European Parliament resolution on the situation in Turkish prisons
Date: 2001-01-18
Institutions: European Parliament
Subjects: Türkiye, diplomatic relations, government violence, human rights, penal institution, political prisoner

C 262/260

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

18.9.2001

Thursday 18 January 2001

K. noting with deep concern the unilateral imposition of a visa regime on Georgia by the Russian Fed-
eration which took effect on 5 December 2000, which will make the development of friendly neigh-
bourly relations more difficult, hamper economic relations and complicate the lives of Georgian citi-
zens living in the territory of the Russian Federation and of those Georgian citizens living in Georgia
itself, who are dependent for their survival on the earnings of their relatives working in the Russian
Federation,

Recalls that the imposition of visas which respect international law is a matter for the sovereignty of
1.
a state, but regards the plans to exempt residents of the secessionist Georgian regions of South Ossetia/
Tskhinvali and Abkhazia from the visa regime imposed on Georgian citizens as a challenge to the territor-
ial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia which the Government of the Russian Federation officially sup-
ports, and calls on the government of the Russian Federation to reconsider these plans as they would
amount to de facto annexation of these indisputably Georgian territories;

Urges the government of the Russia Federation to suspend the implementation of the visa regime

2.
with Georgia given the difficulties it causes to ordinary citizens;

3.
Recalls that a decision on unilateral introduction of a simplified procedure for border-crossing for
residents of South Ossetia/Tskhinvali Region and Abkhazia by the Russian Federation would compromise
its role as a mediator in the conflicts;

Calls on all parties to refrain from unnecessary retaliatory actions which might aggravate the precar-
4.
ious situation and to display the necessary political will to achieve early substantial results in the negotia-
tions, with full respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia;

Calls on the Russian Federation as a matter of urgency to respect the commitment it made at the

5.
OSCE in Istanbul in 1999 to withdraw its troops from Georgian territory;

6.
Lends its support to the UN-led peace process in Abkhazia and to the efforts by the OSCE to increase
dialogue and direct contacts between the parties to the conflict in the South Ossetia/Tskhinvali Region and
Abkhazia;

7.
Calls on the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the European Union to support actively all efforts
to bring about a political settlement to the conflicts in the South Ossetia/Tskhinvali Region and Abkhazia,
and looks forward to the report of the Swedish Presidency to the Third Meeting of the European Union 8
Georgia Parliamentary Cooperation Committee to be held in Brussels, and asks it to submit proposals for a
further rapprochement between Georgia and the European Union;

8.
Urges the Council, in this regard, to take into account the possibility of appointing a Special Envoy
for the Caucasus in order to increase the visibility of the EU in the region and facilitate the dialogue
between all parties to the ongoing conflicts

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the OSCE and the

9.
Government and Parliament of Georgia and of the Russian Federation.

11. Human rights: Situation in Turkish prisons

B5-0059, 0065, 0072, 0077 and 0082/2001

European Parliament resolution on the situation in Turkish prisons

The European Parliament,

A. whereas Turkey is a signatory to the European Human Rights Convention and to international con-

ventions against torture and on political, civil, social and cultural rights,

B. whereas reports indicate that some 1 000 prisoners have been involved in hunger strikes in protest,

among other things, against transfer to the new F-type prisons now under construction,

18.9.2001

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

C 262/261

Thursday 18 January 2001

C. whereas Operation Return to Life, which the security forces launched on 19 December 2000 against
hunger strikers in twenty prisons, has resulted in the death of at least 31 prisoners and two members
of the security forces and has left more than 130 people seriously wounded,

D. whereas the Turkish authorities have recognised the need for prison reform, both in the interests of
the prisoners themselves and to re-establish the authorities’ rule over prison wards where groups of
prisoners had taken control,

E. whereas prison reform is an indispensable feature of Turkey’s responsibilities as a candidate for mem-

bership of the European Union,

1.
Deplores the recent violence in Turkish prisons and shares in the grief of the victims’ families and
condemns any excessive use of force by the security forces in interventions in the prison system; calls on
the Turkish Government and Parliament to set up an independent committee of inquiry;

Urges the Turkish authorities to take immediate and appropriate non-violent measures to avert

2.
further tragedies;

Supports the demands that the prisoners be examined professionally by independent doctors desig-

3.
nated by the medical profession;

Urges the Turkish authorities to build a new social and political consensus on prison reform based

4.
on peaceable methods, respect for human rights and international best practice;

5. Welcomes the invitations by the Turkish authorities to the Committee for the Prevention of Torture
of the Council of Europe to visit Turkish prisons and urges early completion and publication of the report
by the President of the Committee following visits in December 2000 and January 2001;

Calls on the Turkish Government to allow a delegation of Members of the European Parliament to

6.
visit the prisons to which transfers have been made;

Notes that these events attest to the urgency of continuing work on the reform of the Penal Code

7.
and of implementing without delay the reforms needed to improve the prison and judicial systems;

Regrets the selective character of the recent clemency law and urges that major steps be taken

8.
towards the release of political prisoners;

Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council, the Government of

9.
Turkey, the Turkish Grand National Assembly and the Council of Europe.

12. Human rights: Situation in Algeria

B5-0066, 0083 and 0086/2001

European Parliament resolution on Algeria

The European Parliament,

A.

appalled by the latest massacres in Algeria, in which terrorists did not hesitate to murder children,

B. whereas, in spite of President Bouteflika’s efforts, the ‘civil concord’ campaign has not succeeded in

eradicating violence in Algeria,