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TITLE: TURKEY HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES, 1994
AUTHOR: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DATE: FEBRUARY 1995
TURKEY
Turkey is a constitutional republic with a multiparty
Parliament (the Grand National Assembly) which elects the
President. Suleyman Demirel was elected President in 1993, and
Tansu Ciller, chairperson of the center-right True Path Party
(DYP), became Turkey's first female Prime Minister in the same
year.
For the past decade, Turkey has engaged in armed conflict with
the terrorist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), whose stated goal
is the creation of a separate state of Kurdistan in
southeastern Turkey. A state of emergency, declared in 1987,
continued in 10 southeastern provinces where the Government
faces substantial terrorist violence from the PKK (see Section
1.g.). A regional governor retains authority over those 10
provinces, as well as 3 adjacent ones. A state of emergency
allows the civilian governor to exercise certain quasi-martial
law powers, including restrictions on the press and removal
from the area of persons whose activities are deemed hostile to
public order. The state of emergency decree was most recently
renewed in November 1994.
The Turkish National Police (TNP) are charged with maintaining
public order in the cities, a responsibility which the Jandarma
(gendarmerie) carries out in the countryside. In 1994 the
regular Turkish armed forces, mainly the army, took on a
primary role in combatting the PKK in the state of emergency
region and thus assumed a greater internal security function
than in previous years. Despite the Ciller Government's pledge
in 1993 to end torture and to establish a state of law based on
respect for human rights, torture and excessive use of force by
security personnel persisted throughout 1994.
Turkey has a mixed economy in which state enterprises account
for nearly 40 percent of the manufacturing sector. A series of
economic crises culminated in the announcement on April 5 of a
major economic reform program, including the privatization of
state-owned enterprises. Although the balance of payments
improved and inflation slowed, prices still increased over 100
percent in 1994. The size of the state bureaucracy, the budget
deficit, the inadequate tax system, and the inefficient state
sector block economic growth. The conflict in the southeast
continued to be a major drain on the economy.
The human rights situation in Turkey worsened significantly in
1994. The police and security forces often employed torture
during periods of incommunicado detention and interrogation,
and the security forces continued to use excessive force
against noncombatants. PKK terrorists murdered noncombatants,
targeting village officials and teachers and also committing
random murders in their effort to intimidate the populace.
Parliament lifted the immunity of pro-Kurdish Democracy Party
(DEP) members of Parliament (M.P.'s), opening the way for
indictment and prosecution of five DEP M.P.'s and one
independent, largely for the expression of views during their
tenure as M.P.'s. The Constitutional Court subsequently closed
the DEP, allowing two other M.P.'s to be prosecuted. The trial
concluded on December 8 with convictions for disseminating
separatist propaganda and for supporting or being a member of
an armed band, which resulted in sentences ranging from 3 years
and 6 months (suspended) to 15 years.
Various agencies of the Government continued to harass,
intimidate, indict, and imprison human rights monitors,
journalists, lawyers, and professors for ideas which they
expressed in public forums. Disappearances and mystery murder
cases continued at a high rate in the southeast. The PKK and
the radical Islamic Hizbullah (not related to the Lebanese
Hizbullah) appear responsible in some cases. In other cases,
however, the evidence implicated government security forces.
In many human rights cases, the targets of abuse were ethnic
Kurds or their supporters. Moreover, the Government
infrequently prosecutes police or security officers for
extrajudicial killings, torture, and other abuses; in the cases
which produce a conviction, lenient sentences were usually
given. The resulting climate of impunity that has been created
probably remains the single largest obstacle to reducing
unlawful killing, torture, and other human rights abuses.
The Government used the 1991 Anti-Terror Law, with its broad
and ambiguous definition of terrorism, to detain both alleged
terrorists and a broad range of people on the charge that their
acts, words, or ideas promote separatism and "threaten the
indivisible unity of the State." In September the Government
formed a Committee on Freedom of Thought to examine changes to
the Anti-Terror Law and other laws that severely restrict
freedom of expression. By mid-October the Committee had made
recommendations to Parliament which, if enacted and properly
implemented, could significantly expand freedom of expression.
However, at year's end, Parliament had not enacted these
changes.
While the Criminal Trials Procedure Law (CMUK), passed in
November 1992, has improved attorney access for those charged
with common crimes, certain of its provisions, such as early
attorney access, do not apply to those detained under the
Anti-Terror Law or within the state of emergency region. In
1993 Parliament annulled the article of the Constitution under
which the Government had a monopoly on radio and television
broadcasting, and in April 1994 passed regulatory legislation
for the legal operation of private broadcasting.
RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including
Freedom from:
a. Political and Other Extrajudicial Killing
Political murders and extrajudicial killings attributed to
Government authorities and terrorist groups continued at the
relatively high 1993 rates. Government authorities were
responsible for the deaths of detainees in official custody;
suspects in houses raided by security forces; and other types
of civilian deaths in the southeast. The Human Rights
Foundation of Turkey (HRF), a Turkish nongovernmental
organization which documents the human rights situation,
claimed that government security forces were responsible for 33
extrajudicial killings in the first 10 months of 1994. A
substantial number of "mystery killings," in which the
assailant's identity was unknown, also occurred.
Human rights organizations also maintain that security forces
were complicit in a number of these "mystery killings."
The Government maintains that the Hizbullah, an Islamic
terrorist group, carried out 107 "mystery killings" in the
first 9 months of 1994. The number of "mystery killings"
remained high during the first 10 months of 1994 and, according
to the HRF, 316 civilians were assassinated by unknown
attackers, mostly in the east and southeast of the country.
Many were leaders or prominent members of the Kurdish
community, physicians, human rights monitors, local
politicians, and members of the Democracy Party (DEP). In the
past 2 years, at least 26 members of the DEP and its successor,
the People's Democracy Party (HADEP), have been murdered.
A parliamentary committee, which commenced its investigation in
1993, continued to investigate mystery murders which have
occurred since 1970, but had issued no report by year's end.
The HRF reported that 18 persons died under suspicious
circumstances while in official custody in the first 9 months
of 1994, some as a result of torture. Of these, officials
claimed that at least five committed suicide, a claim they have
made frequently in past cases of deaths in custody. In one
such case, Can Demirag, detained by Istanbul police in
connection with a murder, was found dead on August 23 in his
cell in the Kadikoy security directorate where he was being
interrogated. Police claimed Demirag had committed suicide by
hanging himself with a sheet on the iron grating of the
ventilation window in the cell; the Istanbul prosecutor's
office opened an investigation into his death, but by year's
end had not released any information.
By law, authorities are obliged to investigate all deaths in
custody, but prosecutions of security force members for such
deaths are rare. In one case, however, in September, the
Istanbul Beyoglu district prosecutor's office brought murder
charges against police officer Abdullah Bozkurt on the grounds
that in March he shot to death university student Vedat Han
Gulsenoglu in the Istanbul Kasimpasa district police station.
The prosecution requested a 30-year sentence for murder.
In the southeast there were a number of murders of persons who,
according to the authorities, had been released or were not in
custody, but whose families were certain they were being held.
For example, the Diyarbakir State Security Court (SSC) took
Necati Aydin into custody in March. On April 4, the judge
signed a release for Aydin, but he never emerged to meet his
waiting family. On April 9, the bodies of Aydin and a friend,
Mehmet Ay, were found buried to their necks near a river along
the Diyarbakir/Silvan road. The Government states that the
Diyarbakir Third State Security Court released Aydin and Ay on
their own recognizance, and that they later turned up dead.
In April, five village guards (a government-employed
paramilitary force in the southeast) abducted Diyarbakir
tradesman Serif Avsar in broad daylight. Avsar's family
followed them to a Jandarma station, yet authorities denied
they were holding Avsar. He was found dead on May 7. The
village guards and an informant are on trial for Avsar's
murder. The Government maintains the murder resulted from an
interclan dispute.
Regarding other ongoing cases, in the death in detention of
Vakkas Dost, the policeman Nurettin Ozturk is still at large,
and the trial is continuing. The trial in the case of Yucel
Ozen in continuing. The trial of the 11 police officers in the
Basalak case is ongoing.
Human rights groups and parliamentarians continued to accuse
Turkish security forces of carrying out extrajudicial killings
and using excessive force during raids on alleged terrorist
safe houses rather than trying to arrest the occupants. During
the first 10 months of 1994, 27 people died in such raids,
according to human rights groups. In Istanbul, two trials were
started against police who had participated in two Dev Sol
(Devrimci Sol, a Marxist terrorist group) safe house raids in
November 1993 in which three persons died. In another case
stemming from a May 1991 safe house raid in Istanbul in which 2
died, 12 security officers were acquitted.
In an April 1993 shoot-out in Tunceli, 12 Dev Sol militants
were killed. No investigation was initiated; according to
security forces, an investigation was unnecessary since it was
an armed clash.
Prominent credible human rights organizations, Kurdish leaders,
and local Kurds asserted that the Government acquiesces in, or
even carries out, the murders of civilians. Government
officials appeared to be investigating more of the reported
murders than in past years. Some victims had previously been
detained, abused, or threatened by security forces. Human
rights groups reported the widespread and credible belief that
a counterguerrilla group associated with the security forces
had carried out at least some "mystery killings." The
Government maintains that two factions of the Hizbullah
committed most "mystery killings." In June the Diyarbakir SSC
prosecutor's office launched the first trial against 35 members
of Hizbullah's Menzil faction, claiming that the defendants
were responsible for 39 armed attacks, resulting in 25 deaths
and 32 injuries. A second trial against members of Hizbullah's
Ilim faction began at the Diyarbakir SSC in July.
On September 4, 1993, unknown persons fatally shot Mehmet
Sincar, a DEP member of Parliament (MP) from Mardin, in the
city center of Batman. Twelve persons were arrested in
connection with the murder, and the case is currently being
tried. Sincar's widow has accused government forces of
committing the murder and has brought the case before the
European Human Rights Commission.
Four members of the HADEP, successor party to the banned DEP
(see Section 2.b.), were assassinated in the southeast during
September. No evidence as to the identity of the perpetrators
has been brought to light, and no arrests were made in these
cases. Faik Candan, former Ankara provincial Chairman of DEP
predecessor HEP, was found dead on December 14, shot four times
in the head, neck, and chest, according to press reports.
In contrast to 1993, there were no assassinations of
journalists in 1994, but at least one journalist disappeared
(see Section 1.b.). A distributor of the pro-PKK newspaper
Ozgur Ulke was killed in the explosion that ripped through the
paper's Istanbul building on the night of December 3.
Moreover, as of October, none of the five murders of
journalists committed in 1993, nor those previously, had been
solved.
Although terrorists carried out political murders primarily in
rural southeast Anatolia, they also launched several deadly
attacks during 1994 in urban areas. On January 14, bombs
killed three on intercity buses in central Turkey, and on
February 12, an explosion at Istanbul's Tuzla train station
killed 5 cadets and wounded 26. The PKK claimed responsibility
for the Tuzla incident, but did not publicly claim
responsibility for the bus explosion, although most people
believe it was responsible.
Killings perpetrated by the PKK included those of state
officials (Jandarma, local mayors, imams, and schoolteachers),
state-paid paramilitary village guards and their family
members, young villagers who refuse to be recruited, and PKK
guerrillas-turned-informants. On January 1, the PKK
intercepted two buses on the Diyabakir-Elazig highway, took
eight people into a field and shot them. On July 30, the PKK
killed seven village guards in an attack on Konalga village in
Van province. The PKK publicly claimed to have killed "179
village guards, including a leading village guard and 32 of his
relatives" and "66 collaborators, agents, counterguerrilla
organization members, (and) police officials," during the month
of June. Teachers continued to be a main target of terrorist
activities. During the year the PKK killed 20 teachers.
b. Disappearance
Disappearances continued in 1994, while most of those reported
in 1993 and earlier remained unsolved. Some disappeared after
witnesses reported that security forces had taken them into
custody. In March, Nazim Babaoglu, Urfa correspondent for the
pro-Kurdish daily, Ozgur Gundem, disappeared. The Government
maintains that Abdulvahap Timurtas, who disappeared in August
1993 in Yenikoy village, Sirnak province, was not taken into
custody, and that a village by that name does not exist. His
father accuses the security forces of abducting him. His
brother Tevfik Timurtas died under torture on January 5, 1991,
in Cizre, according to the HRF. The Government says it
received 28 claims of missing relatives in the first 9 months
of 1994.
The Government, human rights organizations, and the media
report that the PKK routinely kidnaps young men or threatens
their families as part of its recruiting. PKK terrorists
continued their abductions of local villagers, teachers,
journalists, and officials in the southeast. For example, on
January 26 the PKK kidnaped two journalists and held them for
4 months. The PKK again kidnaped two foreign tourists during
the summer and eventually released them unharmed.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment
Despite the Constitution's ban on torture, Turkey's accession
to the U.N. and European Conventions Against Torture, and
public pledges of successive governments to end torture, the
practice continued. Human rights attorneys and physicians who
treat victims of torture state that most persons charged with,
or suspected of, political crimes usually suffer some torture
during periods of incommunicado detention in police stations
and Jandarma headquarters before they are brought before a
court. The HRF and private attorneys reported that there was
no indication of either the amelioration of treatment of those
charged under the Anti-Terror Law or an overall decrease in the
incidence of torture in 1994. In 1994 women again charged
sexual abuses while under official detention by security
officials.
Although the implementation of the CMUK on December 1, 1992,
facilitated more immediate attorney access to those arrested
for common crimes, its provisions of immediate attorney access
do not apply to those detained in the state of emergency region
nor to those detained under the Anti-Terror Law. Some
attorneys in the southeast reported that some common criminals
are booked on political charges, thereby depriving them of
access to or by an attorney. The CMUK's allowable, maximum
prearraignment detention periods still exceed Council of Europe
maximums.
Human rights observers report that the system whereby the
arresting police officer is also responsible for interrogating
the suspect is conducive to torture because the officer seeks
to obtain a confession that would justify the arrest.
According to those familiar with Turkish police operations, in
petty criminal cases, the arresting officer is responsible for
following up on the case, whereas in major cases such as murder
and political or terrorism-related crimes, "desks" responsible
for the area in question are responsible for the interrogation.
Commonly employed methods of torture reported by the Human
Rights Foundation's Torture Treatment Centers include:
high-pressure cold water hoses, electric shocks, beating on the
soles of the feet, beating of the genitalia, hanging by the
arms, blindfolding, sleep deprivation, deprivation of clothing,
systematic beatings, and vaginal and anal rape with truncheons
and, in some instances, gun barrels. In southern Turkey, a
security official boasted of having deprived a suspect of sleep
for 6 days to obtain a confession.
In a case in Istanbul in July, Yelda Ozcan, a former
representative of the HRF, stated to several human rights
organizations that a chief commissioner at the Beyoglu security
directorate had stripped and beaten her. She obtained a
medical report and lodged an official complaint against the
commissioner. In another case, in April a 17-year-old female
student stated she had been beaten, hosed with pressurized
water, and raped with a truncheon by police at Istanbul's
Bahcelievler station, then released without charges having been
filed.
Although the Government asserted that medical examinations
occur once during detention and a second time before either
arraignment or release, former detainees asserted that some
medical examinations took place too long after the event to
reveal any definitive findings. According to the HRF, practice
varies widely: In some cases proper examinations are
conducted; in others, doctors sign papers handed to them; some
examinations are cursory, some are done in the presence of
police officials, and some doctors are at times under pressure
to submit false or misleading medical certificates, denying
evidence of torture.
Credible sources in the human rights and legal communities
estimate that judicial authorities investigate only about
one-half of the formal complaints involving torture and
prosecute only a small fraction of those. Under the
Anti-Terror Law, officials accused of torture or other
mistreatment may continue to work while under investigation
and, if convicted, may only be suspended.
Special provincial administrative boards, rather than regular
courts, decide whether to prosecute in such cases, and
suspects' legal fees are paid by their employing agencies.
Under the state of emergency, any lawsuit directed at
government authorities must be approved by the regional
governor. Because approval is rare, this blocks legal pursuit
of torture allegations. Under the Administrative Adjudication
Law, an administrative investigation into alleged torture cases
is conducted under the civil service adjudication law to
determine if there is enough evidence to bring a law
enforcement officer to trial. Under the CMUK, while
prosecutors are empowered to initiate investigations of police
officers or Jandarma suspected of torturing or maltreating
suspects, in cases where township security directors or
Jandarma commanders are accused of torture, the prosecutor must
obtain permission to initiate an investigation from the
Ministry of Justice because these officials are deemed to have
a status equal to that of judges.
According to the Government, in the first 9 months of 1994,
prosecutors considered 963 complaints of torture or
maltreatment. Of those, 314 cases were opened, 355 were in
preparation, 187 were dropped, in 25 cases the court decided it
did not have the authority to pursue the case, and in 47 cases
the court referred the case to another court. There were 11
convictions, 22 acquittals; in one case the complaint was
withdrawn. Most of these cases were in Istanbul and Ankara;
few were in the southeast.
In the few instances in which law enforcement officers are
convicted of torture, sentences tend to be light. In July
Ekrem Guner, a noncommissioned officer, was convicted of
torturing two persons in Ordu in 1989, sentenced to 2 years in
prison, suspended from duty for 5 months and 15 days, and fined
TL 375,000 (roughly $12). In July the Ankara administrative
court ordered the Interior Ministry to pay Mediha Curabaz TL 10
million (roughly $300) in compensation for torture she
sustained in August 1991 by the Adana police. The Adana
provincial administrative commission had refused to try the
police officers involved on charges of rape and torture,
despite a medical report which confirmed the charge of rape.
The trial of six security officers accused of torturing Baki
Erdogan (who died in custody) in Soke district of Aydin
province in August 1993 began in May and was continuing at
year's end. In April the torture conviction of two officers
and two noncommissioned officers in the 1985 torture and death
of schoolteacher Siddik Bilgin was overturned on appeal, and
the officers were acquitted on retrial.. The case of Nazli Top,
a nurse (pregnant at the time) who alleged she was tortured and
raped with a truncheon in April 1992 before police released her
without charge, came to trial in December 1993. The trial
continues.
As Turkey recognizes the jurisdiction of the European Court of
Human Rights and the European Commission of Human Rights,
Turkish citizens may file applications alleging violations of
the European Convention on Human Rights with the Commission.
Some 250 cases are currently before the Commission. In
February the Government promised the Commission to pay
compensation to the villagers of Yesilyurt in Cizre province
whom Jandarma troops forced to eat human excrement in January
1989. A total of 300,000 French francs in compensation is to
be paid.
In January authorities sent a Prime Ministerial circular to the
Ministries of Justice, Interior, and Foreign Affairs, directing
that police prepare monthly reports on the incidence of ill-
treatment and torture and ensure that medical examinations are
carried out carefully to provide accurate forensic evidence.
While statistics generally have been submitted as required,
there is no evidence that the reporting requirement has had any
effect on the incidence of torture.
As of September, 4,149 applications claiming torture,
maltreatment, or arbitrary detention had been filed with the
parliamentary Human Rights Commission, since its September 1991
inception. In each case, the Commission had written to the
offices of the public prosecutor, the governor's office, and
the security directorate general, and there is no indication
that these communications have had any effect or that the
Commission has followed up on these cases. The HRF's torture
rehabilitation centers in Ankara, Izmir, and Istanbul reported
that, within the first 6 months of 1994, they had received a
total of 196 applications for treatment.
Police continue to force women in custody and others to undergo
virginity testing even though the state minister in charge of
women's affairs condemned the practice in 1992. The tests are
imposed particularly on women who file a criminal complaint
alleging a sexual crime. Although legally only a court or a
prosecutor may order them, police continue to impose the tests
to on female detainees. Though women may refuse the exams,
they are rarely informed of that right.
Prison conditions remained another problem area in 1994. As
recently as early November, the Justice Ministry announced
plans to build new prisons and upgrade old ones to deal with
the increase in the number of inmates convicted of terrorist
crimes. The refurbished Eskisehir Prison and four others were
to reopen by the end of the year. As in 1993, groups of
inmates carried out hunger strikes to protest poor conditions
and their treatment by prison guards, and one inmate was killed
and several injured in an October riot at Diyarbakir Security
Prison. The Government promised prison reform in 1993, but at
the end of 1994 Parliament had not enacted it. Torture in
prisons has decreased in the last few years, but continues to
occur.
d. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile
In order to take a person into custody, a prosecutor must issue
a detention order, except in limited circumstances such as when
a person is caught in the act of committing a crime. The
detention period for those charged with common, individual
crimes is 24 hours. Those detained for common, collective
crimes may be held for 4 days, and the detention period may be
extended for an additional 4 days. Under the CMUK, suspects
are entitled to immediate access to an attorney and may meet
and confer with the attorney at any time. In practice, this
access continued to improve for detainees charged with common
crimes.
Persons detained for individual crimes which fall under the
Anti-Terror Law must be brought before a judge within 48 hours,
while those charged with crimes of a collective, political, or
conspiratorial nature may be detained for up to 15 days in most
of the country and up to 30 days in the 10 southeastern
provinces under a state of emergency. There is no guaranteed
attorney access under law for persons whose cases fall under
the jurisdiction of the state security courts; these include
those charged with smuggling and with crimes under the
Anti-Terror Law. Attorneys and human rights organizations
affirm that this lack of access is a major factor in the
continuing, widespread use of torture by police and security
forces.
The decision concerning access to counsel in such cases is left
to the independent prosecutor, who generally denies access,
usually with the explanation that it would prejudice an ongoing
investigation. The Justice and Interior Ministries generally
have not intervened in prosecutors' decisions or police actions
denying access to counsel. Although the Constitution specifies
the right of detainees to request speedy arraignment and trial,
judges have ordered a significant number of persons detained
indefinitely, sometimes for years. While many cases involved
persons accused of violent crimes, it is not uncommon for those
accused of nonviolent political crimes to be kept in custody
until the conclusion of their trials.
By law, a detainee's next of kin must be notified "in the
shortest time" after arrest. Once formally charged by the
prosecutor, a detainee is arraigned by a judge and allowed to
retain a lawyer. After arraignment, the judge may release the
accused upon receipt of an appropriate guarantee, such as bail,
or order him detained if the court determines that he is likely
to flee the jurisdiction or destroy evidence.
Authorities detained large numbers of people on several
occasions in 1994, including the detention in February of 100
people at the funeral of Cengiz Arguc, a Communist militant, in
Adana (all but 5 were released within a day); and the detention
during Nevroz (Kurdish New Year) of 200 persons in Diyarbakir
after a celebrant reportedly shot at a police car. In most
such cases, the majority of detainees are subsequently released
without charges being filed; many have reported being tortured
during such detentions. In the southeast there were several
roundups of ethnic Kurds in the wake of a crime. For example,
after 5 PKK militants killed 1 policeman and wounded 5 near
Igdir in April, police reportedly captured the 5 militants and
claimed that "175 PKK supporters" were captured in the ensuing
security operations.
There is no external exile, and Turkey's internal exile law was
repealed in 1987. In 1990, however, under decree 430, the
Government granted the southeast regional governor the
authority to "remove from the region," for a period not to
exceed the duration of the state of emergency (now in its
eighth year), citizens under his administration whose
activities (whether voluntary or forced) "give an impression
that they are prone to disturb general security and public
order." There were no known instances of the use of this broad
authority in 1994. Human rights monitors and residents of
towns in the southeast report that officials continued to rely
on "administrative transfers" to remove government employees
thought liable to "create trouble."
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial
The judicial system is composed of general law courts, state
security courts (SSC), and military courts. There is also a
Constitutional Court. Most cases are prosecuted in the general
law courts, which include the civil, administrative, and
criminal courts. Appeals are heard either by the High Court of
Appeals or the Council of State. Provincial administrative
boards established under the Anti-Terror Law decide whether
cases in which state officials are accused of misconduct should
be heard in criminal court. Military courts, with their own
appeals system, hear cases regarding infractions of military
law by members of the armed forces. In 1993 and 1994, the
military court tried several cases of civilians charged with
speech that purportedly discouraged military service (see
Section 2.a.).
Eight state security courts composed of five members--two
civilian judges, one military judge, and two prosecutors--try
defendants accused of crimes such as terrorism, drug smuggling,
membership in illegal organizations, and espousing or
disseminating ideas prohibited by law as "damaging the
indivisible unity of the State." Their verdicts may be
appealed only to a specialized department of the High Court of
Appeals dealing with crimes against state security.
The Constitutional Court examines the constitutionality of
laws, decrees, and parliamentary procedural rules. However, it
may not consider "decrees with the force of law" issued under a
state of emergency, martial law, or in time of war.
The Constitution requires that judges be independent of the
executive in the discharge of their duties and provides for the
security of their tenure. The High Council of Judges and
Prosecutors, which is appointed by the President and includes
the Minister of Justice, selects judges and prosecutors for the
higher courts and is responsible for oversight of those in the
lower courts. The Constitution also prohibits state
authorities from issuing orders or recommendations concerning
the exercise of judicial power. In practice, the courts
generally act independently of the executive. Defendants
normally have the right to a public trial, and, under the
Constitution, can be proven guilty only by a court of law. By
law, the bar association must provide free counsel to indigents
who make such a request to the court. Costs are borne by the
association. There is no jury system; all cases are decided by
a judge or panel of judges.
Defense lawyers generally have access to the independent
prosecutor's files after arraignment and prior to trial (a
period of several weeks). In cases involving violations of the
Anti-Terror Law and a few others, such as insulting the
President or "defaming Turkish citizenship," defense attorneys
may be denied access to files which the State asserts deal with
national intelligence or security matters.
In 1994 state security courts predominantly handled cases under
the Anti-Terror Law. The State claims these courts were
established to try efficiently those suspected of certain
crimes. In fact, the law provides that those accused of crimes
falling under the jurisdiction of these courts may be detained
twice as long before arraignment as other defendants, and the
heavy caseload often means that cases drag on for years. These
courts may hold closed hearings and may admit testimony
obtained during police interrogation in the absence of
counsel. According to government figures, 1,277 persons were
tried under the Anti-Terror Law, and 8,682 people are serving
sentences for terrorist crimes. The trial of 12 Diyarbakir
lawyers charged with acting as couriers for the PKK continues
at the Diyarbakir State Security Court. The attorneys were
released on their own recognizance in December 1993 and January
1994. The trial of nine Erzurum lawyers, charged with similar
crimes, began on November l6.
In law and in practice, the legal system does not discriminate
against either minorities or women, with the following two
caveats: (1) as legal proceedings are conducted solely in
Turkish, and the quality of interpreters varies, some
Kurdish-speaking defendants may be seriously disadvantaged; and
(2) although women receive equal treatment in a court of law,
some discriminatory laws remain on the books, although most
have been rendered inoperative by a constitutional court
decision. Under the civil code, the husband is the head of the
household and determines the legal domicile of the family.
Draft civil rights legislation which would have eliminated all
existing legal inequalities between men and women has been
stalled in Parliament since 1993. In 1994, civil service
security clearance procedures were changed, which should allow
numerous professors who were blackballed in the late 1970s to
be reemployed.
Human rights monitors hesitate to estimate the number of
persons in custody who might reasonably be considered political
prisoners. They estimate only that "thousands" have been
detained. According to government statistics, 1,277 persons
were charged under the Anti-Terror Law though October 1, 1994.
Many are charged for attempting peacefully to exercise their
right of freedom of speech, association, or some other
internationally recognized human rights.
f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or
Correspondence
The Constitution provides for the inviolability of a person's
domicile and the privacy of correspondence and communication.
Government officials may enter a private residence or intercept
or monitor private correspondence only upon issuance of a
judicial warrant. These provisions are generally respected in
practice outside the state of emergency region.
A judge must decide whether to issue a search warrant for a
residence. If delay may cause harm, prosecutors and municipal
officers authorized to carry out prosecutors' instructions may
conduct a search. Searches of private premises may not be
carried out at night, unless the delay will be damaging or the
search will result in the capture of a prisoner at large.
Exceptions include persons under special observation by the
Security Directorate General, places anyone can enter at night,
places where criminals gather, places where materials obtained
through the Commission of Crimes are kept, gambling
establishments, and brothels. In the 10 provinces under
emergency rule, the Regional Governor can and does empower
security authorities to search without a warrant residences or
the premises of political parties, businesses, associations, or
other organizations. According to the HRF, the practice of
security authorities in these provinces to search, hold, or
seize without warrant persons, letters, telegrams, and
documents is unconstitutional. Roadblocks are commonplace in
the southeast, and security officials regularly search vehicles
and travelers.
Security forces have compelled the evacuation of villages in
the southeast to prevent villagers from giving aid and comfort
to the PKK (see Section 1.g.). The Government admits to
village and hamlet evacuations but claims they occur as the
consequence of pressures by and fear of the PKK and because
security operations against the PKK in the region make
continued occupancy unsafe.
g. Use of Excessive Force and Violations of Humanitarian
Law in Internal Conflicts
Since 1984 the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) has
waged an increasingly violent terrorist insurgency that has
claimed over 15,000 lives, as many as 2,000 of them during
1994. The PKK's campaign of violence in southeast Turkey is
directed against both security forces and civilians, most of
whom are Kurds, whom the PKK accuses of cooperating with the
State. The TNP, Jandarma, and armed forces, in turn, have
waged an increasingly intense campaign to suppress terrorism,
targeting active PKK units as well as those they believe
support or sympathize with the PKK, and committing many human
rights abuses in the process. According to government figures,
in the first 10 months of 1994, 3,577 PKK, 963 security force
members and 940 noncombatants were killed. In that same
period, 1,563 civilians, 2,308 security force members and 137
PKK were wounded.
Government security forces forcibly evacuated and sometimes
burned villages, for the purpose of preventing their
inhabitants from providing aid and comfort to PKK guerrillas or
in retaliation for a PKK raid on a nearby Jandarma post. Some
villagers who migrated to the cities told reliable sources that
they had been evacuated for refusing to participate in the
paramilitary village guard system. Some lost all their
belongings when their houses were burned.
In May the Interior Minister, replying to a question in
Parliament, stated that 871 villages and hamlets in the state
of emergency region had become empty since July 1987. The
Interior Minister asserted that the villages and hamlets were
emptied because of PKK pressure or economic reasons. The
Minister of Defense that same month stated that to control PKK
activity in the region, 50 settlement centers, displacing
approximately 10,000 persons around Mount Ararat and Tenduruk
Mountain, would be evacuated and that those regions would be
declared a military zone. These statements were the first
official confirmations of village evacuations in the southeast,
including evacuations at government behest. In October, 17
village evacuations in Tunceli Province finally brought the
issue into the national spotlight. According to government
figures, as of October 1, 1,046 villages and hamlets had been
evacuated: 75 by the regional governorship for security
reasons; 125 of the residents' own accord for security reasons;
812 because of PKK pressure; and 34 for economic reasons.
According to a government report, to date approximately
$227,000 in compensation has been paid to villagers displaced
in the southeast, largely as a result of PKK activity, and
$545,000 was to be spent in 1994 to construct housing for
displaced villagers in Sirnak and Bingol provinces. The
Government has stated that it is providing housing and
financial assistance to those displaced in Tunceli Province.
On March 26, a Turkish air force plane bombed up to four
villages in Sirnak province, killing approximately 20 persons,
according to press reports. Journalists were not allowed into
the area. The Government stated that the inhabitants had left
the villages some time before and that the PKK had then moved
in, along with some civilians. When the PKK was hit, the
Government explained, there was perforce some collateral
damage.
During the first 6 months of 1994, approximately 10,000 Turks
of Kurdish ethnic origin left the southeast for northern Iraq,
claiming the Government had forced them out. The Government
believes the villagers moved to northern Iraq at the behest of
the PKK and views most of them as PKK supporters.
The Government organizes, arms, and pays for a civil defense
force in the southeast known as the village guards.
Participation in the paramilitary militia by local villagers is
theoretically voluntary, but villagers are caught between the
two sides. If the villagers agree to serve, the PKK may target
them and their village. If the villagers refuse to
participate, government security forces may retaliate against
them and their village. The village guards have a reputation
for being the least disciplined of the Government's security
forces.
There were instances in which physicians were prosecuted for
giving medical care to alleged PKK terrorists, a practice that
could deter other physicians from extending such aid. For
example, Dr. Ilhan Diken was tried in Diyarbakir State Security
Court for treating a wounded PKK militant, an offense for which
the prosecution demanded a 5-year sentence. Diken's sentence
of 3 years 9 months, of which he will serve 33 months, was
affirmed by the Court of Appeals.
Government state of emergency decree 430, codified in 1990 and
most recently renewed in November, imposes stringent security
measures in the southeast. The regional governor may censor
news, ban strikes or lockouts, and impose internal exile (see
Section 1.d.). The decree also provides for doubling the
sentences of those convicted of cooperating with separatists.
Informants and convicted persons who cooperate with the State
are eligible for rewards and reduced sentences. Provisions in
the decree that specifically prohibited court challenges to the
regional governor's administrative decisions were amended in
1992 to permit limited judicial review.
The year 1994 witnessed a series of PKK attacks on Turkish
petroleum wells and power transformers, temporarily halting oil
production. In August post and telecommunications (PTT)
publications revealed that the PKK had caused $2 million in
damage to the domestic PTT network in the Southeast and its
radio link stations in Hakkari, Diyarbakir, Igdir, Mus, and
Agri Provinces.
For the 1993-94 school year, according to the Education
Minister, 4,000 schools were closed in eastern and southeastern
Turkey. Alternate government figures indicate that 3,395
schools were closed during that period: 1,839 due to lack of
security and fear of terrorism, 2,202 for lack of teachers, 89
for insufficient students, 92 because of the migration or
evacuation of residents from the area, and 213 because they had
been attacked and burned. In Tunceli province alone, 12
teachers were killed and 273 of 314 schools remained closed
throughout the 1993-94 school year. Although the Government
opened more regional boarding schools, promised to reopen
closed schools for the 1994-95 school year, and maintains that
a supplementary TL 1876 billion ($5,340,000) allocation was
made to schools in the region, the Education Minister in
September announced that 4,000 schools in the southeast were
closed due to village evacuations undertaken for security and
other reasons.
Villagers and human rights groups complained that Jandarma
actions and security forces' searches for PKK terrorists and
their supporters resulted in expulsions, beatings, torture, and
the arbitrary killing of innocent civilians. Government
security forces on many occasions fired on the homes of
villagers suspected of harboring PKK terrorists, causing an
unknown number of casualties and destroying villagers'
property, including livestock.
Section 2 Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press
Despite constitutional provisions guaranteeing freedom of
speech and press, the Government increasingly restricted these
freedoms.
For those who "insult the President, the Parliament, and the
army," the Criminal Code provides penalties ranging from a
3-year minimum sentence for insulting the President to a 6-year
maximum for insulting other branches of government. Judges
generally examine evidence rigorously and dismiss many charges
brought under these laws. Konya metropolitan Mayor Halil Urun
was sentenced to 1 year for "insulting Ataturk, the founder of
the Turkish Republic" at a Refah Party meeting in Konya
province in 1992. The sentence was commuted to a fine of TL
1,825,000 (approximately $50). In some cases, the laws provide
for increased punishment if the offense is committed in a
publication. The press law permits prosecutors to halt
distribution of a newspaper or magazine without a court order
and requires that each publication's "responsible editors" bear
legal responsibility for the publication's content. Many have
faced repeated criminal proceedings. As of September, an
estimated 100 persons were in custody for freedom of expression
crimes. The State claimed that, as of September, 36 court
cases were under way against a total of 19 journalists, all
under the Anti-Terror Law.
Throughout the year, SSC prosecutors ordered the confiscation
of numerous issues of leftist and pro-Kurdish periodicals,
including Aydinlik, Emegin Bayragi, Denge Azadi, Ozgur Gelecek,
Gercek, Newroz, Hedef, Ozgur Gundem, and Ozgur Ulke, although
most continue to publish. Many editions of Kurdish-oriented
periodicals were seized before they could be distributed
nationally to newsstands.
Court proceedings were instituted against a number of editors
and publishers. The Anti-Terror Law, which provides that
"written and oral propaganda...aiming at damaging the
indivisible unity of the state of the Turkish Republic...(is)
forbidden, regardless of the method, intention and ideas behind
it," severely restricts freedom of speech and has been used
against writers, journalists, publishers, politicians,
musicians, and students. Ismail Besikci served 10 years in
prison between 1971 and 1987 because of his publications on the
Kurdish question in Turkey. He has been brought to court more
than 100 times and has been in prison again since November
1993. The Court of Appeals has upheld a total of 14 years and
6 months in prison terms and TL 850 million ($26,500) in fines.
Were all the sentences and fines against him to be upheld, they
would total 51 years and 11 months in prison and TL 3.45
billion ($108,000) in fines.
A number of pro-Kurdish politicians were detained under, or
otherwise affected by, the Anti-Terror Law in 1994 for speeches
made both within Turkey and beyond the country's borders.
Those affiliated with the pro-Kurdish Democracy Party (DEP)
were particularly targeted. In March, based on a request from
the Ankara SSC chief prosecutor, Parliament partially lifted
the immunities of six DEP, one independent, and one Islamist
Refah Party (RP) member. RP deputy Hasan Mezarci is being
tried for insulting Ataturk; the lifting of the immunity of one
of the six DEP M.P.'s was overturned; and the other five DEP
M.P.'s (who lost their status as M.P.'s when the DEP was
disbanded in June) and the independent were tried for treason
in the Ankara SSC. The bulk of the prosecution's case appeared
to rest on speeches and expression of opinions.
After the Constitutional Court closed the DEP in June, two
other former DEP MP's were arrested on July 1 and an indictment
on similar charges was issued against them. Their trial
commenced on October 26 and was later merged with that of the
original six defendants. On December 8, the eight defendants
were convicted of a combination of charges, including
dissemination of separatist propaganda, being a member of an
armed society or band, and knowingly supporting such a band.
The sentences ranged from 3 years and 6 months (suspended) to
15 years. Both defense and prosecution plan to appeal the
decision. Six others left the country and are currently in
Europe.
An April resolution of the Council of Europe's (COE)
parliamentary assembly strongly criticized the lifting of
immunity of the deputies. In a written statement, the Turkish
parliamentary delegation to the COE, including the current
Foreign Minister, opposed the resolution, asking that their
colleagues respect the Turkish Parliament's legitimate
proceedings and emphasizing Turkey's right to combat
terrorism.
In another case, trade union chairman Munir Ceylan, convicted
of disseminating separatist propaganda, began serving a
20-month sentence for an article that appeared in the July 21,
1991, issue of Yeni Ulke. In June journalist Haluk Gerger
began serving a 20-month prison term for a message he sent to a
meeting held in Ankara on May 22, 1993. On March 18, Dr.
Fikret Baskaya began serving a 20-month term in connection with
his book, "Bankruptcy of the Paradigm: An Introduction to
Critics of the Official Ideology." In July the Konya SSC
sentenced Seydi Bayram, president of the Kuthaya branch of the
HRA, to 20 months' imprisonment for using the word "Kurdistan"
in an article in a local newspaper. In February Mehmet Ali
Baris Besli, owner and editor in chief of Ogni magazine, which
is published in the Laz dialect, was put on trial at the
Istanbul SSC on charges of separatism relating to articles
published in the November 1993 issue of the magazine. On May
13, former mayor of Diyarbakir Mehdi Zana was imprisoned for
testimony he had given to the Human Rights Subcommittee of the
European Parliament. The Appeals Court upheld the sentence on
November 3. According to government figures, 407 newspapers,
490 periodicals and 35 books were confiscated during the first
9 months of 1994.
Military courts tried several cases against journalists and
antiwar activists whose activities were alleged to discourage
compulsory military service. Erhan Akyildiz and Ali Tevfik
Berber were each sentenced to 2 months in prison for a program
they produced in December 1993 on a private television
station. The military appeals court later overturned the
conviction and remanded the case to the military trial court.
The retrial ended in acquittal. In November the military court
sentenced respected journalist Mehmet Ali Birand and two others
to 5 months in prison for a television program on military
service during which military personnel spoke; they will
appeal. As of the end of the year, actress and musician
Bilgesu Erenus was to stand trial in a military court on
charges of speaking out against military service at a 1993
meeting.
Legislative reforms in 1991 partially removed the ban on the
use of the Kurdish language. Kurdish-language cassettes and
publications on Kurdish subjects continued to be widely
available, although suppression continued as well. In April
the Tunceli governorship banned the sale of 39 Kurdish-
language cassettes. One Kurdish-language weekly, Welat, is
publishing currently; its editor in chief was brought to court
in the spring on charges of violating the Anti-Terror Law.
Several others publish in a combination of Turkish and
Kurdish. Potential customers are afraid to purchase Kurdish-
language materials because possession of such items may be
interpreted as evidence of PKK sympathies. Kurdish-language
broadcasts are still illegal, though in June Prime Minister
Ciller stated that the possibility of private broadcasting and
education in languages other than Turkish might be discussed.
By year's end, however, the Government had taken no further
action. President Demirel stated that Kurdish television and
education would constitute concessions to terrorists and should
be allowed only after the terrorism ends.
Newspaper correspondents and distributors in the southeast,
especially those for the pro-Kurdish press, were harassed and
reported being beaten and tortured in police stations during
periods of detention. The pro-PKK Ozgur Gundem was harassed
consistently since its April 1992 inception. It closed
permanently in April 1994 when the appeals court began to
ratify a series of closure orders against the paper for
promoting separatism and printing the views of the banned PKK.
Most of Ozgur Gundem's staff moved to Ozgur Ulke, which opened
shortly after its predecessor's closure and continues to
publish.
Turkish press coverage of the situation in the southeast tended
to be unreliable, underreporting in some instances and grossly
sensationalizing in others. Government decree 430 requires
self-censorship of all news reporting from or about the
southeast, and, upon the request of the regional governor,
gives the Interior Ministry the authority to ban distribution
of any news viewed as misrepresenting events in the region. In
the event such a government warning is not obeyed, the decree
provides for a 10-day suspension of operations for a first
offense and 30 days for subsequent offenses.
In general, the mainstream Turkish-language press limited its
independent reporting of news related to the southeast. Aside
from the access of Ozgur Gundem and Ozgur Ulke correspondents
to the southeast and reporting in the English-language Turkish
Daily News, most papers relied on official reports. In
response to growing criticism, the Justice Minister in
September established a commission to define freedom of thought
and propose changes in the law, in particular the Anti-Terror
Law. Journalists also face security concerns, including
threats from the PKK which, for a time in late 1993, "banned"
journalists and distributors from the Southeastern region.
Until mid-1993 Turkish Radio and Television (TRT) had a legal
monopoly on broadcasting. Private radio stations began
operating in 1991. In July 1993, Parliament voted to repeal
Article 133 of the Constitution, thereby eliminating the State's
monopoly and permitting the establishment of private radio and
television stations. In April 1994, Parliament passed, and the
President signed, regulatory legislation, pursuant to which it
is illegal for stations to threaten the country's unity or
national security and limiting the private broadcast of
television programs in languages other than Turkish. However,
state-run cable television carries a number of European
stations. At the end of 1994, some 40 private radio stations
were operating in Ankara and approximately 60 in Istanbul.
Countrywide, there were 20 private television stations. With
the increasing availability of satellite dishes and cable, many
Turkish viewers may now watch foreign broadcasts, including
several Turkish-language private channels.
While the Culture Minister lifted bans against all formerly
prohibited books at the end of 1991, the Education Ministry
continued to make recommendations on the "utility" of books
proposed for school curriculums or libraries. Books declared
"without utility" are not allowed.
Academic freedom is also severely restricted in practice by the
provisions of the Anti-Terror Law. For example, professors
have been convicted and sentenced for books they have written.
The Constitution and the law governing political parties
proscribe student and faculty involvement in political
activities, although the Ciller Government's democratization
package, before Parliament since May, would lift those
restrictions.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association
Peaceful assemblies are permitted upon prior notification to
government authorities, who may restrict them to designated
sites. Authorities may deny permission if they believe the
gathering is likely to disrupt public order. For example, the
Izmir governorship refused to allow a meeting planned on the
first anniversary of the Sivas incidents in which 37 were
killed in an antisecular riot.
Security forces forcibly broke up a number of planned
demonstrations in 1994. On January 13, 5,000 civil servants
gathered in downtown Ankara to protest low wages. They were
met by police barricades; the police dispersed the
demonstrators through kicking and the use of truncheons,
injuring 30 persons. On May Day, a demonstration in downtown
Ankara turned violent when police beat demonstrators, including
M.P. Salman Kaya. Ten persons, three of whom were police, were
injured in the melee. Following the May Day demonstration,
Ankara security director Orhan Tasanlar, who assaulted some
demonstrators in the January civil servants' demonstration, was
suspended from duty pending an investigation but reinstated on
May 18. On September 4, police detained, and released 5 hours
later, 24 persons participating in a World Peace Week festival
on Istanbul's Besiktas wharf. Those detained carried posters
stating "Peace Now" in five languages.
In June the Constitutional Court ordered the closing of the DEP
on the grounds that it "acted in a separatist manner and
functioned against the Constitution and laws." Many of its
members formed the HADEP (People's Democracy Party) and were
soon subjected to similar investigations.
Associations and labor unions are prohibited by law from having
ties to political parties or engaging in political activities
(see Section 6.a.). Police raided a number of associations and
organizations in 1994 and harassed some of their members. For
example, on May 7 the Iskenderun governorship closed the
Iskenderun office of the Human Rights Association (HRA) on the
grounds that, through a press statement, the HRA had "acted
against the associations law and functioned to incite people."
In May the Adana governorship closed the Adana HRA branch for
15 days, as well as the Ozgur Der association, because it had
in its possession some "documents with ideological content."
On December 28, the Diyarbakir Governor closed the Diyarbakir
Branch of the HRA for 1 month.
Associations must submit their charters for government
approval, a lengthy and cumbersome process.
c. Freedom of Religion
The Constitution establishes Turkey as a secular state and
provides for freedom of belief, freedom of worship, and private
dissemination of religious ideas. About 99 percent of Turkey's
population is Muslim. Under Turkish law, religious services
may take place only in designated places of worship. In Adana,
Turkey's fourth largest city, the only approved sites are
mosques, one Jewish synagogue, and one Roman Catholic church.
A Protestant expatriate group petitioned to have a house of
worship designated for its use. The petition has been "under
consideration" in Ankara since at least 1992. In February
1994, the Peace and Tolerance Conference, involving a wide
range of religious figures, took place in Istanbul.
Although Turkey is a secular state, religious instruction in
state schools is compulsory for Muslims. Upon written
verification of their non-Muslim background, non-Muslims are
exempted by law from Muslim religious instruction, although
students who wish to attend may do so with parental consent.
Turkey's Alawi Muslim minority (an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam)
is estimated to number at least 12 million. There are,
however, no government-paid Alawi religious leaders, no
religious affairs directorate funds go to the Alawi community,
and some Alawis allege informal discrimination in the form of
failure to include any Alawi doctrines or beliefs in religious
instruction classes. Alawis are disgruntled by what they
regard as the Sunni bias in the religious affairs directorate
and the directorate's tendency to view the Alawis as a cultural
group rather than a religious sect.
Many prosecutors regard proselytizing and religious activism on
the part of either Islamic extremists or evangelical Christians
with suspicion, especially when they deem such activities to
have political overtones. Since there is no law prohibiting
proselytizing, police sometimes arrest Islamic extremists and
evangelical Christians for disturbing the peace. Courts
usually dismiss such charges.
Most religious minorities are concentrated in Istanbul, and the
number of Christians in the south has been declining as the
younger generation leaves Turkey for Europe and North America.
The status of only three minorities--Armenians, Jews, and
Greeks--was recognized under the Lausanne Treaty. Other
religions may not acquire additional property for churches.
The Catholic Church in Ankara, for example, is confined to
diplomatic property. The State must approve the operation of
churches, monasteries, synagogues, schools, and charitable
religious foundations, such as hospitals and orphanages.
The Jewish community is well integrated into Turkish society,
although it fears the possibility of rising Islamic extremism.
The only problems the Jewish community reported in 1994 were
petty thefts; facsimiles sent early in the year by the Muslim
fundamentalist terrorist organization Ibda-c, urging Turks to
cease doing business at Jewish-owned establishments; and some
damage to tombstones.
The activities of Greek Orthodox and Armenian churches and
their affiliated operations are carefully monitored and closely
calibrated to the state of political relations between Turkey
and Greece and between Turkey and Armenia. In November, the
Istanbul Deputy Governor for the first time called in and
questioned the Armenian Patriarch on the Church's activities.
The Ministry of Education tightly controls the curriculums in
foreign-language schools. Greek educators complain that the
Turkish Ministry of Education is extremely slow to approve
Greek-language textbooks, including those in such
noncontroversial subjects as mathematics and the natural
sciences. They claim that, rather than allowing the use of
texts from Greece, the Ministry wants them to use Greek
translations of Turkish textbooks. In September the Turkish
and Greek Governments eased a longstanding problem of
schoolteachers for Istanbul's Greek community and for Turks in
Western Thrace. Because there was no physical education
teacher at one of the Greek high schools, a few graduating
seniors were initially denied their diplomas. The problem was
worked out in time for them to enroll in university in the
fall, but many Greek students report difficulty in continuing
their education in Turkey and go to Greece, often never to
return.
The Greek Patriarchate (Istanbul is the see of the ecumenical
Patriarchate of the Eastern Orthodox faith) has consistently
expressed interest in reopening the seminary on the island of
Halki in the Sea of Marmara. The seminary has been closed
since the 1970's when the State nationalized all private
institutions of higher learning. Turkish officials, however,
have used a variety of excuses to keep it closed.
During the last few years, there have been instances of
graffiti, stones tossed over the walls, and press attacks on
the Patriarchate and the Patriarch. In May three bombs were
found inside the Patriarchate walls. Police defused them, and
since then have provided enhanced protection for the
Patriarchate. While the Patriarchate views the Turkish
authorities as responsive to its needs, it has undertaken its
own security improvements.
The Armenian Patriarchate has reported similar attacks against
Armenian churches in the city as well as problems similar to
those of the Greek Patriarchate. Armenian church officials
also complain of petty harassment from local officials (such as
delays or refusals in receiving building permits) and growing
encroachment by certain Muslim extremist groups on lands
belonging to the Armenian community, especially on the Princes'
Islands in the Sea of Marmara.
The Islamic terrorist organization Ibda-c claimed
responsibility for bombs which exploded on May 19 in front of
Istanbul's Santa Maria and Saint Antoine churches, causing some
damage.
Bureaucratic procedures relating to historic preservation
impede repairs to some religious facilities. Under Turkish
law, religious buildings that become "extinct" (because of
prolonged absence of clergy or lay persons to staff local
religious councils) revert to government possession. Some
non-Muslim minorities, particularly the Greek Orthodox and, to
a lesser extent, the shrinking Armenian Orthodox and Jewish
communities, are faced with the danger of losing some of their
houses of worship.
d. Freedom of Movement Within the Country, Foreign
Travel, Emigration, and Repatriation
Citizens generally enjoy freedom of movement within Turkey and
the freedom to travel abroad. The Constitution provides that a
citizen's freedom to leave may be restricted only by the
national economic situation, civic obligations (e.g., military
service), or criminal investigation or prosecution. Each
Turkish citizen (except those regularly working abroad) must
pay a departure tax of $100 for every departure from the
country. This tax is to be phased out in 1995.
Travel in the southeast sometimes is restricted for security
reasons. Roadblocks, set up by both Turkish security forces
and the PKK, can seriously impede travel in the region.
Allegedly, security forces on occasion closed off villages and
surrounding regions making it impossible to investigate reports
of human rights abuses.
Although Turkey is a signatory to the U.N. Convention on
Refugees, it officially accords refugee status only to
claimants from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.
Asylum seekers from elsewhere are referred to the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for
third-country resettlement.
The Government has cooperated with the UNHCR in dealing with
large groups of Iraqis and Iranians seeking to qualify as
refugees. Since July 15, 1994, Turkey has exercised its right
to make decisions on the qualifications of individual
refugees. The Turkish Government now screens Iranians who
claim asylum before referring those it considers bona fide to
UNHCR for resettlement. During the screening process, UNHCR
may provide technical assistance to the Turkish Government. In
addition, at least 15,000 Bosnians have found temporary refuge
in Turkey, the majority living with friends and relatives and
another 3,000 in camps established by the Turkish Government
with UNHCR support.
Section 3 Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens
to Change Their Government
According to the Constitution, citizens have the right and
ability to change their government peacefully. Turkey has a
multiparty parliamentary system, in which elections are held at
least every 5 years on the basis of mandatory universal
suffrage for all citizens aged 21 and over. As of October, at
least 25 political parties were operating in Turkey, 10 of
which were represented in Parliament. The Grand National
Assembly (parliament) elects the President as Head of State
every 7 years, or when the President becomes incapacitated or
dies.
There are no restrictions in law against women or minorities
voting or participating in politics, but the Government has
made repeated efforts to frustrate political activities of
those who emphasize their Kurdish ethnicity. As noted in
Section 2.b., the Constitutional Court closed the pro-Kurdish
DEP in 1994. It immediately reformed as HADEP. Additionally,
the Constitution forbids students, university faculty members,
and trade unionists from active participation in party
politics.
In February the Interior Ministry discharged three
democratically elected mayors in the southeast, all from the
DEP: Kozluk (Batman province) mayor Abdullah Kaya; Kurtulan
(Siirt province) mayor Cemil Akgul; and Lice (Diyarbakir
province) mayor Nazmi Balkas. In September the Istanbul SSC
sentenced Kaya and Balkas to 20 months in prison each and fined
them TL 210 million ($700) each for allegedly separatist
statements they had given to the newspaper Ozgur Gundem.
In the runup to nationwide local elections held on March 27,
there were serious threats to the safety of candidates in the
southeast. A number of DEP candidates were threatened and a
few killed, and party offices of several political parties were
bombed. As of the end of the year, none of the perpetrators
had been apprehended. On February 24, the DEP withdrew from
the elections, claiming it was not safe for its candidates. On
March 1, the PKK demanded that people boycott the elections and
threatened to kill both candidates and voters who went to the
polls. The elections went forward peacefully throughout the
country.
Apart from banning the DEP, the Constitutional Court formally
closed the small Greens party on the grounds that its
executives had not submitted their financial accounts and other
necessary documents for the year 1988; and it also closed the
Turkish Socialist Party because its platform allegedly aimed at
destroying the unity of the country and its people.
The Constitution calls for equal political rights for men and
women; however, only eight women representing three parties
were elected to the Parliament in 1991. In addition to Prime
Minister Ciller, there is one female Cabinet Minister.
Political parties now recruit female delegates for their party
conferences and electoral lists. Women's committees are active
within political party organizations, although formal youth and
women's wings are not permitted under the Constitution.
Section 4 Governmental Attitude Regarding International and
Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations
of Human Rights
A nongovernmental Human Rights Association (HRA), officially
approved in 1987, has branches in 50 provincial capitals, but
at year's end 13 had been closed, all of them in the east and
southeast. It claims a membership of about 20,000. In 1990
the HRA established its companion Human Rights Foundation (HRF)
which, in addition to operating torture rehabilitation centers
in Ankara, Izmir, and Istanbul, serves as a clearinghouse for
human rights information. Other nongovernmental organizations
include the Ankara-based Turkish Democracy Foundation, the
Istanbul-based Helsinki Citizens Assembly, and human rights
centers at a number of universities.
Government agents have increasingly harassed human rights
monitors, as well as lawyers and doctors involved in
documenting human rights violations. Some have reported
receiving death threats from unknown parties. At least one
human rights monitor was killed. A number have been
aggressively prosecuted as well. In December, a SSC trial
opened against Yavuz Onen, President of the HRF, and Fevzi
Argun, head of the HRF'S Documentation Center, for allegedly
separatist language in the booklet "File of Torture." They
were acquitted in January along with four defendants from the
HRA who had been indicted for their publication of "A
Cross-Section of Burned-Down Villages." In December three
members of the board of the Diyarbakir HRA were arrested on
charges of separatism and four others were being sought for
their 1992 publication of "Report On The State Of Emergency
Region, 1992."
Some government officials, including some prosecutors and
police, punitively apply various laws to restrict the HRA's
activities. For example, officials ordered various branches of
the HRA closed for periods of weeks or months generally on
charges that they had violated the associations law through
publication of a press statement or allegedly separatist
material (see Section 2.b.). An HRA president in southern
Turkey said he and his board remained under surveillance, and
one in eastern Turkey noted that many board members had left
the city or resigned because they were concerned about their
personal safety.
The president of the Siirt HRA, who was arrested on February
26, 1993, and detained for 3 months on charges of giving aid
and comfort to the PKK, was again arrested on January 21, 1994,
after which the local branch closed. He was released in
October, but charges against him have not been dropped. Sedat
Aslantas, chairman of the Diyarbakir HRA branch and vice
chairman of the Turkish HRA, was arrested on May 13 by the
Ankara SSC on charges related to a joint press statement issued
in May 1993 by Diyarbakir union and association leaders. That
trial continued as of the end of the year. On December 5, he
was imprisoned for 3 years based on an earlier case involving
his speech during an HRA congress in October 1992. The HRA
representative in the town of Derik, Mardin province, who was
detained six separate times in 1993, has moved away, and the
local HRA office is closed. Muhsin Melik, founder of the
Sanliurfa branch of the HRA and former president of the DEP
branch office, was shot and killed on June 2. Before his
death, he identified his assailants as police officers. There
have been no arrests in connection with this case. Other HRA
offices closed for similar reasons include those in Sirnak,
Nusaybin, Tunceli, Dogubeyazit, and Cizre. Many of these
investigations and prosecutions, as well as many arrests of
human rights monitors, stemmed from alleged violations of the
law on associations or the holding of illegal demonstrations.
Surveillance and harassment of HRA members in the southeast
continues on a regular basis.
Since 1991, Parliament has had a Human Rights Commission. The
Commission is authorized to oversee Turkey's compliance with
the human rights provisions of Turkish law and international
agreements to which Turkey is a signatory, investigate alleged
abuses, and prepare reports. Claiming it is underfunded and
lacks the necessary powers to subpoena witnesses or documents,
the Commission has been inactive and ineffective. In August
the State Minister in charge of human rights announced the
establishment of a human rights advisory department connected
to the Prime Ministry would be established to investigate
allegations of human rights violations and monitor
international human rights developments.
While representatives of diplomatic missions who wish to
monitor the state of human rights in Turkey are free to speak
with private citizens, security police may place such visitors
in the southeast and the east under surveillance, and the
presence of security officials may have an intimidating effect
upon those interviewed. Access to government officials or
facilities has been restricted at times, although in 1993 and
1994 high-level visitors obtained most of the appointments they
requested, including access to detention facilities. However,
in August a delegation from Human Rights Watch/Helsinki was
unable to obtain the cooperation of the Regional Super
Governor's office to investigate PKK human rights abuses
outside of Diyarbakir. In September Amnesty International's
principal researcher for Turkey was declared persona non
grata. Also in September, the Foreign Minister announced his
intention to restrict foreign visitor access to judges and
prosecutors.
Section 5 Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Religion,
Disability, Language, or Social Status
The Constitution proclaims Turkey to be a secular state,
regards all Turkish citizens as equal, and prohibits
discrimination on ethnic, religious, or racial grounds. The
Government officially recognizes only those religious
minorities mentioned in the Treaty of Lausanne (1923), which
guarantees the rights of Greek Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic,
and Jewish adherents. Despite constitutional provisions,
discrimination remains a problem in several areas.
Women
Traditional family values in rural Turkey place a greater
emphasis on advanced education for sons than for daughters.
Far fewer girls than boys continue their education after
primary school. The illiteracy rate for women is approximately
29 percent, some 10 percent higher than for the population as a
whole. Turkey's civil code, which prohibits granting
gender-based privileges or rights, retains some discriminatory
provisions concerning marital rights and obligations. Because
the husband is the legal head of household, the wife
automatically acquires the husband's surname with marriage; the
husband is authorized to choose the domicile and represents the
conjugal unit. As parents, husband and wife exercise their
rights jointly, but when they disagree, the husband's view
prevails. Women's groups have lobbied to change this
provision. Divorce law requires that the divorcing spouses
divide their property according to property registered in each
spouse's name. Because in most cases property is registered in
the husband's name, this can create difficulties for women who
wish to divorce. With regard to inheritance laws, a widow
generally obtains one-fourth of the estate.
Although spousal abuse is a serious and widespread problem, it
is still considered an extremely private matter, involving
societal notions of family honor. Few women go to the police,
who in any case are reluctant to intervene in domestic disputes
and frequently advise women to return to their husbands. Turks
of either sex may file civil or criminal charges but rarely
do. A combination of laws and ingrained societal notions make
it difficult to prosecute sexual assault or rape cases. By
law, penalties may be reduced if a woman was not a virgin prior
to a rape. Penalties may also be reduced if a judge deems the
woman to have acted provocatively. There are several shelters
for battered women, and at least two consultation centers,
Istanbul's the Purple Roof Foundation and Ankara's Altindag
Center. In a 1-year period, 400 women applied to one major
city shelter.
Particularly in urban areas, women are improving their position
overall, including in the professions, business, and the civil
service, although they continue to face discrimination to
varying degrees. Numerous women have become lawyers, doctors,
and engineers since the 1960's. In March a woman for the first
time was elected chief justice of a court of appeals. Women
comprise about 36 percent of the work force; approximately 80
percent of working women are employed in agriculture. They
generally receive equal pay for equal work in the professions,
business, and civil service jobs, although a large percentage
of women employed in agriculture and in the trade, restaurant,
and hotel sectors work as unpaid family help. The arbitrary
barrier to women becoming governors and subgovernors
(government-appointed positions) has been breached, and women
may now take the examination required to become a subgovernor.
Several have been appointed subgovernors, and one governor is a
woman.
Independent women's and women's rights associations exist, but
the concept of lobbying for women's rights has not gained
currency.
Children
The Government is committed to furthering children's welfare
and is working to expand opportunities in education and health,
including further reduction of the infant mortality rate.
Children have suffered greatly from the cycle of violence in
southeastern Anatolia. School closings and the migration of
many families, forced or voluntary, have uprooted children to
cities which are hard pressed to find the resources to extend
basic, mandatory services, such as schooling. The Government
is establishing regional boarding schools in the southeast to
help combat this problem but not enough to meet the need. The
HRF claims that 78 children were subjected to torture between
January 1989 and July 1994.
National/Racial/Ethnic Minorities
The Constitution, following the Treaty of Lausanne, does not
recognize the Kurds in Turkey as a national, racial, or ethnic
minority. Many human rights abuses are targeted at Kurds who
insist on publicly or politically asserting their Kurdish
ethnic identity, and their supporters.
Kurds who are long-term residents in industrialized cities in
western Turkey have been, for the most part, assimilated into
the political, economic, and social life of the nation. Kurds
who are currently migrating westward (including those displaced
by the conflict in the southeast), bring with them their
Kurdish culture and village identity; many simply are not
prepared for urban life.
Most parliamentary representatives from southeastern Turkey are
ethnic Kurds, but representatives of Kurdish ethnic origin have
been elected from districts far removed from the southeast.
Several Cabinet Ministers, more than 25 percent of M.P.'s and
other government officials claim an ethnic Kurdish background.
The increasing violence of the fighting in the southeast is
polarizing ethnic Turks and Kurds and creating a climate of
intolerance. Particularly in cities such as Adana and Mersin,
which have witnessed a large influx of Kurds fleeing the
violence in the southeast, tensions continue to rise. With PKK
bombings in Aegean resort towns and Istanbul, tensions have
also spread westward, making it difficult, for example, for
some otherwise qualified new migrants to find work in the
western cities.
The 1991 repeal of the law prohibiting publications or
communication in Kurdish legalized some spoken and printed
Kurdish communications. Under the political parties law,
however, all discussion that takes place at political meetings
must be in Turkish. Kurdish may be spoken only in
"nonpolitical communication." Court proceedings (and all
government functions, including public education) continue to
be conducted in Turkish, disadvantaging those Kurdish-speaking
defendants who have to rely on court-provided translators.
Moreover, materials dealing with Kurdish history, culture, and
ethnic identity continue to be subject to confiscation and
prosecution under the "indivisible unity of the State"
provisions of the Anti-Terror Law.
The Roma population is extremely small, and there were no
reported incidents of public or government harassment directed
against Roma during 1994.
People with Disabilities
To date legislation dealing with the disabled is piecemeal, and
there is little legislation regarding accessibility for the
disabled. Certain categories of employers are required to hire
disabled persons as 2 percent of their employee pool, although
there is no penalty for failure to comply.
Section 6 Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association
Most workers have the right to associate freely and form
representative unions. Exceptions are schoolteachers (both
public and private), civil servants, the police, and military
personnel. Upon taking office in June 1993, the Government of
Prime Minister Ciller renewed the pledge to bring Turkish labor
legislation into conformity with the standards of the
International Labor Organization (ILO), and its intention to
grant trade union rights to civil servants (including
teachers). In early 1994, the Government introduced in
Parliament a bill to grant to civil servants the legal right to
form unions, which includes some collective bargaining rights.
The draft law would also allow the Government to determine
whether to permit a particular strike by civil servants. In
May a combination of center-right and Islamist-right political
party deputies voted against the draft in parliamentary
committee. The Government and Parliament must now reconcile
their differences on this legislation. Permission for civil
servants to form trade unions and for unions to engage in
political activity will require amendments to the Constitution
--a procedure further complicated by the need to gain support
among the opposition parties in order to secure the requisite
two-thirds majority.
The law states that unions and confederations may be founded
without prior authorization based on a petition to the governor
of the province where the union's headquarters are to be
located. Although unions are independent of the Government and
political parties, they must have government permission to hold
meetings or rallies and must allow police to attend conventions
and record the proceedings. The Constitution requires
candidates for union office to have worked 10 years in the
industry represented by the union. Some 14 percent of the
total civilian labor force (aged 15 and above) are unionized.
There are three confederations of labor unions in Turkey: the
Turkish Confederation of Workers Unions (Turk-Is), the
Confederation of Turkish Real Trade Unions (Hak-Is), and the
Confederation of Revolutionary Workers Unions (DISK). There
are also some independent unions.
Unions and their officers have a statutory right to express
views on issues directly affecting members' economic and social
interests, but the Constitution prohibits any union role in
party politics (such as organic or financial connections with
any political party or other association). In practice, unions
have been able to convey clearly in election and referendum
campaigns their support for, or opposition to, given political
parties and government policies. In May the Government
proposed a "democratization" package. One of its proposals
would allow unions and other groups (women and students, for
example) to have formal links to political parties.
Prosecutors may request labor courts to order a trade union or
confederation into liquidation based on alleged violation of
specific legal norms. The Government, however, may not
summarily dissolve a union.
The right to strike, while guaranteed in the Constitution, is
partially restricted. For example, workers engaged in the
protection of life and property and those in the mining and
petroleum industries, sanitation services, national defense,
and education do not have the right to strike. Collective
bargaining is required before a strike.
The law specifies the series of steps a union must take before
it may strike or an employer may engage in a lockout.
Nonbinding mediation is the last of those steps. In sectors in
which strikes are prohibited, disputes are resolved through
binding arbitration. A party that fails to comply with these
steps forfeits its rights. The struck employer may respond
with a lockout but is prohibited from hiring strikebreakers or
using administrative personnel to perform jobs normally done by
strikers. Article 42 of Law 2822, governing collective
bargaining, strikes, and lockouts, prohibits the employer from
terminating workers encouraging or participating in a legal
strike. Unions are forbidden to engage in secondary
(solidarity), wildcat, or general strikes.
The Government also has the statutory power to suspend strikes
for 60 days for reasons of national security or public health
and safety. Unions may petition the Council of State to lift
such a suspension, but if this appeal fails the strike is
subject to compulsory arbitration at the end of the 60-day
period. Some 24 strikes, involving about 1,800 workers, took
place in the first 10 months of 1994. The Government did not
suspend any strikes in 1994.
With government approval, unions may and do form or join
confederations and international labor bodies, as long as these
organizations are not hostile to Turkey or to freedom of
religion or belief. The International Confederation of Free
Trade Unions (ICFTU) approved DISK as an affiliate in December
1992. Turk-Is is a longstanding member. Hak-Is applied for
ICFTU affiliation in 1993. The application remains pending
with the ICFTU.
In June the Parliament reapproved ILO Convention 158
(termination of employment at the initiative of the employer),
a measure which the late President Ozal had vetoed in 1992
after the Parliament had passed it. President Demirel signed
the measure. As mentioned in Sections 2.a. and 2.b. above, in
some instances labor union members have been the subject of
government limits on freedom of speech and assembly.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively
All industrial workers have the right to organize and bargain
collectively, and most industrial activity and some public
sector agricultural activities are organized. The law requires
that, in order to become a bargaining agent, a union must
represent not only 50 percent plus one of the employees at a
given work site but also 10 percent of all the workers in that
particular industry. This 10-percent barrier has the effect of
favoring established unions, and particularly those affiliated
with Turk-Is, the confederation that represents nearly 80
percent of organized labor in Turkey.
The ILO has called on Turkey to rescind this 10-percent rule.
Both Turk-Is and the Turkish employers' organization favor
retention of the rule, however, and the Government has not
until now pursued a change. However, the government
representative informed the ILO Committee on the Application of
Standards that the Ministry of Labor and Social Security now
proposes to remove the 10-percent numerical restriction, and
that its proposal had been communicated to the social
partners.
The law on trade unions stipulates that an employer may not
dismiss a labor union representative without rightful cause.
The union member may appeal such a dismissal to the courts and,
if the ruling is in the union member's favor, the employer must
reinstate him and pay all back benefits and salary.
Union organizing and collective bargaining are permitted in the
duty-free export processing zones at Antalya, Istanbul, Izmir,
and Mersin. Workers in those zones, however, are not allowed
to strike during the first 10 years of operation. Until then,
settlements not otherwise reached will be determined by binding
arbitration.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor
The Constitution and statutes prohibit compulsory labor. The
laws are enforced.
d. Minimum Age for Employment of Children
The Constitution and labor laws forbid employment of children
younger than 15 years of age, with the exception that those
aged 13 and 14 may engage in light part-time work if enrolled
in school or vocational training. The Constitution also
prohibits children from engaging in physically demanding jobs,
such as underground mining, and from working at night. The
Ministry of Labor effectively enforces these laws only in the
organized industrial sector.
In practice, many children work because families frequently
need the supplementary income. An informal system provides
work for young boys at low wages, e.g., in auto repair shops.
Girls are rarely seen working in public, but many are kept out
of school to work in handicrafts, especially in rural areas.
Turkey is participating in the ILO's international program on
the elimination of child labor.
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work
The Labor Ministry is legally obliged to set minimum wages at
least every 2 years through a minimum wage board, a tripartite
government-industry-union body. In recent years it has done so
annually. In July the nominal minimum wage in Turkish lira
(TL) was increased by approximately 67 percent over the year
before. The monthly minimum wage rate (after taxes), which
became effective September 1, is approximately $86 for workers
older than 16 and about $73 for workers under 16 at the
exchange rate prevailing in September.
It would be difficult for a single worker, and impossible for a
family, to live on the minimum wage without support from other
sources. Most workers earn considerably more. Workers
covered by the labor law, who constitute about one-third of the
total labor force, also receive a hot meal, daily food
allowance; transportation to and from work; a fuel allowance;
and other fringe benefits which, according to the Turkish
employers' organization, make basic wages alone only about 37
percent of total remuneration.
Labor law provides for a nominal 45-hour workweek, although
most unions have bargained for fewer hours. The law prescribes
a weekly rest day. Labor law limits the number of overtime
hours to 3 hours a day for up to 90 days in a year. The labor
inspectorate of the Ministry of Labor effectively enforces wage
and hour provisions in the unionized industrial, service, and
government sectors.
Occupational health and safety regulations are mandated by law,
but the Government has not carried out an effective inspection
and enforcement program. Law 1475 allows for the shutdown of
an operation if a five-man committee, which includes safety
inspectors, employee, and employer representatives, determines
that the operation endangers workers' lives. In practice,
financial constraints, limited safety awareness, carelessness,
and fatalistic attitudes result in scant attention to
occupational safety and health by workers and employers alike.
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