AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program

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FACTS OF THE CASE:

On May 10, 1996 a hearing was held in Adana against representatives of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (HRFT), one of whom is a doctor who works in the Foundation's center for treatment of torture victims. This hearing represents the latest in a series of legal attacks by various ministries of the Turkish government, including Foreign Affairs and Health, intended to interfere with the Foundation's work of documenting human rights violations and providing medical treatment to victims of police torture and abuse.

Since March 21, 1996, the Adana Chief Prosecutor's Office has been pursuing an indictment against Dr. Tufan Kose, a doctor associated with the Foundation's center in Adana, and Mustafa Cinkilic, a lawyer and the Foundation's Adana Representative. At the May 10 hearing, the prosecutor presented charges against Dr. Kose and Mssr. Cinkilic under Articles 526 and 530 of the Turkish Penal Code for "operating an unlicensed health center," and "negligence in denouncing a crime." These charges can carry stiff fines and up to six months in prison. Apparently they were filed because the Foundation's Adana representative did not inform authorities when individuals came to them for treatment because of torture or police abuse.

Responding to the charges, HFRT representatives noted that: (1) the Foundation has been registered under the General Directorate of Foundations since 1989, and has undergone annual reviews without incident; and (2) many of the individuals applying to the center for treatment had already reported their allegations of torture to the special prosecutor's office. Finally, they noted that they did not report individual cases of torture to the authorities out of respect for the secrecy required by the patient-doctor relationship.

However, in further disregard for international standards of medical ethics, court authorities demanded that the Adana center turn over all its files, including confidential patient records from victims of torture that the center has treated, as well as the names of individuals who have collaborated with the center in its work. When informed by HFRT representatives that these files were housed at the organization's headquarters in Ankara, the judge extended his demand to that office as well. Despite protests from national and international groups -- including the AAAS, The International Rehabilitation Centre for Torture Victims, Denmark, the Treatment Center for Torture Victims, Berlin, the Berlin Medical Association, and the Turkish Medical Association -- the court maintains that it has a right to access the center's files.

The proceedings against the treatment center in Adana represent the latest in a series of legal efforts to interfere in the Foundation's work. These efforts seem to come in response to the heightened international attention recently focused on Turkey's human rights record, in part as a result of the Foundation's monitoring and documentation of incidents of torture. Since late 1995 the Foundation has suffered a range of legal interferences, including:

Charges against members of the Foundation for "insulting the laws of the Republic and the decisions of Parliament" for an article that appeared in its newsletter; Numerous attempts by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to cast aspersions on the Foundation's work, including claims that its reporting was based on the work of torture treatment centers which "did not exist," resulting in investigations by the Ministry ofHealth and the Ankara Public Prosecutor's office; and The charges against Dr. Kose and Mssr. Cinkilic.

On May 9 a judge in Ankara did acquit HRFT Executive Board members of who had been charged in relation to the newsletter article, however indictments similar to those against the Adana center representatives are reportedly being prepared against the Foundation's torture treatment centers in Ankara and Istanbul. A second hearing against HRFT's representatives in Adana is scheduled for 5 July 1996.

The court's demands that HRFT representatives report to the authorities on individual torture victims they treat and turn over medical records to the court represent serious violations of internationally accepted standards of medical ethics, which protect the patientcare giver relationship. The confidentiality of this relationship is codified in the World Medical Association's 1948 Declaration in Geneva, which states:

I [The Physician] shall respect the secrets which are confided in me.

The Turkish Medical Association is a member of the World Medical Association. In addition, the intimidation and prosecution of HRFT officials for their documentation of and reporting on incidents of torture violate international human rights standards, including the right to free speech. Under the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (which Turkey ratified in 1954):

• Everyone has the right to freedom of expression (Article 10).

(Sources of information for this case include AAAS staff in Turkey, the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey, Physicians for Human Rights, and Human Rights Watch/Helsinki.)

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Please send telexes, faxes, or airmail letters to the Turkish government requesting that it:

• drops all requests for the Foundation's medical files on the grounds that they fall under the protection of doctor-patient confidentiality established under the Geneva Convention;
• drops all charges against the Foundation, a legal organization in Turkey which is duly registered with the authorities.

APPEAL AND INQUIRY MESSAGES SHOULD BE SENT TO:

President Suleyman Demirel
Office of the President
Cumhur Baskanligi
06100 Ankara, Turkey
Fax: 011903124685026
Salutation: Your Excellency

Mr. Firuz Cilingiroglu
Minister of Justice
Adalet Bakanligi
06659 Ankara, Turkey
Fax: 011903124173954
Salutation: Dear Minister

COPIES SENT TO:

Ambassador Nuzhet Kandemir
Embassy of the Republic of Turkey
1714 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20036


Ambassador Richard C. Barkley
Embassy of the United States of America
Ataturk Blvd.
PSC 93, Box 5000
Ankara, Turkey
APO AE 09823
Fax: 011903124670019

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