SCOPE AND NATURE OF THE PROBLEM

Torture and ill-treatment are systematic and widespread in the interrogation procedures of the Anti-Terror Branches under the control of the Ministry of the Interior.3 The term "torture", as used in this report, is defined according to Article 1 of the United Nations Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which Turkey ratified on August 2, 1988:

...the term torture means any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions.4

"Systematic" is defined according to the November 1993 United Nations Committee against Torture report on Turkey: "The Committee considers that torture is practiced systematically when it is apparent that the torture cases reported have not occurred fortuitously in a particular place or at a particular time, but are seen to be habitual, widespread and deliberate in at least a considerable part of the territory of the country in question."5

Similar conclusions are shared by international organizations, domestic and international non-governmental organizations, and at least one official Turkish government body. On December 6, 1996, the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) issued a "Public Statement on Turkey" based on several monitoring visits that stated that, "The CPT's findings in the course of a visit to Turkey in October 1994 demonstrated that torture and other forms of ill-treatment were still important characteristics of police custody in that country....in the course of visits in 1996, CPT delegations again found clear evidence of the practice of torture and other forms of severe ill-treatment...."6 Four years earlier, in a then highly unusual move given that its findings are usuallyconfidential, the CPT issued an earlier "Public Statement on Turkey," which found that, "as regards more specifically the Anti-Terror Departments of the Ankara and Diyarbakir Police, the only conclusion that could be reached in the light of all the information gathered was that torture and other forms of severe ill-treatment continued unabated in those services....In light of all information at its disposal, the CPT can only conclude that the practice of torture and other forms of severe ill-treatment of persons in police custody remain widespread in Turkey."7 In a report released in November 1993, the United Nations Committee against Torture stated that, "...the copious testimony gathered is so consistent in its description of torture techniques and the places and circumstances in which torture is perpetrated that the existence of systematic torture in Turkey cannot be denied."8

The HRFT's Treatment and Rehabilitation Centers Report: 1994 stated that, "In Turkey, torture is used as a systematic interrogation method on almost all suspects."9 It made a similar statement in its most recent study released in November 1996 and based on its work for 1995.10 Doctor Ôákran Ak2n of the Istanbul branch of the HRFT Treatment and Rehabilitation Center told Human Rights Watch/Helsinki that,

The applications to us have increased. We had 145 in 1994, and 160 for the first nine months of 1995. Most all of the torture happens in detention, by the anti-terror police, and some happens in the regular police station. In my opinion, the majority of all political prisoners [security detainees] are tortured. For example, one person comes here for treatment out of a group of ten detained. That one person will indicate that the other nine were also tortured.11

A survey of doctors in Turkey (including forensic doctors who conduct the mandatory pre- and post-medical examinations of detainees) conducted by the Boston-based Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) also points toward widespread torture.12 In January 1995, PHR conducted a survey of sixty-eight physicians who attended a conferencetitled "Human Rights and Physician Responsibility," held in Istanbul. Of sixty doctors responding to the survey, almost half were forensic medical specialists, representing twenty-three percent of such specialists in Turkey. Almost all the doctors thought torture was a problem in Turkey, and fully sixty percent of those responding to the question thought that everyone who was detained was tortured. The doctors who held the latter opinion had performed literally thousands of examinations for official medical reports over the prior year, including medical reports on security detainees and criminal prisoners.

Even an official human rights committee attached to the Prime Minister's office and chaired by the State Minister Responsible for Human Rights, the Human Rights Supreme Consultative Committee (¤nsan Haklar2 Yáksek Dan2Õma Kurulu), wrote a report stating that torture in Turkey was "widespread and systematic."13 The group prepared the study in response to a December 7, 1994, request from then Prime Minister Tansu Çiller for a report on interrogation methods police could use that did not employ torture. On January 9, 1995, then State Minister Responsible for Human Rights Azimet KöylüoTMlu submitted the report titled, "Personal Security and Protection against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, and Degrading Treatment." It then sat in Prime Minister Çiller's office until KöylüoTMlu announced its existence and findings at a press conference in early May 1995.

Unfortunately, the report was suppressed because of its critical tone, causing three members of the committee to resign.

The report was initially released in November 1993. It was republished as a General Assembly document in 1994.

According to the HRFT Treatment and Rehabilitation Centers, 378 people who applied to them for treatment in 1994 suffered torture while in police or security force detention. Of them 206 had been detained at least twice before, and of that number 92 percent had been tortured during previous detentions. In 1994, a total of 446 individuals applied to the HRFT Treatment Centers for treatment.

In 1995, the HRFT reported that of 545 individuals who had applied to them for treatment after torture in security force detention or in prison, 316 had been detained at least once before. Of those 316, 301 (95.1 percent) had reported being tortured before. In 1995, 713 individuals applied to the HRFT for treatment.

See "Treatment and Rehabilitation Centers Report: 1994", p.31; Türkiye ¤nsan Haklar2 Vakf2 Tedavi ve Rehabilitasyon Merkezleri Raporu 1995, p. 27.

The thirty-one physicians who believed that nearly all detainees were tortured estimated that they had collectively conducted between 7,125-12,600 medical examinations to issue official medical reports in 1994. Up to 40 percent of these examinations could have been security detainees or criminal suspects.