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.
Contents
Acknowledgments / vii
Glossary / viii
I. Executive Summary / 1
Methods of Investigation / 3
Summary of Findings / 4
Summary of Recommendations / 9
II. Introduction / 13
Background / 13
Political Trends / 15
Conflict in Southeastern Turkey / 18
Human Rights Violations in Turkey / 20
United States Strategic Interests and Policy / 28
The Turkish Medical Profession and Human Rights / 29
III. Application of Relevant International and Thrkish Domestic Law / 35
International Human Rights Law and Turkish Domestic Law / 35
International Humanitarian Law - The Geneva Conventions / 40
IV. International Standards of Medical Ethics / 45
Physicians’ Duties Regarding Torture / 45
Non-Discriminatory Provision of Medical Care / 48
Confidentiality / 50
V. Scope of Torture and Coercion of Physicians to Conceal Evidence / 53
In-Depth Interviews with Thirty-Nine Survivors of Torture / 53
Physician Survey of Forensic Documentation of Torture / 123
Interviews with Twenty-Five Turkish Physicians / 127
Analysis of Eighty-Six Official Medical Reports / 139
Analysis of Thirty Pairs of Conflicting Medical Reports / 141
Review of Alternative Medical Reports / 141
Interviews with Human Rights Lawyers / 143
Review of HRFT Medical Records of Twenty-Four Torture Survivors / 149
VI. Coercion of Physicians to Falsify Autopsy Reports / 153
Case of Baki Erdogan — Death in Custody / 154
Case of B ayram Duran — Death in Custody / 159
Case of Imran Aydin — Death in Custody / 161
VII. / Persecution of Health Personnel in the Line of Duty / 163
Detention and Torture of Health Personnel / 164
Killing of Health Personnel / 175
Internal Exile / 178
Health Professionals at Risk / 180
VIII The Obstruction of Medical Care / 187
Obstruction of Medical Care in the Emergency Zone / 187
Obstruction of Medical Care Outside of the Emergency Zone 188
IX. Health Conditions in the Emergency Zone / 201
Health Consequences of the Conflict / 201
Delivery of Health Services / 203
X. Findings and Recommendations / 207
Findings / 207
Recommendations / 214
XI. / Presentation of PHR Findings to the Turkish Ministry of Justice / 219
Appendices
A. Physicians for Human Rights Protocol for Medical / 221
Evaluations of Suspected Torture Survivors
B. Ministry of Health Circular 6039 — Requirements / 242
for Forensic Examinations
C. Ministry of Health Guidelines for Official / 243
Medical Examinations
D. Official Medical Examination Report for Forty Detainees / 244
E. Official Autopsy Report for Baki Erdogan / 247
F. Report of the Forensic Medicine Department’s First / 252
Committee for Baki Erdogan
G. / Letter from Representatives of U.S. Non-Governmental / 258
Organizations in Support of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey
(The HRFT Letter)
H. Response of the Turkish Embassy to The HRFT Letter / 261
I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Turkish government permits widespread and systematic torture1 of detainees in Turkey and physicians are coerced to become the unwilling accomplices of the government in this practice. This report documents the results of a two-year examination of human rights violations in Turkey conducted by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR). PHR studied: 1) the nature and scope of the practice of torture in Turkey, 2) state coercion of health professionals to conceal evidence of torture and falsify autopsy reports, 3) persecution of health professionals for providing medical care and upholding fundamental principles of medical ethics, and 4) the work of Turkish health professionals in protecting and promoting human rights.
As a candidate for membership in the European Union, Turkey stands at a crossroads in its development as a democracy and in its choices regarding the protection and promotion of human rights. The Constitution of the Republic of Turkey proclaims that Turkey is a “democratic, secular, and social state governed by the rule of law.”2 Turkey’s obligations to govern by “the rule of law” are international3 as well as domestic (see Chapter III), and the government has a fundamental duty to ensure “the welfare, peace, and happiness of the individual and society.”4 However, the Turkish government increasingly treats the human rights of its citizens as unfortunate casualties in its struggle to fight “terrorism” and to maintain national unity.
Torture stands out as one of Turkey’s most serious human rights offenses because its widespread practice reflects a choice to rule by force, rather than to rule by law.5 Over the past fifteen years, many international and Turkish human rights groups have documented torture in Turkey.6 Although the Turkish Constitution prohibits torture,7 the practice of torture is facilitated by other laws, which restrict rights to due process and freedom of expression, and by the government’s failure to prosecute aggressively those responsible for torture. In addition, the government’s coercion of health professionals to refrain from reporting torture has enabled lUrkish officials to deny that torture is systematically practiced in Turkey.
Some of the methods of torture commonly used in Turkey include: severe beatings, including falaka (beating of the soles of the feet), various forms of suspension above the ground (commonly, from the wrists which are tied behind the victim’s back), sexual violations, testicle squeezing and twisting, electric shock to the genitals and other sensitive parts of the body, blunt trauma causing injury to internal organs, bums, deprivation of food and water, spraying with cold, pressurized water, threats to friends and family, isolation, immobilization, mock executions, and forcing victims to witness the torture of others. All of these torture techniques cause significant pain and injury, but some leave only subtle or no lasting physical evidence.
Torture has devastating health consequences for individuals and societies. It not only causes physical and mental suffering for individuals, but also undermines the trust and unity of all members of society. The findings of this study are particularly disturbing because they show how systematic human rights violations have a corrosive effect on basic institutions of society. The principal victims of torture are, of course, those who suffer gross physical and psychological harm at the hands of the torturers. Health professionals have a unique role and responsibility to prevent and alleviate the suffering caused by torture and other human rights violations. But in Turkey physicians who otherwise practice ethical medicine become caught up in a system where they participate in concealing the systematic practice of torture in Turkey.
Methods of Investigation
PHR obtained the information included in this report between June 1994 and October 1995 during four visits to Tiirkey. Representatives of PHR conducted research in Istanbul, Diyarbakir, Ankara, and Izmir. Quantitative and qualitative methods were employed and multiple sources of evidence were included. Research on physician complicity in torture consisted of:
1) in-depth interviews with thirty-nine survivors of torture,8
2) a survey of sixty Turkish physicians who officially examine detainees,
3) interviews with individual physicians who examine detainees,
4) analysis of eighty-six official medical reports of detainees, and an additional thirty pairs of conflicting medical reports,
5) a review of alternative medical reports,
6) interviews with human rights lawyers, and
7) a review of medical records of twenty-four survivors of torture.
PHR also investigated the persecution of health professionals in the line of duty, obstruction of medical care, health conditions in the ten southeastern provinces that constitute Turkey’s Emergency Zone, and the human rights work of Turkish health professionals by conducting interviews with health professionals, lawyers, journalists, human rights activists, academicians, and state officials. PHR interviewed a total of 175 individuals, among them seventy-six health professionals and thirty-nine survivors of torture, who provided first-hand information about incidents of abuse. In most of the cases investigated, testimony was corroborated by multiple witnesses and/or by physical evidence. While some of those interviewed may have had partisan views, the findings contained in this report are based on PHR’s independent selection of case material and analysis of testimony, medical examinations, and other documentation.
…..
Human Rights
Torture in Turkey
PHR
Physicians for Human Rights
Torture in Turkey & Its Unwilling Accomplices
The Scope of State Persecution and the Coercion of Physicians
Human Rights
Physicians for Human Rights
Boston - San Francisco – Chicago
Copyright © August 1996 by Physicians for Human Rights
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
ISBN 1-879707-21-7
Library of Congress Catalog Card No. 96-070086
Design: Glenn Ruga - Visual Communications
Cover Photo: The form of torture illustrated on the cover
is commonly referred to as “Palestinian suspension.”
The signature and seal (modified to maintain anonymity)
are that of a physician who examined a detainee in October 1992.
Although the detainee had received Palestinian suspension,
the physician certified that there was “no sign of violence or injury.”
Photo courtesy of Nokta, a Turkish magazine.
Physicians for Human Rights
100 Boylston Street, Suite 702
Boston, MA 02116 USA
Tel. (617) 695-0041/Fax. (617) 695-0307
E-mail: phrusa@igc.apc.org
Physicians for Human Rights
Western Regional Office
312 Sutter Street, Suite 606
San Francisco, CA 94108 USA
Tel. (415) 765-6991/Fax. (415) 765-6993
E-mail: phrwro@igc.apc.org
Physicians for Human Rights
International Forensic Program
25 E. Jackson Blvd.
OMP Suite 403
Chicago, IL 60604 USA
Tel. (312) 362-5008
Fax. (312) 362-5122
E-mail: kirs@midway.uchicago.edu
