From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord@igc.apc.org>
Newsgroups: soc.rights.human
Date: 11 Nov 92 15:57 PST
Subject: Turkey: AI on Current Situation
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1476700782:000:4684
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!hrcoord    Nov 11 15:57:00 1992


From: Human Rights Coordinator <hrcoord>
Subject: Turkey: AI on Current Situation

/* Written  6:41 pm  Nov 10, 1992 by hnaylor@igc.apc.org in
igc:ai.general */ Embargoed for 7:01 pm EST Tuesday, November 10,
1992

TURKEY: TURKISH GOVERNMENT FAILS TO TACKLE DETERIORATING HUMAN
RIGHTS
SITUATION

	The new Turkish government has failed to fulfill its
promises a year ago to improve the human rights situation in the
country -- an unprecedented number of political killings have been
reported in that time and torture shows no signs of abating,
Amnesty International said today.
       "There has been too much talk and too little action on the
part of the Turkish authorities," the organization said in a
report published today. "The new government made serious promises
on the issue of human rights, and in particular torture, but like
previous governments, it has done nothing to stop the practice."
       The organization said that political killings are reported
virtually daily and the security forces appear to be implicated in
many of them.  Meanwhile, hundreds of reports of torture of men,
women and children have been received and at least 10 people have
died in police custody allegedly as a result of torture.
       In southeast Turkey, security forces appear to operate with
almost complete impunity: during 1992, at least 100 unarmed
civilians have been killed by security forces firing on peaceful
demonstrations or randomly firing on residential areas in
"retaliation" for attacks by the Kurdish Workers Party
(PKK).
       More than 50 villagers and local politicians were killed
during 1991 in circumstances which implicated security forces. In
the last 12 months, the pattern of killings has changed: more than
a hundred Kurdish men - journalists, local politicians, members of
the People's Labour Party (HEP) and others - have been shot dead
in "mysterious murders".
       The killings have frequently been attributed to a local
organization called Hizbullah. However, many of the victims have
previously been threatened, detained or tortured by the police and
there is growing evidence to suggest that security forces collude
in such killings and may actually instigate them.
       Ramazan Sat was detained on 24 March 1992 and interrogated
for 12 days in Batman Police Headquarters on suspicion of
harboring members of the PKK. He was reportedly subjected to
torture and threatened by police who said: "The next time we will
not take you from your house. We shall kill you in the street when
nobody is watching." Three months later, on 3 July, he was
attacked by unknown assailants in a street in Batman and later
died in hospital.  Despite repeated appeals by Amnesty
International for the establishment of commissions of inquiry, the
government has failed to initiate any form of public inquiry into
the killings.
       Torture, which has been widespread in Turkey for more than
a decade, continues to be practised routinely in police stations
throughout the country.  It is during the long period detainees
are held in police custody, usually incommunicado, that torture
occurs. The proposals for reform which have been put forward by
the Turkish government will not shorten the length of detention
enough to protect detainees. Moreover, political detainees, who
are most at risk of torture, are excluded from the planned
legislation.  Detainees have told Amnesty International that they
were severely beaten, subjected to electric shocks and even raped
with a truncheon by police attempting to extract confessions from
them. Others say they were suspended by the arms from poles, hosed
with ice cold water and subjected to other forms of sexual assault
while in police detention. Victims and their relatives who try to
take legal action against torturers have been subjected to threats
by police.   The human rights violations by security forces have
taken place in a context of political violence. The PKK and other
opposition groups have been responsible for human rights abuses,
including the "execution" of prisoners and the killing of unarmed
civilians.
       Amnesty International strongly condemns these abuses - but
they can never justify the violation by the Turkish government of
basic human rights.  "It is time for the Turkish government to
face up to its responsibilities under international law and bring
perpetrators of human rights violations to justice. Too many
people have suffered already - the government must act now to stop
many more people becoming victims of gross violations in Turkey."


				-30-

{This report is available from AIUSA, 322 EIGHTH AVE., NY, NY
10001 at a cost of $5.50 each, including shipping and handling.}