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Amnesty International Report 1998 - Turkey

(This report covers the period January-December 1997)

Hundreds of people were detained because of their non-violent political activities; most were released after a short period of police detention but others were sentenced to terms of imprisonment. Torture continued to be widespread and systematic in police stations and gendarmeries, although new legislation on detention procedures had some impact. There were at least six reported deaths in custody. At least nine people reportedly “disappeared” in security force custody and at least 20 people were killed in circumstances suggesting that they had been extrajudicially executed. There were no judicial executions, although courts continued to pass death sentences. Armed opposition groups committed deliberate and arbitrary killings of prisoners and civilians.

The government headed by Necmettin Erbakan of the Islamist Welfare Party in coalition with the right-wing True Path Party ended with his resignation in June, largely as a result of pressure from the armed forces. Later that month, a new coalition headed by Motherland Party leader Mesut Ylmaz was formed together with the Democratic Left Party and Democratic Turkey Party. State of emergency legislation was lifted in three provinces in October, but remained in force in six provinces of the southeast, where the 13-year conflict between government forces and armed members of the Kurdish Workers’ Party (pkk) claimed the lives of 6,000 people, including civilians, during the year.

 

Trade unionists, students and demonstrators were frequently taken into custody at peaceful public meetings or at their organizations’ offices, and were held in police detention for hours or days because of their non-violent political activities.

The trial under Article 8 of the Anti-Terror Law, which outlaws any advocacy of “separatism”, of 184 members of Turkey’s literary and cultural elite for publishing a book entitled Freedom of Thought (see Amnesty International Report 1997) was halted in October under the terms of a law which suspended judicial proceedings against editors for three years

Other articles of the Turkish Penal Code (tpc) were also used against writers, journalists and political activists whose statements criticized the Turkish state. In June the writer and lawyer Ahmet Zeki Okçuo©lu was imprisoned under Article 159 of the tpc for “insulting the institutions of the state”, after the Supreme Court upheld a 10-month sentence handed down in 1993 by Istanbul Criminal Court No. 2 for his article published in the newspaper Azadi (Freedom). He was released in October. The trials under Article 159 continued against Münir Ceylan, a trade unionist; Ercan Kanar, president of the Istanbul branch of the Turkish Human Rights Association (hra); and Óanar Yurdatapan, spokesperson for the Together for Peace initiative (see Amnesty International Report 1997). They had publicly accused the Chief of General Staff of covering up the Güçlükonak massacre, in which state forces allegedly detained and killed 11 civilians and village guards. The security forces presented the killings as having been committed by the pkk.

Prisoners of conscience Hatip Dicle, Orhan Do©an, Selim Sadak and Leyla Zana, former parliamentary deputies for the Democracy Party, continued to serve 15-year sentences, imposed in 1994 for alleged membership of the pkk, at Ankara Closed Prison. No conclusive evidence was presented to support the charges against them during the course of a blatantly unfair trial and they appeared to have been imprisoned because of their criticism of state policy in the predominantly Kurdish southeastern provinces

People expressing political beliefs from an Islamic point of view were also held as prisoners of conscience. Former parliamentary deputy Hasan Mezarc was serving an 18-month sentence imposed in 1996 under Law 5816 for insulting Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the Turkish Republic. He was released in October. In April members of the Aczmendi religious order detained in October 1996 were sentenced to prison terms by Ankara State Security Court (ssc) for appearing in public in Ankara in turbans and cloaks - garments which contravened the Dress and Hat Laws instituted by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Ilyas Eldi, Yakup AkkuÒ, Ahmet Arslan, Ömer Faruk, Bülent Baykal, and Servet Dündar were sentenced to four years’ imprisonment after conviction under Article 7/1 of the Anti-Terror Law for “membership of an organization founded to transform the Republic by means of intimidation or threats.” In fact, the Aczmendi order does not advocate violence. Another 110 Aczmendi defendants received sentences of three years’ imprisonment.

The hra was subjected to intense harassment. Three branches were shut down including the Diyarbakr branch, which was closed on the grounds that “its activities threaten the unity of the state.” Aziz Durmaz, president of the Óanlurfa branch, was detained and reportedly tortured in June. He was committed to prison on apparently bogus charges of membership of an armed organization. He was a prisoner of conscience. Aziz Durmaz was released in November.

Turkey does not recognize the right of conscientious objection to military service and there is no provision for alternative civilian service. In January the General Staff Military Court in Ankara sentenced Osman Murat Ülke, chairperson of the Izmir War Resisters’ Association (iskd) (see Amnesty International Report 1997), to six months’ imprisonment and a fine for “alienating the public from the institution of military service” by publicly declaring his conscientious objection and burning his call-up papers in 1995. In February the General Staff Military Court opened a new trial against Osman Murat Ülke and a further 11 defendants from the hra and iskd on charges of “alienating the public from the institution of military service” in speeches that they had given during Human Rights Week in 1995. Osman Murat Ülke was conditionally released in May, but was rearrested in October at EskiÒehir Military Court after being convicted of “persistent insubordination”, for which he received a five-month prison sentence, and “desertion”, for which he received a further five-month sentence

In March detention procedures were amended for people held under the Anti-Terror Law (which includes non-violent offences). The Turkish Government announced this as a measure to combat torture. The new law shortened the maximum terms of police detention from 30 to 10 days in provinces under state of emergency legislation, and from 14 to seven days throughout the rest of the country. The new provisions were a substantial improvement but still failed to meet international standards. The law provides for four days’ incommunicado detention, described by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment as “unacceptable”. Incommunicado detention is widely recognized as being conducive to torture.

The revised detention procedures appeared to have some inhibiting effect on the practice of torture. Nevertheless, there were many well-documented reports of torture by police and gendarmes (soldiers carrying out police duties, mainly in rural areas) in many parts of the country. Male and female detainees frequently complained that they were sexually assaulted. The victims included those detained for common criminal offences as well as for offences under the Anti-Terror Law. Children and juveniles were again among the victims. Sixteen-year-old Murat Yi©it reported that he was tortured at a police station in Ankara while detained in January. He stated that he was blindfolded and stripped naked, drenched with cold water, beaten on the soles of his feet and given electric shocks to his penis and feet by police officers who wanted him to sign a confession to a series of burglaries. He was later released without charge. A medical report issued by Ankara Forensic Medicine Institute recorded injuries consistent with his statement

Hatun Temuzalp, a reporter for a left-wing journal, stated that she was tortured while held for interrogation at Istanbul Police Headquarters for seven days during March. Police officers insulted and threatened her, and pulled some of her clothes off. Her arms were tightly bound to a wooden bar and two people grabbed her, lifted her onto a chair, hung her up, and pulled the chair away. This happened repeatedly. After a period of intense pain she started to lose consciousness. A radiography report indicated a fractured shoulder blade. When brought before a judge, Hatun Temuzalp made a complaint of torture. She was released, but her interrogators were not prosecuted.

In a judgment in September the European Court of Human Rights found that Turkish security forces had tortured Óükran Aydn while she was detained at Derik Gendarmerie Headquarters in Mardin in 1993. She was 17 years old at the time. The Court found that Óükran Aydn had been raped, paraded naked in humiliating circumstances and beaten, and that the Turkish authorities had failed to conduct an adequate investigation into her complaint. The Court ordered the Turkish Government to pay Óükran Aydn compensation of approximately us$41,000.

There were at least six deaths in custody apparently as a result of torture. Fettah Kaya died at Aksaray Police Station in May, after being detained by vice-squad officers at the music hall where he worked. Police authorities reportedly claimed that the 23-year-old man had died of a heart attack, but a detainee who was in custody with him stated that both of them had been tortured by police, who struck them with sandbags

At least nine people were reported to have “disappeared” in the custody of police or soldiers. In February witnesses saw four armed men, apparently plainclothes police officers, stop Fikri Özgen outside his house in Diyarbakr, check his identity and drive him away. His family made inquiries with all the relevant authorities, who denied that he was detained. In common with several other victims of “disappearance”, Fikri Özgen had relatives reported to have pkk connections.

At least 20 people were reported to be victims of political killings, many of which may have been extrajudicial executions. In January Murat Akman was killed during a house raid in Savur, Mardin province, shortly after two security force officers had been killed by the pkk. According to a family member who witnessed the killing, members of the Special Operations Team (a special heavily armed police force unit) came to the door, asking for Murat Akman. When he appeared and showed his identity card, they opened fire, killing him instantly. The family made an official complaint, but by the end of the year those responsible for the killing had not been brought to justice.

The forcible return to their country of origin of recognized refugees and asylum-seekers, including Iraqi and Iranian nationals, continued throughout the year. On several occasions, Amnesty International expressed grave concern to the Turkish Government about these refoulements. No response was received.

For the 13th consecutive year there were no judicial executions, although courts continued to pass death sentences

Armed separatist, leftist and Islamist organizations were responsible for at least 13 deliberate and arbitrary killings of civilians and prisoners. Armed members of the pkk were allegedly responsible for at least 10 of the killings. According to reports, in July pkk members killed Mehmet Özdemir at Üzümlü village, near Eruh in Siirt province, and also abducted Abdullah TeymurtaÒ from the same village before killing him. In October Merka Akay was taken from her home in Nusaybin, Mardin province, and strangled by pkk members. The Turkish Workers and Peasants’ Army (tikko) reportedly claimed responsibility for the killing in June of Devrim Yasemin Ïldrten and Behzat Yldrm in Istanbul, claiming that they were “traitors and collaborators”. The Islamic Raiders of the Great East-Front claimed responsibility for the bombing of a sewage treatment plant in Istanbul in June. Mehmet Óahin Duran, a worker at the plant, was wounded in the blast and subsequently died of his injuries. Amnesty International condemned these grave abuses and publicly called on armed opposition groups to ensure that their members were instructed to respect international humanitarian law and human rights standards.

Throughout the year Amnesty International appealed for the release of prisoners of conscience and urged the government to initiate prompt and independent investigations into allegations of torture, extrajudicial executions and “disappearances”. Reports published during the year included Turkey: Refoulement of non-European refugees - a protection crisis.

Amnesty International delegates observed several trial hearings, including the January hearing in the trial at Izmir ssc of a group of juveniles who had been tortured at Manisa Police Headquarters in 1996 and subsequently accused of membership of an armed organization, and the final hearing in May of a trial at Adana Primary Court in which Dr Tufan Köse, an employee of a rehabilitation centre for torture victims, was sentenced to a fine for refusing to give officials access to treatment records.