Basından
Fear for safety/“disappearance”/risk of torture and ill-treatment
amnesty.org,30 November 2001
Fear for safety/“disappearance”/risk of torture and ill-treatment
TURKEY
The people named above and 19 others were detained during police raids on the offices of around 20 legal pro-Kurdish and leftist publications and associations in the capital Istanbul, on 29 November. All except Yücel Filizler are being held at the Anti-Terror Branch of Istanbul Police Headquarters and are at risk of torture and ill-treatment. Yücel Filizler's whereabouts are unknown and Amnesty International is concerned for his safety.
The Istanbul State Security Court issued warrants for the raids based on an alleged "civil disobedience campaign" which it claims was initiated by
the illegal, armed opposition group, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). The pro-Kurdish offices of: Yedinci Gündem and Azadiya Welat newspapers; Mem Basin publication house; Özgür Halk, Özgür Kadinin Sesi and Jiyana Rewsen journals; Zend publishing house; the Kurdish Institute; the Mesopotamian Culture Centre (MKM); Dicle Women's Cultural Centre; the Youth Culture Centre and the Anatolian Youth Centre were all raided.
The offices of the Tohum and "May a Hundred Flowers Bloom" (Yüz Çiçek Açsin) cultural centres, and the Isçi Köylü, Devrimci Demokrasi, Atilim, Alinteri and Kizil Bayrak journals were also targeted. They were all accused of being leftist organisations, which support ongoing hunger strikes by prisoners and relatives' groups, against new single-cell F-Type prisons in which inmates may face prolonged isolation.
During the raids, files, books, documents and computers were confiscated. Staff at the Dicle Women's Culture Centre were also reportedly told by the police: "You receive instructions from Imrali [the island in which Abdullah Öcalan, leader of the PKK is imprisoned]. You are managed from there."
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Whereas torture is rarely reported from prisons, in police and gendarmerie stations, torture appears to be regularly used to extract confessions, elicit information about illegal organizations, intimidate detainees into becoming police informers or as unofficial punishment for presumed support of illegal organizations. Torture methods in Turkey documented by Amnesty International include severe beatings, being stripped naked and blindfolded, hosing with pressurized ice-cold water, suspending by the arms or wrists bound behind the victim's back, electric shocks, beating the soles of the feet, death threats and sexual assault.
The Turkish Regulation on Apprehension, Police Custody and Interrogation provides clear guidelines for the registration of people taken into custody and their right to inform their relatives “unless informing the relatives will harm the investigation”. In an amendment to the Constitution on 3 October 2001 this restriction was lifted. Yet guidelines for the prompt and proper registration of detainees and for notification of their families are often ignored. This is extremely distressing for the families of detainees, who often spend days trying to establish the whereabouts of their loved ones. Failure to register detainees properly and promptly creates conditions in which there is an increased risk of torture, and "disappearance" or death in custody can occur.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in English or your own language:
- calling on the authorities to immediately make public the whereabouts of Yücel Filizler, who has not been seen since he was reportedly arrested at the offices of Alinteri journal;
- urging the authorities to ensure that police officers do not torture or ill-treat the detainees;
- urging that the detainees are given immediate access to their lawyers, their families and any medical attention they require;
- reminding the authorities of their obligation under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which states: “No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”
APPEALS TO:
Minister of the Interior
Mr Rüstü Kazim Yücelen
Ministry of Interior
Içisleri Bakanligi
06644 Ankara, Turkey
Telegrams: Interior Minister, Ankara, Turkey
Fax: + 90 312 418 17 95
Salutation: Dear Minister
Istanbul Police Headquarters
Istanbul Emniyet Müdürü
Istanbul Emniyet Müdürlügü
Istanbul, Turkey
Telegrams: Emniyet Müdürü, Istanbul, Turkey
Fax: +90 212 534 8571
COPIES TO:
State Minister with responsibility for Human Rights
Nejat Arseven
Office of the Prime Minister,
Basbakanlik,
06573 Ankara, Turkey
Fax: + 90 312 417 04 76
Salutation: Dear Minister
and to diplomatic representatives of Turkey accredited to your country.
TURKIETS AMBASSAD
BOX 24105
104 51 STOCKHOLM
FAX 08- 663 55 14
E-post:turkbe@turkemb.se
PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 11 January 2002.
