AI: Turkey bulletin

[kurdeng at aps.nl]

          id VT26515; Thu, 16 Nov 1995 16:12:39 -0800

------------ Forwarded from : Ray Mitchell <rmitchellai at gn.apc.org> ------------

+------------------------------------------------------+
+     AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL URGENT ACTION BULLETIN     +
+     Electronic distribution authorised               +
+     This bulletin expires: 15 December 1995.         +
+------------------------------------------------------+

EXTERNAL                                            AI Index: EUR 44/130/95

EXTRA 139/95            Fear of torture                    10 November 1995

TURKEY            Gevher TOPRAK (f), aged 17
                  Emrullah TOPRAK, aged 14
                  Fatih TOPRAK, aged 9


At 7am on 10 November 1995 Gevher, Emrullah and Fatih Topruk were taken
from their home in Diyarbakir by members of the security forces.  Their
detention was witnessed by three people.  The children's whereabouts remain
unknown - in breach of Statute 2253 of Turkish law which requires that
minors are questioned by the prosecutor only and that their next of kin are
promptly informed of their whereabouts.  Amnesty International is seriously
concerned for their safety while they remain in unacknowledged detention.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The persistence of torture is one of the major human rights problems in
Turkey today. There were 29 reported deaths in custody due to torture in
1994, more than in any year since 1982, and six in 1995 so far. Most
reports of torture come from the major cities of Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir,
Adana and the 10 provinces in the east and southeast, currently under State
of Emergency legislation due to the continuing conflict between the
security forces and armed members of the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK).
Those detained and subjected to torture come from all sectors of Turkish
society and range from political activists held under the Anti-Terror Law
to those held on suspicion of ordinary criminal offences, including
children.

Torture is used mainly in police and gendarmerie stations during the first
days or weeks following detention. It is often applied to extract
confessions, to elicit information about illegal organizations, to
intimidate detainees into becoming police informers or as informal
punishment for assumed support of illegal organizations.

People suspected of offences under the Anti-Terror Law can be held without
access to family, friends or legal counsel for up to 30 days in the 10
provinces under State of Emergency, and for 15 days in the rest of Turkey.
When not being interrogated, detainees are held in cramped, airless and
insanitary conditions. With no access to the outside world they are at the
mercy of their interrogators. Torture methods include being stripped naked
and blindfolded, hosing with pressurized ice-cold water, hanging by the
arms or wrists bound behind the victim's back, electric shocks, beating the
soles of the feet, death threats and sexual assault.

----------------------------- End forwarded message --------------------------