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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.
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