- Appendix II: Letter to the Commissioner of Istanbul Security Directorate

March 1, 2008

Mr. Celalettin Cerrah,

Commissioner of Istanbul Security Directorate

İ stanbul Emniyet Müdürü

İ stanbul Emniyet Müdürlü ğ ü

Vatan Caddesi

Fatih

Istanbul

Faks: + 90 212 635 1832

Dear Mr. Celalettin Cerrah:

I am writing to you on behalf of Human Rights Watch, an organization based in New York City. With offices around the globe, we are devoted to exposing human rights violations throughout the world. Turkey is part of a much larger body of work that encompasses more than 70 countries worldwide. We have done extensive work on human rights abuses by the governments of the United States and European Union member states. To maintain our independence, we are a wholly private organization, accepting no funds from any government directly or indirectly.

The particular reason for this letter is in relation to research Human Rights Watch is conducting on the situation of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Turkey. Through it we seek your response to various reports our organization has received regarding incidents involving members of the police force employed in Istanbul.

We have received information that members of the LGBT community have been subjected to attacks by members of the police forces in Istanbul. Please find enclosed questions related to the incidents reported to our organization. We would like to know if you have been conducting internal enquiries into such allegations and if you have taken disciplinary action in any cases. We would also like information of whether criminal proceedings have been initiated in any cases, if any police officers have given statements to the public prosecutor in the course of preliminary investigations into complaints, and of the outcome of such criminal investigations.

In addition, I am hoping that you will be able to provide some information on specific reports about policing in Istanbul as it affects the LGBT community, and have included some further questions on this subject.

Human Rights Watch is committed to producing material that is well-informed, accurate and objective. We regard it as highly important to reflect the views of official bodies and government authorities in our reports and to give them the opportunity to respond to information about human rights violations that we receive. We would like to be able to include your views in our report and would therefore appreciate your response to this letter by March 31, 2008.

Sincerely,

Juliana Cano Nieto

Researcher

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Program

C.C.

Mr Be ş ir Atalay, Minister of the Interior, Ankara