Human rights

The improvement of human rights is one of the key issues when talking of Turkey's EU-membership. In the EU there is a zero tolerance policy towards torture. For Turkey's membership, the EU demands that in Turkey human rights should be reinforced through determined efforts at all levels of the Turkish state.

The state of Turkey has started to work to end practices of torture - although this work is still at the beginning stage. The rules for pre-trial detention have been improved. Medical examinations of detained persons can now be carried out without the presense of the security forces and the medical examination reports need not be copied to law enforcement officers. On these issues, detainees are not always made aware of their rights by the law enforcement bodies. Also Turkey is adopting legislative measures to limit de facto impunity of the perpetrators of torture and under the new Penal Code such perpetrators will be more severely punished. (EC 2004a, 17, 33-34.)

Mazlum Der representatives in Diyarbakir say that there are many changes in the constitution, but the state has not undertaken them voluntarily. They are only to please the EU. In solving human right problems, Turkey has tried to follow a European model and manage these issues under the responsibility of the Prime Minister [3]. The state has formed provincial and sub-provincial Human Rights Boards where the chairman is the governor (in cities e.g. Vali and in towns e.g.Kaymakan).

Representatives of the Van Women’s Association (Van Kadin Dernegi) and advocate Murat Timur in Van say that despite the change of the law, authorities continue to work in the same way. According to them, there is still torture and bad treatment in Van. Mazlum Der representatives say that torture is still in use in Diyarbakir.

" IHD has now a campaign against torture in Van and Hakkari. Authorities do not accept this campaign, they impose many restrictions." (Interview in Van Women Association 27.10.04).

"In mid October, a 16 years old child, Tacettin Kurt, was arrested in Van because police suspected that he smuggled cigarettes from Iran. He was tortured during his arrest. When he was in court,he was given permission to go home. But police took him to the police station,where he was not permitted to call to a lawyer, and he was tortured. I heard later that his clothes had been made very dirty with blood, and he was told to wash them before he met a lawyer. When police released him, they arrested his father and said that he is responsible for what his son was doing." (Timur 2004)
Murat Timur says that health checks of detainees are only a formality in Van:

"Detainees do not remove their clothes, so doctors are not able to see the condition of their skin. Police are still present in the room where the health controls are conducted. Statements are inaccurate, for example, when Tacettin Kurt was tortured, the medical statement said that he had injuries only to his head." (Timur 2004)

According to the EC (EC 2004a, 34), pocked-sized cards setting out a suspect's rights, including his right to see a lawyer, have been distributed to police officers, who have been instructed to read the rights to a suspect immediately upon an arrest.

When I asked about this practise in Van, all people laughed.
"Maybe government makes such things to show other countries, but it is only a formality. In Van there are no changes in the behaviour of policemen." (Timur 2004)
In Istanbul, the situation is better than in East-Turkey. I spoke with two men who had recently been arrested in Istanbul. One of them told about his experience:

"The policemen were polite but they didn't say a word about the rights of detainees. They didn't say their names. But they were polite, they even gave me tea. The policemen were joking that three years ago they would not have behaved like this but now they have been educated because of the 17.12. I heard the reason for my arrestt only when I was released, I received also a paper about it. (Interview in Istanbul 23.10.04)

According to Turkish law, when detainees are released, they have the right to obtain a paper detailing the reason for the arrest. Advocate Timur says than in Van police do not give such a paper to the detainee, and police only write the document if the advocate of the arrested person goes to the police station to ask for it.

With the aim to promote human rights in Turkey, a number of monitoring bodies [4] has been established. But according to the European Commission, the impact of these bodies is still very limited. Their independence has also been questioned. For example, the provincial and sub-provincial Human Rights Boards are chaired by Governors and they include participation from the Governors' administrators. The Human Rights Association (IHD) and Mazlum-Der, two major human rights NGOs, refuse to participate in the work of these Boards. (EC 2004a, 32.)

In Van, there are Human Rights Boards chaired by the Governor. IHD and Mazlum Der do not participate in its work, but Murat Timur as an independent advocate, is a member of the Board. He provides details about it:

"Our governor created a local organisation to survey human rights in Van. Some lawyers who follow Atatürk's ideas participated in it. This organisation is only a formality. In a month only three people presented an application to it, the others (IHD and Mazlum Der) receive about 50 cases every month. When this body of lawyers receives an application they do not treat it properly." (Timur 2004)

Also Mazlum Der representatives in Diyarbakir critizise the Human Rights Boards. They say that human right issues do not receive much attention by these committees. When people complain to them, the Boards tell about other problems, like unemployment or quarrels with neighbours. (Mazlum Der 2004)

According to Mazlum Der representatives the main problem in Turkey is that there are two power forces: the army and the government.

"Most of the problems in the country are caused by disagreement between them. The army says that the process of modern republic building is not yet ready, but it continues. The army still claims that "colorful" country (multiehtnic) would lead to separation of the country. At present, the government cannot stand against this power but with the support of the EU it can succeed." (Mazlum Der 2004)

Mazlum Der representatives in Diyarbakir hope that the EC will make positive a decision on the 17th December, because this would give the Government greater strength to confront the army. Many big and small incidents show how weak the Government is in Turkey. One small example of this is that the wife of the Prime Minister, Erdogan, can not participate in official celebrations because she was wearing a head scarf.
The recent report by the Human Rights Group of the Parliament shows how complicated and multi-dimensional these issues are in Turkey. The group, headed by Professor Ibrahim Kabaoglu, reported in October 2004 [5] an incident which caused an open conflict between the Human Rights Group and the Government. For example, the lock of the door to the Group's rooms in the Parliament building was suddenly changed. The report has caused very strong feelings and this shows that much public discussion about these topics is necessary in Turkey. (Erkin ve Tezerer 2004.)