Torture in Turkey

Torture in Turkey

Human Rights

PHR

Torture of detainees by state authorities is widespread and systematic in Turkey and law enforcement officials coerce physicians to conceal physical findings of abuse. Also, health professionals in Turkey are routinely persecuted for providing care to "members of illegal organizations” and for upholding fundamental principles of medical ethics.
This report contains compelling evidence of widespread torture and its cover-up, collected from in-depth interviews with thirty-nine torture survivors, a survey of sixty Turkish physicians who officially examine detainees, interviews with individual physicians, analysis of more than 150 official medical reports of detainees, review of alternative medical reports of torture survivors, and interviews with human rights lawyers.
According to the unprecedented survey of sixty Turkish physicians who conduct official medical examinations of detainees, 96% of respondents believe that torture is a problem in Turkey and 60% believe that “nearly everyone who is detained is tortured.” PHR’s interviews with forensic physicians indicate that some physicians observed evidence of torture in hundreds, and in some cases thousands, of detainees in recent years.
Turkish physicians have also been prosecuted for documenting human rights violations and providing rehabilitative care to survivors of torture. According to the report, physicians and other health professionals in Turkey’s Emergency Zone have been killed, tortured, imprisoned, internally exiled, and legally sanctioned in the course of conducting their professional duties.
The report concludes with recommendations that urge the Turkish government: to acknowledge the systematic practice of torture and the routine coercion of physicians to conceal evidence, to prohibit incommunicado detention in all cases, to aggressively prosecute those responsible for torture, and to permit health personnel in Turkey to conduct their professional duties without interference or threat of persecution.