during the year. Proceedings
continued at year's end in the Ankara trial of five police defendants charged
with torturing and killing Birtan Altinbas in 1991. The court convicted the defendants in
2004, but the High Court of Appeals returned the case to the lower court on
the grounds that the sentences were too lenient. In September an
Istanbul prosecutor charged eight police officers with torturing Firat Develioglu, Emre Nil, Aysegul Huma, and Tugba Babuna, who were detained
in 1999 during operations conducted against the Islamist group Adnan Hocacilar. According to the indictment, the officers beat
the detainees, handcuffed them to chairs, and squeezed their testicles. In April an
Iskenderun court acquitted four police officers charged with torturing and
raping two teenage girls in 1999. The court determined there was insufficient
evidence for a conviction. The trial, which began in 2000, had been plagued
by repeated procedural delays related to the handling of forensic evidence.
The ruling was under appeal at year's end. Human rights
observers said that, because of reduced detention periods, security officials
mainly used torture methods that did not leave physical signs, including
repeated slapping, exposure to cold, stripping and blindfolding, food and
sleep deprivation, threats to detainees or family members, dripping water on
the head, isolation, and mock executions. They reported the near elimination
of more severe methods, such as electric shocks, high-pressure cold water
hoses, rape, beatings on the soles of the feet and genitalia, hanging by the
arms, and burns. Human rights
activists, attorneys, and physicians who treated victims said that because of
increased punishments for torture and abuse, police who engaged in these
practices often did so outside of police detention centers to avoid
detection. Human rights
activists maintained that those arrested for ordinary crimes were as likely
to suffer torture and ill‑treatment in detention as those arrested for
political offenses, although they were less likely to report abuse. Observers
said security officials sometimes tortured political detainees to intimidate
them and send a warning to others with similar political views. Authorities
allegedly tortured ordinary suspects to obtain a confession. Government-employed
doctors administered all medical examinations of detainees. Examinations
occurred once during detention and a second time before either arraignment or
release; however, the examinations generally were brief and informal.
According to the Society of Forensic Medicine Specialists, only approximately
300 of 80 thousand doctors in the country were forensic specialists, and most
detainees were examined by general practitioners and specialists not
qualified to detect signs of torture. There were forensic medical centers in
34 of 81 provinces. Some former detainees asserted that doctors did not
conduct proper examinations and that authorities denied their requests for a
second examination. A justice ministry
regulation requires doctor‑patient privacy during the examination of
suspects, except where the doctor requests police presence for security
reasons. During the year there were fewer complaints of security officials
remaining in the room despite objections, according to the Society of
Forensic Medicine Specialists. The law provides
for harsh prison sentences and fines for medical personnel who falsify
reports to hide torture, those who knowingly use such reports, and those who
coerce doctors into making them.In practice there
were few prosecutions for violation of these laws |
