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AAAS Human Rights Action Network

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FACTS OF THE CASE:

The Office of the Governor of the Emergency State Region (ESR) has initiated legal procedures to close the Diyarbakir Rehabilitation Center for Victims of Torture, one of the regional torture treatment centers run by the Ankara-based Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (HRFT). The State Security Court Prosecutor is currently investigating the Diyarbakir Center. The current investigation appears to be politically motivated and an attempt by the authorities to intimidate doctors and nurses from providing medical care to torture victims. However, the situation has become more serious as the Governor of the ESR is attempting to implement a special administrative provision, Decree No. 285, that allows for the closure of the center without waiting for the results of the formal investigation. The Governor's decision is not subject to any form of review.

In a separate but related development, the state has forced two of the doctors who are civil servants working as doctors at the Diyarbakir Center to leave the city of Diyarbakir and their work at the torture treatment center. Both of the doctors have been sent to different cities. Dr. Recai Aldemir has been sent to the Silvan district and Dr. M. Emin Yüksel to the Hazro district.

The attempt to close the Diyarbakir Center follows a pattern of government harassment and abuses waged against the HRFT and its network of torture treatment centers. On 7 September 2001, police raided the Diyarbakir Center and confiscated confidential patient files. Since then, the files have been returned to the treatment center. The Turkish police have been known to raid torture treatment centers to find the names of patients, whom they then harass and intimidate from seeking further treatment. The police have attempted to shut down the Diyarbakir Center several times since it opened in 1998. The Center has particular significance because the Diyarbakir region is in the southeast of Turkey, a region that is very close to the areas of armed conflict between the Kurdish rebels and the state. The region has experienced a large influx of refugees from the southeast region in recent years.

Since the HRFT opened in 1990, it has become a highly respected human rights organization. It is recognized internationally as one of few reliable sources of human rights information in the country. In 1998, the Council of Europe awarded its European Human Rights Prize to the HRFT in recognition of its "outstanding contribution to the protection of human rights in Turkey." Since 1991, it has been providing treatment and rehabilitation services to torture survivors and their families. In the past ten years, it has expanded its treatment work and currently operates five centers. Independent sources, including the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture, have confirmed the widespread practice of torture in Turkey. In 2000, the Human Rights Commission of the Turkish Parliament issued its own reports that confirmed earlier findings and concluded that torture is a persistent problem in Turkey. Since 1996, the HRFT torture treatments have been the subject of repeated attacks from the Turkish government.

In 1996 and 1997, the founding members of the HRFT were brought to trial in Turkey in connection with HRFT publications, and physicians from its Istanbul and Adana torture treatment facilities were accused of operating illegal medical facilities. AAAS Science and Human Rights Program staff attended a number of trials launched against the HRFT.

The Turkish government's interference with the work of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey and the Diyarbakir Rehabilitation Center for Victims of Torture is in violation of several human rights standards enumerated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted without opposition by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 December 1948 and serves as international customary law. These actions also violate the terms of two treaties to which Turkey is obligated to uphold as a State Party: the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. (Sources of information for this case include: Nizkor International Human Rights Team, Derechos Human Rights, SERPAJ Europe, and International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims.)

RELEVANT HUMAN RIGHTS STANDARDS

Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment

• Article 13: Each State Party shall ensure that any individual who alleges he has been subjected to torture in any territory under its jurisdiction has the right to complain to, and to have his case promptly and impartially examined by, its competent authorities. Steps shall be taken to ensure that the complainant and witnesses are protected against all ill-treatment or intimidation as a consequence of his complaint or any evidence given.
• Article 14: Each State Party shall ensure in its legal system that the victim of an act of torture obtains redress and has an enforceable right to fair and adequate compensation, including the means for as full rehabilitation as possible.

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

• Article 17(1): No one shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his [or her] privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to unlawful attacks on his [or her] honour and reputation.
• Article 7: No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

• Article 05: No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
• Article 12: No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his [or her] honor and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Please send faxes, airmail letters or emails:

• Requesting that the government discontinue its attempts to close the Diyarbakir Center; and
• Urging the government to allow Drs. Racai Aldemir and M. Emin Yüksel to return to the Duyarbakir Center and continue their work.

APPEAL AND INQUIRY MESSAGES SHOULD BE SENT TO:

Bülent Ecevit
Prime Minister of Turkey
Basbakanlik
06573 Ankara
Turkey
Fax: 011 90 312 417 0476
Salutation: Dear Mr. Prime Minister

Osman Durmus
Minister of Health
Ministry of Health
Saglik Bakanligi Sihhiye Ankara
Turkey
Fax: 011 90 312 431 4879
Salutation: Dear Mr. Minister

Mr. Atilla Cinar
Chief of Police
Diyarbakir Police Headquarters
Diyarbakir Emniyet Muduru
Diyarbakir Emniyet Mudurlugu
Diyarbakir, Turkey
Salutation: Dear Chief of Police

Prof. Hikmet Sami Turk
Minister of Justice
Ministry of Justice
Adalet Bakanligi
06659 Ankara, Turkey
Fax: 011 90 312 417 3954 / 418 5667
Salutation: Mr. Minister

COPIES SENT TO:

Ambassador Baki Ilkin
Ambassador of Turkey
Embassy of the Republic of Turkey
1714 Massachusetts Ave. NW
Washington DC 20036
Fax: 1 202 612 6744
Salutation: Mr. Ambassador

E. Safter Gaydali
State Minister with Responsibility for Human Rights
Office of the Prime Minister
Basbakanlik
06573 Ankara, Turkey
011 90 312 417 04 76
Salutation: Dear Mr. Minister

Please send copies of your appeals, and any responses you may receive, or direct any questions you may have to Victoria Baxter, AAAS Science and Human Rights Program, 1200 New York Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20005; tel. 202-326-6797; email vbaxter@aaas.org; or fax 202-289-4950.

The keys to effective appeals are to be courteous and respectful, accurate and precise, impartial in approach, and as specific as possible regarding the alleged violation and the international human rights standards and instruments that apply to the situation. Reference to your scientific organization and professional affiliation is always helpful.

To ensure that appeals are current and credible, please do not continue to write appeals on this case after 90 days from the date of the posting unless an update has been issued.

To verify the contents of this alert and/or the electronic signature, please download the signed file for this alert along with the Program's PGP Public Key.

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