AAAS Scientific Responsibility, Human Rights and Law Program

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AAAS Human Rights Action Network

FACTS OF THE CASE:

Governmental attacks against torture treatment centers operated by the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey continue. On 17 June 1998, just three days after the opening of the Diyarbakir torture treatment center, whose inauguration was attended by both local and national officials, as well as international guests, Foundation representatives were informed that its opening was illegal. Shortly afterwards, fifteen policemen entered the building to close down the center. The pretext for the closure was said to be "lack of documentation of permission provided by the General Directorate of Foundations in the application submitted to the Diyarbakir Regional Directorate." The General Directorate of Foundations is the official body charged with authorizing the establishment and maintaining inspections of Turkish foundations.

While the Foundation operates centers for the treatment of torture survivors in four Turkish cities, Adana, Ankara, Istanbul, and Izmir, the opening of the Diyarbakir center has special significance. Diyarbakir is one of the cities in closest proximity to the areas of armed conflict in the southeast of Turkey, and it is where many refugees from evacuated villages have settled.

The Human Rights Foundation of Turkey has endured repeated governmental efforts to halt its work on behalf of torture survivors. In 1996 and 1997, the AAAS Science and Human Rights Program attended a number of trials launched against the HRFT. Its founding members were brought to trial in connection with publications of the HRFT, and physicians from its Istanbul and Adana branches were accused of operating illegal medical facilities.

As well as operating centers for the treatment and rehabilitation of torture survivors, the HRFT monitors human rights violations in Turkey. It is recognized internationally as one of few reliable sources of human rights information in the country. The Foundation's documentation work has repeatedly placed its representatives at odds with the Turkish government. It was not until April 1996, in an atmosphere of increased sensitivity to criticism on its human rights record, as Turkey prepared to host the United Nations Habitat II Conference, that the government stepped up pressure against the Foundation's torture treatment centers.

The investigations resulted in the unprecedented interference by the Turkish government in the work of the Foundation's torture treatment centers. Foundation representative Tufan Kose, a physician, was charged with "failure to notify the authorities of a crime," referring to the crime of torture, and fined TL 12,000,525 (approx. US$100). In court, the center's medical records were demanded, including confidential records from victims of torture, as well as the names of individuals who have collaborated with the center. The case was decided against Dr. Kose. This decision interferes with the physician-patient relationship and impedes the provision of adequate care to torture survivors. It is a callous dismissal of internationally recognized medical ethical standards requiring physician-patient confidentiality and the provision of treatment without prejudice. The verdict against Tufan Kose will be appealed to the Turkish Supreme Court.

The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment has underscored 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 Turkish government's interference with the work of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey is in violation of international human rights standards enumerated in international instruments to which Turkey is legally bound as a State Party. Demands that physicians report the names of survivors of torture seeking treatment represents a serious breach of internationally accepted standards of medical ethics that protect physician-patient confidentiality. Turkey has an obligation to recognize the rights enumerated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (adopted by the United Nations without opposition in 1948), and the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. These rights include:

• The right to freedom from torture or from inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment;
• the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion;
• the right to freedom of expression; and
• the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and to freedom of association.

Turkey also has ratified the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), signed on 25 January 1988, ratified on 2 August 1988. Articles 21 and 22 allow for inter-state communications and individual communications respectively. Under Article 14 of the Convention, Turkey is obligated to 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.

In addition, the confidentiality of the physician-patient 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.

(Information regarding the closure of the Diyarbakir center was provided by the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey. Other sources of information for this case include the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, 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:

• Desist from all actions that impede the Foundation's work;
• assure that principles of medical ethics will be respected;
• 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; and
• drop all charges against the Foundation and its representatives.

APPEAL AND INQUIRY MESSAGES SHOULD BE SENT TO:

Suleyman Demirel
Head of State
Office of the President
Cumhur Baskanligi
06100 Ankara, Turkey
Fax: 011 90 312 468 5026
Salutation: Dear President Demirel:

His Excellency Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz
Basbakanlik
06573 Ankara
Turkey
Salutation: Dear Mr. Prime Minister:

COPIES SENT TO:

Ambassador Haki Ilkin
Embassy of the Republic of Turkey
1714 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20036


Ambassador Mark Parris
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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