‘Zero-tolerance’ on torture but abuses persist

By David Cronin

Date: 29/09/05

During Germany's recent election campaign Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer predicted it could take ten or 15 years before a 'Europe capable' Turkey emerged.

Although Fischer is a strong supporter of Turkey's bid for EU membership, the subtext of his message was that the political elite in Ankara face an enormous workload if they are to translate their rhetoric on the virtues of their modernising agenda into a measurable reality.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government has made a series of bold statements since coming to power in 2003. Although Turkish law-enforcement authorities have been accused in the past of systematically ill-treating detainees, Erdogan has declared a policy of "zero-tolerance" for torture, for example.

He has shown some willingness to listen to his critics. After journalists complained that a new penal code placed fundamental restrictions on the right to free expression, he ensured that the code was amended and delayed its introduction from April to June this year.

However, he has continued to face claims that the reforms do not go far enough and are not leading to sufficiently tangible progress. Amnesty International has complained that the final version of the penal code "offered only the most minor of improvements, mainly the removal of possible increased sentences for certain crimes where carried out by the press" and that its provisions could still be used to muzzle dissent.

The question of freedom of assembly has proven similarly controversial. In March, Turkish police were condemned internationally for mistreating women participating in a march ahead of International Women's Day. Disciplinary proceedings have been opened against some officers accused of using disproportionate force against people taking part in such demonstrations. But human-rights groups have argued that inquiries into police conduct tend to take place only when events attract media and political attention outside Turkey.

The 2005 annual report by Human Rights Watch acknowledged "important reforms in the past few years that have significantly reduced the frequency and severity of torture". But the report added: "Ill-treatment persists because police and gendarmes [soldiers who police rural areas] in some areas ignore the new safeguards."

Despite the abolition of the death penalty, Turkey's Human Rights Association has complained that extra-judicial executions continue to take place. In November 2004, an 11-year-old boy Ugur Kaymaz and his father Ahmet were shot dead by police outside their home in the town of Kizintete. Five police officers have been indicted over the killings but have not appeared before a criminal court.

"There are no effective penalties against perpetrators [of human-rights violations]," says the association's spokeswoman Reyhan Yalgindag. "There have been positive steps like the end to the death penalty and the lifting of the state of emergency [in the largely Kurdish south-east] but if de facto people are still losing their lives, then this is very serious."

Article takes a look at the human rights situation in Turkey and the reforms introduced by Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government since coming to power in 2003.