Facts About Turkey
International association of democratic lawyers
Compte d’auteur
The situation in Turkey has continued to be more and more alarming since the generals’ ultimatum was imposed on March 12, 1971 and the military regime has come into power. In spite of a so-called Parliament’s existence, all the political and administrative power is in the hands of high-ranking generals. The National Security Council, an advisory body, became the real ruler of the country (the military members of this Council can overthrow any parliamentary government and force the Parliament to legislate any law). The March 12, 1971 has been a veiled military coup d’Etat.
According to the generals, the reason of that coup d’Etat was the "danger to state" and "anarchy". Under the pretext of establishing "law an ...
Contents
Chapter I
Turley Under Martial Law / 1
Chapter II
The Violation of The Constitution / 4
Chapter III
The Illegal Trials Before the Military Courts / 16
A. Fact's about 120 eases / 17
B. Chronological notes on the trials / 38
C. Objections raised to the death sentences / 44
D. Articles originated. ;in ..the Penal Code of Mussolini / 49
E. Complaints against the military judges / 50
F. A judge filled with apprehension / 53
G. Abolition of the right of defence / 54
The figures about the trials
Chapter IV
Tortures Applied to Political Prisoners / 57
1. Tortures applied to the defendants of the Mahir Cayan case / 58
2. Tortures in 11 other cases / 77
3. Protocols and witnesses on tortures and ill-treatments / 81
4. Conditions of solitary confinement / 87
5. Statement of a Police Chief and Court decisions on torture / 91
6. Eight recent affidavits just received from the Sagmalcilar prison / 92
TURKEY UNDER MARTIAL LAW
The situation in Turkey has continued to be more and more alarming since the generals’ ultimatum was imposed on March 12, 1971 and the military regime has come into power. In spite of a so-called Parliament’s existence, all the political and administrative power is in the hands of high-ranking generals. The National Security Council, an advisory body, became the real ruler of the country (the military members of this Council can overthrow any parliamentary government and force the Parliament to legislate any law). The March 12, 1971 has been a veiled military coup d’Etat.
According to the generals, the reason of that coup d’Etat was the "danger to state" and "anarchy". Under the pretext of establishing "law and order", ''the military-backed government declared the Martial Law on April 26, 1971. And since that time, facts are as follows:
1. All the democratic mass organizations as the Turkish Labour Party (TIP), the Teachers’ Union of Turkey (TOS), the Progressive Youth Federation of Turkey (DEV-GENC), the Cultural Organization of Eastern Anatolia (DDKO), the Socialist Youth Organization (SGO), the Federation of Social Democrat Associations (SDDF) have been banned by the military authorities.
2. Thousands of people including intellectuals, writers, journalists, publishers, university professors, teachers, lawyers, workers, peasants, students and trade-union leaders have been detained and arrested by the Martial Law authorities.
3. All socialist and progressive periodicals as Ant, Aydinlik, Devrim, Emek, Hakin Dostlari, Isçi Koylu, Kurtuluş were prohibited, tens of thousands books were confiscated, all daily newspapers were compelled to change their policy and turned into media of propaganda for the military rule. The autonomy of the TRT (Turkish Radio-Television Broadcasting Corporation) was completely abolished. An army general was appointed as the general director.
4. All strikes, Trade-Union meetings, collective bargaining’s were forbidden without any court decision and many trade-union leaders and workers have been arrested. The military rule aims at stabilizing the wages and liquidating' all progressive trade-unions, especially the Progressive Trade-Unions Confederation (DISK). All state-employees lost their right to form trade-unions.
5. In order to abolish all the fundamental rights and freedoms, the military junta forced the Parliament to change the 1961 Constitution completely and succeeded it on September 22, 1971.
6. While the military junta was changing the 1961 Constitution by force, thousands of people have been accused of "trying to change 1961 Constitution by force" and brought in front of the military court-martials. Ten extraordinary military courts attached to the six martial law commanders are acting without any consideration of the Constitution, the international human rights treaties and the basic principles of law.
7. 23 young persons have been condemned to death by the military tribunals. In spite of a great protest reaction and many appeals from the democratic governments and international organizations, the military rule executed the death sentences of three young revolutionaries, Deniz Gezmis, Yusuf Aslan and Huseyin Inan, on May 6, 1972.
8. A country-wide- "man-hunt” has been held since the beginning of the Martial Law and more than 30 persons have been murdered by the police forces arid military units.
9. The military rule tortures the political prisoners as a matter-of policy. The military prosecutors bring the "confessions" obtained by torture as the main evidence and the military judges decide that it is legal to torture the political prisoners in order to obtain the "truth".
At the beginning, the military-backed government had stated "that-the number of the all enemies of state were not more than 200. But in spite of the arrestation of tens of thousands, the military rule has not been satisfied with the result, prolonged the Martial Law six times, increased the "man-hunt" and tortures and forced the Parliament to legislate new anti-democratic bills. Even, since the Erim's Government could not apply the "sledge-hammer operation" as brutal as they want, the militaries forced first Prime Minister Erim to resign and appointed a well-known McCarthyist, Ferit Melen, as premier. He is the vice-president of the extreme rightist National Security Party (-MGP).
After having taken confidence vote, one of the first decisions of Melen was to charge one of his state ministries with "fighting against communism".
During' the following period:
1. The man-hunt was whipped, hundreds of people were detained without any court warrant. According-to the Constitution, the Martial Law authorities- have no right to keep any person in prison, more than a week without any- court decision But the detainees have been kept for weeks and months.
2. The previous decisions of the military courts were considered as Unsatisfactory and the military judges were forced to change them. For example, / the leaders of the Turkish Labour Party (TIP) and the defendants of the Turkish Communist Party (TKP)’ had been released by the military courts eight months ago. After Melon’s Government was formed, the military courts -were forced to arrest, them again. Meanwhile, the First Court-Martial of Istanbul, which had refused to apply death sentence in spite of the military prosecutor's demand, was immediately dissolved.
3. The death sentences about three other defendants, Necmi Demir, Kamil Dede and Ziya Yilmaz, had been- annulled by the Fourth Section of the Military Court of Cassation. But, the General Assembly of the Military Court of Cassation approved the death sentences of Ziya Yilmaz on July 7, 1971.
4. Until the: first anniversary of the coup- d'Etat, the tortures- had been applied by the policemen under the command of the military authorities. But after Melen's government: was formed, the officers of the National Intelligence Agency (MIT) undertook to apply torture to the political prisoners and hundreds of them have been tortured at the unknown torture-centers of the MIT.
5. The military authorities led the anti-cultural campaign to its climax and the 3rd Court-Martial decided to confiscate 138 books published previously. According to the Turkish Press Code in force, it is illegal to confiscate any book six months later than being published (Among the confiscated books, there are also works written 350 years ago and the ones published 3 or 4 years ago).
***
In November 1971, the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, deeply concerned by information on systematic violations of Law and Human Rights in that country, sent Mrs Madeleine Lafue-Veron, advocate at the Court of Paris, as, an observer to Turkey. Mrs Lafue-Veron attended trials, visited prisoners and met different personalities in Istanbul and Ankara. In the report on her facts finding mission, the French jurist gave important data which confirmed and. completed the reports already received in Western Europe. Her conclusions about the characteristic aspects of most of the trials before the military courts in Turkey were:
1. Torture was used to obtain "confessions";
2. Legal assistance was no more secured for political prisoners and counsels and advocates were prosecuted;
3. Sentences were very heavy and out of proportion with the charges.
Since November 1971, escalation has continued in repression and arbitrary. From different sources and especially from the Democratic Resistance of Turkey, official statements, etc., we have collected reports and documents on recent events in Turkey.
The following three reports include the facts on:
1. The alterations of the 1961 Constitution and the abolishment of the fundamental human rights and freedoms.
2. The illegal trials at the Court-martials.
3. The ill-treatments and tortures applied by the Military rule.
The Violation of the Constitution
The most factual document on how human rights and freedoms have been abrogated in Turkey after the March 12th, 1971 coup d’Etat, is the series of: amendments to the 1961 democratic Constitution carried out through the use of force and pressure.
As a matter of fact, not one single word was uttered even suggesting the possibility of such-alterations in the program of the first Erim Government, formed just after the March 12 putsch.
On the contrary, in the speech made following approval of this government by parliament, Mr. Erim stated: "...We came here to put the constitution into practice. For example, to protect the functions of the Constitutional Count, the Council of State, the Court of Cassation, the autonomy of the courts, the autonomy -of the state radio and television, the autonomy of the universities… I became the head of this government because I personally believe in the importance of such institutions. Therefore, I cannot just come forward and as for these constitutional rights to be changed". (Daily Cumhuriyet, April 10, 1971).
Only a few weeks later, the same Mr Erim proclaimed martial' law and on launching his famous "Sledge-hammer Operation", he described the 1961 Constitution in a speech delivered on May 1, 1971 as a "luxury for Turkey". On June 5, 1971, Mr Erim put forward draft amendments on 40 different articles of the democratic constitution. The amendments of the constitution were voted by parliament in short order and came info force on September 22, 1971. The amendments received the approval of 357 members of Parliament, being rejected by only two independent members, (x)
…..
(x) The attitude of the political parties and the parliamentarians can only be regarded with suspicion. Until March 12th, 1971. none of the political parties In Turkey other than the Justice Party, had ever. spoken publicly of the need for such amendments. On the contrary, the political parties had systematically opposed the idea whenever the question brought up far discussion or proposed by the Justice Party. After the draft amendments were made public by the Erim government, the other political parties, Including the "center-left" wing of the Republican People’s Party, did not express any opposition to them and gave in to all the desires of the military rulers of Turkey by voting In Parliament far the amendments with only a few slight, insignificant, changes. Even Mr Ecevit, leader of the center-left-wing of the Republican People's Party, publicly stated on August 19, 1971 that "...We have prepared a text which will ensure the continuation of democracy in Turkey, keeping our sacrificies at a minimum level". In addition to the threat of abolishing parliament If these constitutional amendments were not accepted, personal Interests of the parliamentarians seemed to have played a major role in determining the attitude of the political parties. If the constitution was not modified, It would, be impossible to increase the salaries of the parliamentarians by almost 100 %. Mr Nihat Erim who had strongly opposed the action of certain parliamentarians who, prior to March 12, 1971, proposed an increase In their salaries by amending the appropriate article of the 1961 Constitution, became one of the main, supporters of the same proposal, and as Prime Minister he promised his parliamentarian colleagues an increase of salary of almost 100 % (a ten thousand-dollar annual salary), on the condition that the junta’s demands be implemented. In Turkey, the national annual par capita income is only 321 dollars.
International association of democratic lawyers
Facts About Turkey
Compte d’auteur
Compte d’auteur
Facts About Turkey
— martial law and violation of the constitution
— illegal trials before the military courts
— tortures applied to political prisoners
Published by International association of democratic lawyers
International association of democratic lawyers
Avenue Jupiter 49
1190 Brussels
Belgium
