AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program

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AAAS Human Rights Action Network

FACTS OF THE CASE:

On 2 May 1997, the eighth trial in eight months against the Adana Torture Treatment Center of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey resulted in a verdict. Foundation representative, Tufan Kose, a physician, charged with "failure to notify the authorities of a crime," referring to the crime of torture, was fined TL 12,000,525 (approx. US$100). Mustafa Cincilik, a lawyer, charged with "operating an unlicensed health center" was acquitted. The verdict against Tufan Kose will be appealed to the Supreme Court.

In Court, the Center's medical records were demanded, including confidential records from victims of torture, and the names of individuals who have collaborated with the Center. In his defense, Tufan Kose invoked his privilege and obligation to maintain physician-patient confidentiality, a principle repeatedly ignored by the Adana Court. The charges were apparently filed because Dr. Kose did not inform authorities when individuals came to him for treatment because of torture or police abuse. Government authorities claimed that they needed the information to prosecute those responsible for the crime of torture. Yet, according to the U.S. Department of State's Turkey Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 1996, the "climate of impunity reflected in the relatively small number of convictions [of police or security officers prosecuted for killings and torture] probably remains the single largest obstacle to reducing human rights abuses."

On 6 December 1996, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment made a public statement underscoring the crucial need for torture treatment facilities in Turkey to operate without governmental interference and with guarantees that medical ethical standards will be respected. The Human Rights Foundation of Turkey operates four centers for the treatment of torture survivors. They are located in Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir, and Adana. The Court's decision seriously jeopardizes the Foundation's operations. The government's demand that physicians report the names of survivors of torture seeking treatment to the very government responsible for inflicting their torture not only violates international medical ethical standards, but impedes the treatment of torture survivors by breaking the crucial element of trust that must be established in the physician-patient relationship. Throughout the eight trials, Foundation lawyers have stressed the unique role of physicians in the treatment of torture survivors as documented by numerous internationally acclaimed torture treatment specialists. This incursion by the Turkish government into internationally accepted medical ethical standards has mobilized members of the international medical and human rights communities who were present at many of the eight trials. They included representatives from the AAAS, the Berlin Medical Association, Doctors of the World, Physicians for Human Rights, the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe, the World Medical Association, the British Medical Association, and the Danish Medical Association, among many others.

In an attempt to mobilize members of the American Medical Association to act on behalf of their Turkish colleagues, members of the Colorado Medical Society have submitted a resolution to be considered this June by the AMA House of Delegates. The resolution supports the work of the Foundation and requests that the AMA call on the government of Turkey to cease all prosecution of the Foundation and all other actions that impede its work.

The resolution addresses three critical issues: 1) the right to maintain physician-patient confidentiality; 2) Turkey's willingness to protect medical ethical standards when they conflict with the government's political agenda; and 3) the right to freedom from torture.

The Turkish government's demands that physicians report the names of survivors of torture seeking treatment represents a serious breach of internationally accepted standards of medical ethics which protect physician-patient confidentiality. The confidentiality of this relationship is codified in the World Medical Association's 1948 Geneva Declaration, which states:

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

If you are a member of the American Medical Association, please notify your state delegate to the AMA urging them to contact your state's Chairperson to support the resolution on Turkey during the AMA annual meeting in June 1997. For contact information about your state delegates, please visit the AAASHRAN Website at

http://shr.aaas.org/aaashran

(Sources of information for this case include AAAS staff attending Foundation trials, the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey, the Colorado Medical Society, and Amnesty International Medical Action Network)

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

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

• Cease its demand that medical professionals report the names of survivors of torture seeking treatment on the grounds that they fall under the protection of physician- patient confidentiality;
• drop all charges against the Foundation and its representatives;
• desist from all other actions that impede the Foundation's work.

APPEAL AND INQUIRY MESSAGES SHOULD BE SENT TO:

President Necmettin Erbacan
Office of the President
Cumhur Baskanligi
06100 Ankara, Turkey
Fax: 011 90 312 468 5026


Adalet Bakanligi
Minister of Justice
06559 Ankara, Turkey
Fax: 011 90 312 417 3954

COPIES SENT TO:

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


Ambassador Marc Grossman
Embassy of the United States of America
Ataturk Blvd.
PSC 93, Box 5000
Ankara, Turkey
APO AE 09823
Fax: 011 90 312 467 0019

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