AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program

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AAAS Human Rights Action Network

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FACTS OF THE CASE:

The government of Turkey has stepped up its efforts 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 government scheduled a hearing against HRFT lawyer Sezgin Tanrikulu. He is being charged for establishing a medical treatment and rehabilitation center without seeking permission from the relevant authorities. The hearing is scheduled to take place on 19 March 2002.

In recent months, Turkish authorities have targeted the torture treatment center. On 7 September 2001, state police raided the Diyarbakir Center and confiscated confidential staff files, including information on doctors and patients from the torture treatment center. Although the information was later returned, human rights advocates were very concerned that the information would be used to intimidate doctors and patients at the center. There is some indication that this intimidation is already happening. In November, the government transferred two civil servants working as doctors at the Diyarbakir Center out of the clinic and reassigned them to work in medical facilities in different cities. The government opened up an investigation of one of the doctors citing his "misuse of his duties as a civil servant." Since the September raid, patient numbers at the Diyarbakir Center have decreased. HRFT believes that the raid is deterring individuals from seeking medical help.

The HRFT was opened in 1990. Since 1991, it has provided treatment and rehabilitation to torture survivors and their families. The NGO now operates five torture treatment centers. Independent sources such as 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. 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.

The Turkish government's interference with the work of the HFRT is in violation to several human rights standards, including those enumerated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted without opposition by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 December 1948, and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, to which Turkey is a State party. These actions also violate the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Turkey signed the treaty on 15 August 2000. Signing a treaty signifies a nation's intention to comply with its provisions and to work for its ratification.

In addition, government infringements on doctor-patient confidentiality violate the World Medical Association's 1948 Geneva Declaration, which states, "I [the physician] shall respect the secrets which are confided in me."

(Sources of information for this case include: Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the 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 7: No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
• 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 21: The right of peaceful assembly shall be recognized.

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
• Article 20(1): Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Please send telegrams, faxes, airmail letters or emails:

• Expressing concern that the government is seeking to interfere with the work of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey's Diyabakir Center for the Rehabilitation of Torture Victims; and
• Requesting that the government uphold its international human rights obligation and ensure that staff, doctors, and patients of the HRFT are protected from intimidation, harassment, attacks, arrests, or torture.

APPEAL AND INQUIRY MESSAGES SHOULD BE SENT TO:

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

Osman Durmus
Minister of Health and Social Welfare
Ministry of Health and Social Welfare
Saglik ve Sosyal Yardim Bakanligi
06434 Ankara, Turkey
Fax: 011 90 312 431 4879
Salutation: Dear Minister

COPIES SENT TO:

E. Safter Gaydali
State Minister with Responsibility for Human Rights
Office of the Prime Minister
Basbakanlik
06573 Ankara, Turkey
Fax: 011 90 312 417 0476
Salutation: Dear Minister

Ambassador Faruk Logoglu
Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey to the United States
Embassy of the Republic of Turkey
2525 Massachusetts Ave. NW
Washington DC 20008
Fax: 1 202 612 6744
ambassador@turkishembassy.org
Salutation: Dear Mr. Ambassador

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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