Wayzata World Factbook 1996/The World Factbook - 1996 Edition - Wayzata Technology (3079) (1996).iso/mac/TEXT/HUMANrts/TURKEY.TXU

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TITLE:  TURKEY HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES, 1994
AUTHOR:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DATE:  FEBRUARY 1995




There is no external exile, and Turkey's internal exile law was
repealed in 1987.  In 1990, however, under decree 430, the
Government granted the southeast regional governor the
authority to "remove from the region," for a period not to
exceed the duration of the state of emergency (now in its
eighth year), citizens under his administration whose
activities (whether voluntary or forced) "give an impression
that they are prone to disturb general security and public
order."  There were no known instances of the use of this broad
authority in 1994.  Human rights monitors and residents of
towns in the southeast report that officials continued to rely
on "administrative transfers" to remove government employees
thought liable to "create trouble."

     e.  Denial of Fair Public Trial

The judicial system is composed of general law courts, state
security courts (SSC), and military courts.  There is also a
Constitutional Court.  Most cases are prosecuted in the general
law courts, which include the civil, administrative, and
criminal courts.  Appeals are heard either by the High Court of
Appeals or the Council of State.  Provincial administrative
boards established under the Anti-Terror Law decide whether
cases in which state officials are accused of misconduct should
be heard in criminal court.  Military courts, with their own
appeals system, hear cases regarding infractions of military
law by members of the armed forces.  In 1993 and 1994, the
military court tried several cases of civilians charged with
speech that purportedly discouraged military service (see
Section 2.a.).

Eight state security courts composed of five members--two
civilian judges, one military judge, and two prosecutors--try
defendants accused of crimes such as terrorism, drug smuggling,
membership in illegal organizations, and espousing or
disseminating ideas prohibited by law as "damaging the
indivisible unity of the State."  Their verdicts may be
appealed only to a specialized department of the High Court of
Appeals dealing with crimes against state security.

The Constitutional Court examines the constitutionality of
laws, decrees, and parliamentary procedural rules.  However, it
may not consider "decrees with the force of law" issued under a
state of emergency, martial law, or in time of war.

The Constitution requires that judges be independent of the
executive in the discharge of their duties and provides for the
security of their tenure.  The High Council of Judges and
Prosecutors, which is appointed by the President and includes
the Minister of Justice, selects judges and prosecutors for the
higher courts and is responsible for oversight of those in the
lower courts.  The Constitution also prohibits state
authorities from issuing orders or recommendations concerning
the exercise of judicial power.  In practice, the courts
generally act independently of the executive.  Defendants
normally have the right to a public trial, and, under the
Constitution, can be proven guilty only by a court of law.  By
law, the bar association must provide free counsel to indigents
who make such a request to the court.  Costs are borne by the
association.  There is no jury system; all cases are decided by
a judge or panel of judges.

Defense lawyers generally have access to the independent
prosecutor's files after arraignment and prior to trial (a
period of several weeks).  In cases involving violations of the
Anti-Terror Law and a few others, such as insulting the
President or "defaming Turkish citizenship," defense attorneys
may be denied access to files which the State asserts deal with
national intelligence or security matters.

In 1994 state security courts predominantly handled cases under
the Anti-Terror Law.  The State claims these courts were
established to try efficiently those suspected of certain
crimes.  In fact, the law provides that those accused of crimes
falling under the jurisdiction of these courts may be detained
twice as long before arraignment as other defendants, and the
heavy caseload often means that cases drag on for years.  These
courts may hold closed hearings and may admit testimony
obtained during police interrogation in the absence of
counsel.  According to government figures, 1,277 persons were
tried under the Anti-Terror Law, and 8,682 people are serving
sentences for terrorist crimes.  The trial of 12 Diyarbakir
lawyers charged with acting as couriers for the PKK continues
at the Diyarbakir State Security Court.  The attorneys were
released on their own recognizance in December 1993 and January
1994.  The trial of nine Erzurum lawyers, charged with similar
crimes, began on November l6.

In law and in practice, the legal system does not discriminate
against either minorities or women, with the following two
caveats:  (1) as legal proceedings are conducted solely in
Turkish, and the quality of interpreters varies, some
Kurdish-speaking defendants may be seriously disadvantaged; and
(2) although women receive equal treatment in a court of law,
some discriminatory laws remain on the books, although most
have been rendered inoperative by a constitutional court
decision.  Under the civil code, the husband is the head of the
household and determines the legal domicile of the family.
Draft civil rights legislation which would have eliminated all
existing legal inequalities between men and women has been
stalled in Parliament since 1993.  In 1994, civil service
security clearance procedures were changed, which should allow
numerous professors who were blackballed in the late 1970s to
be reemployed.

Human rights monitors hesitate to estimate the number of
persons in custody who might reasonably be considered political
prisoners.  They estimate only that "thousands" have been
detained.  According to government statistics, 1,277 persons
were charged under the Anti-Terror Law though October 1, 1994.
Many are charged for attempting peacefully to exercise their
right of freedom of speech, association, or some other
internationally recognized human rights.

     f.  Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or
         Correspondence

The Constitution provides for the inviolability of a person's
domicile and the privacy of correspondence and communication.
Government officials may enter a private residence or intercept
or monitor private correspondence only upon issuance of a
judicial warrant.  These provisions are generally respected in
practice outside the state of emergency region.

A judge must decide whether to issue a search warrant for a
residence.  If delay may cause harm, prosecutors and municipal
officers authorized to carry out prosecutors' instructions may
conduct a search.  Searches of private premises may not be
carried out at night, unless the delay will be damaging or the
search will result in the capture of a prisoner at large.
Exceptions include persons under special observation by the
Security Directorate General, places anyone can enter at night,
places where criminals gather, places where materials obtained
through the Commission of Crimes are kept, gambling
establishments, and brothels.  In the 10 provinces under
emergency rule, the Regional Governor can and does empower
security authorities to search without a warrant residences or
the premises of political parties, businesses, associations, or
other organizations.  According to the HRF, the practice of
security authorities in these provinces to search, hold, or
seize without warrant persons, letters, telegrams, and
documents is unconstitutional.  Roadblocks are commonplace in
the southeast, and security officials regularly search vehicles
and travelers.

Security forces have compelled the evacuation of villages in
the southeast to prevent villagers from giving aid and comfort
to the PKK (see Section 1.g.).  The Government admits to
village and hamlet evacuations but claims they occur as the
consequence of pressures by and fear of the PKK and because
security operations against the PKK in the region make
continued occupancy unsafe.

     g.  Use of Excessive Force and Violations of Humanitarian
         Law in Internal Conflicts

Since 1984 the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) has
waged an increasingly violent terrorist insurgency that has
claimed over 15,000 lives, as many as 2,000 of them during
1994.  The PKK's campaign of violence in southeast Turkey is
directed against both security forces and civilians, most of
whom are Kurds, whom the PKK accuses of cooperating with the
State.  The TNP, Jandarma, and armed forces, in turn, have
waged an increasingly intense campaign to suppress terrorism,
targeting active PKK units as well as those they believe
support or sympathize with the PKK, and committing many human
rights abuses in the process.  According to government figures,
in the first 10 months of 1994, 3,577 PKK, 963 security force
members and 940 noncombatants were killed.  In that same
period, 1,563 civilians, 2,308 security force members and 137
PKK were wounded.

Government security forces forcibly evacuated and sometimes
burned villages, for the purpose of preventing their
inhabitants from providing aid and comfort to PKK guerrillas or
in retaliation for a PKK raid on a nearby Jandarma post.  Some
villagers who migrated to the cities told reliable sources that
they had been evacuated for refusing to participate in the
paramilitary village guard system.  Some lost all their
belongings when their houses were burned.

In May the Interior Minister, replying to a question in
Parliament, stated that 871 villages and hamlets in the state
of emergency region had become empty since July 1987.  The
Interior Minister asserted that the villages and hamlets were
emptied because of PKK pressure or economic reasons.  The
Minister of Defense that same month stated that to control PKK
activity in the region, 50 settlement centers, displacing
approximately 10,000 persons around Mount Ararat and Tenduruk
Mountain, would be evacuated and that those regions would be
declared a military zone.  These statements were the first
official confirmations of village evacuations in the southeast,
including evacuations at government behest.  In October, 17
village evacuations in Tunceli Province finally brought the
issue into the national spotlight.  According to government
figures, as of October 1, 1,046 villages and hamlets had been
evacuated:  75 by the regional governorship for security
reasons; 125 of the residents' own accord for security reasons;
812 because of PKK pressure; and 34 for economic reasons.
According to a government report, to date approximately
$227,000 in compensation has been paid to villagers displaced
in the southeast, largely as a result of PKK activity, and
$545,000 was to be spent in 1994 to construct housing for
displaced villagers in Sirnak and Bingol provinces. The
Government has stated that it is providing housing and
financial assistance to those displaced in Tunceli Province.

On March 26, a Turkish air force plane bombed up to four
villages in Sirnak province, killing approximately 20 persons,
according to press reports.  Journalists were not allowed into
the area.  The Government stated that the inhabitants had left
the villages some time before and that the PKK had then moved
in, along with some civilians.  When the PKK was hit, the
Government explained, there was perforce some collateral
damage.

During the first 6 months of 1994, approximately 10,000 Turks
of Kurdish ethnic origin left the southeast for northern Iraq,
claiming the Government had forced them out.  The Government
believes the villagers moved to northern Iraq at the behest of
the PKK and views most of them as PKK supporters.

The Government organizes, arms, and pays for a civil defense
force in the southeast known as the village guards.
Participation in the paramilitary militia by local villagers is
theoretically voluntary, but villagers are caught between the
two sides.  If the villagers agree to serve, the PKK may target
them and their village.  If the villagers refuse to
participate, government security forces may retaliate against
them and their village.  The village guards have a reputation
for being the least disciplined of the Government's security
forces.

There were instances in which physicians were prosecuted for
giving medical care to alleged PKK terrorists, a practice that
could deter other physicians from extending such aid.  For
example, Dr. Ilhan Diken was tried in Diyarbakir State Security
Court for treating a wounded PKK militant, an offense for which
the prosecution demanded a 5-year sentence.  Diken's sentence
of 3 years 9 months, of which he will serve 33 months, was
affirmed by the Court of Appeals.

Government state of emergency decree 430, codified in 1990 and
most recently renewed in November, imposes stringent security
measures in the southeast.  The regional governor may censor
news, ban strikes or lockouts, and impose internal exile (see
Section 1.d.).  The decree also provides for doubling the
sentences of those convicted of cooperating with separatists.
Informants and convicted persons who cooperate with the State
are eligible for rewards and reduced sentences.  Provisions in
the decree that specifically prohibited court challenges to the
regional governor's administrative decisions were amended in
1992 to permit limited judicial review.

The year 1994 witnessed a series of PKK attacks on Turkish
petroleum wells and power transformers, temporarily halting oil
production.  In August post and telecommunications (PTT)
publications revealed that the PKK had caused $2 million in
damage to the domestic PTT network in the Southeast and its
radio link stations in Hakkari, Diyarbakir, Igdir, Mus, and
Agri Provinces.

For the 1993-94 school year, according to the Education
Minister, 4,000 schools were closed in eastern and southeastern
Turkey.  Alternate government figures indicate that 3,395
schools were closed during that period:  1,839 due to lack of
security and fear of terrorism, 2,202 for lack of teachers, 89
for insufficient students, 92 because of the migration or
evacuation of residents from the area, and 213 because they had
been attacked and burned.  In Tunceli province alone, 12
teachers were killed and 273 of 314 schools remained closed
throughout the 1993-94 school year.  Although the Government
opened more regional boarding schools, promised to reopen
closed schools for the 1994-95 school year, and maintains that
a supplementary TL 1876 billion ($5,340,000) allocation was
made to schools in the region, the Education Minister in
September announced that 4,000 schools in the southeast were
closed due to village evacuations undertaken for security and
other reasons.

Villagers and human rights groups complained that Jandarma
actions and security forces' searches for PKK terrorists and
their supporters resulted in expulsions, beatings, torture, and
the arbitrary killing of innocent civilians.  Government
security forces on many occasions fired on the homes of
villagers suspected of harboring PKK terrorists, causing an
unknown number of casualties and destroying villagers'
property, including livestock.

Section 2  Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

     a.  Freedom of Speech and Press

Despite constitutional provisions guaranteeing freedom of
speech and press, the Government increasingly restricted these
freedoms.

For those who "insult the President, the Parliament, and the
army," the Criminal Code provides penalties ranging from a
3-year minimum sentence for insulting the President to a 6-year
maximum for insulting other branches of government.  Judges
generally examine evidence rigorously and dismiss many charges
brought under these laws.  Konya metropolitan Mayor Halil Urun
was sentenced to 1 year for "insulting Ataturk, the founder of
the Turkish Republic" at a Refah Party meeting in Konya
province in 1992.  The sentence was commuted to a fine of TL
1,825,000 (approximately $50).  In some cases, the laws provide
for increased punishment if the offense is committed in a
publication.  The press law permits prosecutors to halt
distribution of a newspaper or magazine without a court order
and requires that each publication's "responsible editors" bear
legal responsibility for the publication's content.  Many have
faced repeated criminal proceedings.  As of September, an
estimated 100 persons were in custody for freedom of expression
crimes.  The State claimed that, as of September, 36 court
cases were under way against a total of 19 journalists, all
under the Anti-Terror Law.

Throughout the year, SSC prosecutors ordered the confiscation
of numerous issues of leftist and pro-Kurdish periodicals,
including Aydinlik, Emegin Bayragi, Denge Azadi, Ozgur Gelecek,
Gercek, Newroz, Hedef, Ozgur Gundem, and Ozgur Ulke, although
most continue to publish.  Many editions of Kurdish-oriented
periodicals were seized before they could be distributed
nationally to newsstands.

Court proceedings were instituted against a number of editors
and publishers.  The Anti-Terror Law, which provides that
"written and oral propaganda...aiming at damaging the
indivisible unity of the state of the Turkish Republic...(is)
forbidden, regardless of the method, intention and ideas behind
it," severely restricts freedom of speech and has been used
against writers, journalists, publishers, politicians,
musicians, and students.  Ismail Besikci served 10 years in
prison between 1971 and 1987 because of his publications on the
Kurdish question in Turkey.  He has been brought to court more
than 100 times and has been in prison again since November
1993.  The Court of Appeals has upheld a total of 14 years and
6 months in prison terms and TL 850 million ($26,500) in fines.
Were all the sentences and fines against him to be upheld, they
would total 51 years and 11 months in prison and TL 3.45
billion ($108,000) in fines.

A number of pro-Kurdish politicians were detained under, or
otherwise affected by, the Anti-Terror Law in 1994 for speeches
made both within Turkey and beyond the country's borders.
Those affiliated with the pro-Kurdish Democracy Party (DEP)
were particularly targeted.  In March, based on a request from
the Ankara SSC chief prosecutor, Parliament partially lifted
the immunities of six DEP, one independent, and one Islamist
Refah Party (RP) member.  RP deputy Hasan Mezarci is being
tried for insulting Ataturk; the lifting of the immunity of one
of the six DEP M.P.'s was overturned; and the other five DEP
M.P.'s (who lost their status as M.P.'s when the DEP was
disbanded in June) and the independent were tried for treason
in the Ankara SSC.  The bulk of the prosecution's case appeared
to rest on speeches and expression of opinions.

After the Constitutional Court closed the DEP in June, two
other former DEP MP's were arrested on July 1 and an indictment
on similar charges was issued against them.  Their trial
commenced on October 26 and was later merged with that of the
original six defendants.  On December 8, the eight defendants
were convicted of a combination of charges, including
dissemination of separatist propaganda, being a member of an
armed society or band, and knowingly supporting such a band.
The sentences ranged from 3 years and 6 months (suspended) to
15 years.  Both defense and prosecution plan to appeal the
decision.  Six others left the country and are currently in
Europe.

An April resolution of the Council of Europe's (COE)
parliamentary assembly strongly criticized the lifting of
immunity of the deputies.  In a written statement, the Turkish
parliamentary delegation to the COE, including the current
Foreign Minister, opposed the resolution, asking that their
colleagues respect the Turkish Parliament's legitimate
proceedings and emphasizing Turkey's right to combat
terrorism.

In another case, trade union chairman Munir Ceylan, convicted
of disseminating separatist propaganda, began serving a
20-month sentence for an article that appeared in the July 21,
1991, issue of Yeni Ulke.  In June journalist Haluk Gerger
began serving a 20-month prison term for a message he sent to a
meeting held in Ankara on May 22, 1993.  On March 18, Dr.
Fikret Baskaya began serving a 20-month term in connection with
his book, "Bankruptcy of the Paradigm:  An Introduction to
Critics of the Official Ideology."  In July the Konya SSC
sentenced Seydi Bayram, president of the Kuthaya branch of the
HRA, to 20 months' imprisonment for using the word "Kurdistan"
in an article in a local newspaper.  In February Mehmet Ali
Baris Besli, owner and editor in chief of Ogni magazine, which
is published in the Laz dialect, was put on trial at the
Istanbul SSC on charges of separatism relating to articles
published in the November 1993 issue of the magazine.  On May
13, former mayor of Diyarbakir Mehdi Zana was imprisoned for
testimony he had given to the Human Rights Subcommittee of the
European Parliament.  The Appeals Court upheld the sentence on
November 3.  According to government figures, 407 newspapers,
490 periodicals and 35 books were confiscated during the first
9 months of 1994.

Military courts tried several cases against journalists and
antiwar activists whose activities were alleged to discourage
compulsory military service.  Erhan Akyildiz and Ali Tevfik
Berber were each sentenced to 2 months in prison for a program
they produced in December 1993 on a private television
station.  The military appeals court later overturned the
conviction and remanded the case to the military trial court.
The retrial ended in acquittal.  In November the military court
sentenced respected journalist Mehmet Ali Birand and two others
to 5 months in prison for a television program on military
service during which military personnel spoke; they will
appeal.  As of the end of the year, actress and musician
Bilgesu Erenus was to stand trial in a military court on
charges of speaking out against military service at a 1993
meeting.

Legislative reforms in 1991 partially removed the ban on the
use of the Kurdish language.  Kurdish-language cassettes and
publications on Kurdish subjects continued to be widely
available, although suppression continued as well.  In April
the Tunceli governorship banned the sale of 39 Kurdish-
language cassettes.  One Kurdish-language weekly, Welat, is
publishing currently; its editor in chief was brought to court
in the spring on charges of violating the Anti-Terror Law.
Several others publish in a combination of Turkish and
Kurdish.  Potential customers are afraid to purchase Kurdish-
language materials because possession of such items may be
interpreted as evidence of PKK sympathies.  Kurdish-language
broadcasts are still illegal, though in June Prime Minister
Ciller stated that the possibility of private broadcasting and
education in languages other than Turkish might be discussed.
By year's end, however, the Government had taken no further
action.  President Demirel stated that Kurdish television and
education would constitute concessions to terrorists and should
be allowed only after the terrorism ends.

Newspaper correspondents and distributors in the southeast,
especially those for the pro-Kurdish press, were harassed and
reported being beaten and tortured in police stations during
periods of detention.  The pro-PKK Ozgur Gundem was harassed
consistently since its April 1992 inception.  It closed
permanently in April 1994 when the appeals court began to
ratify a series of closure orders against the paper for
promoting separatism and printing the views of the banned PKK.
Most of Ozgur Gundem's staff moved to Ozgur Ulke, which opened
shortly after its predecessor's closure and continues to
publish.

Turkish press coverage of the situation in the southeast tended
to be unreliable, underreporting in some instances and grossly
sensationalizing in others.  Government decree 430 requires
self-censorship of all news reporting from or about the
southeast, and, upon the request of the regional governor,
gives the Interior Ministry the authority to ban distribution
of any news viewed as misrepresenting events in the region.  In
the event such a government warning is not obeyed, the decree
provides for a 10-day suspension of operations for a first
offense and 30 days for subsequent offenses.

In general, the mainstream Turkish-language press limited its
independent reporting of news related to the southeast.  Aside
from the access of Ozgur Gundem and Ozgur Ulke correspondents
to the southeast and reporting in the English-language Turkish
Daily News, most papers relied on official reports.  In
response to growing criticism, the Justice Minister in
September established a commission to define freedom of thought
and propose changes in the law, in particular the Anti-Terror
Law.  Journalists also face security concerns, including
threats from the PKK which, for a time in late 1993, "banned"
journalists and distributors from the Southeastern region.

Until mid-1993 Turkish Radio and Television (TRT) had a legal
monopoly on broadcasting.  Private radio stations began
operating in 1991.  In July 1993, Parliament voted to repeal
Article 133 of the Constitution, thereby eliminating the State's
monopoly and permitting the establishment of private radio and
television stations.  In April 1994, Parliament passed, and the
President signed, regulatory legislation, pursuant to which it
is illegal for stations to threaten the country's unity or
national security and limiting the private broadcast of
television programs in languages other than Turkish.  However,
state-run cable television carries a number of European
stations.  At the end of 1994, some 40 private radio stations
were operating in Ankara and approximately 60 in Istanbul.
Countrywide, there were 20 private television stations.  With
the increasing availability of satellite dishes and cable, many
Turkish viewers may now watch foreign broadcasts, including
several Turkish-language private channels.

While the Culture Minister lifted bans against all formerly
prohibited books at the end of 1991, the Education Ministry
continued to make recommendations on the "utility" of books
proposed for school curriculums or libraries.  Books declared
"without utility" are not allowed.

Academic freedom is also severely restricted in practice by the
provisions of the Anti-Terror Law.  For example, professors
have been convicted and sentenced for books they have written.
The Constitution and the law governing political parties
proscribe student and faculty involvement in political
activities, although the Ciller Government's democratization
package, before Parliament since May, would lift those
restrictions.

     b.  Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association

Peaceful assemblies are permitted upon prior notification to
government authorities, who may restrict them to designated
sites.  Authorities may deny permission if they believe the
gathering is likely to disrupt public order.  For example, the
Izmir governorship refused to allow a meeting planned on the
first anniversary of the Sivas incidents in which 37 were
killed in an antisecular riot.

Security forces forcibly broke up a number of planned
demonstrations in 1994.  On January 13, 5,000 civil servants
gathered in downtown Ankara to protest low wages.  They were
met by police barricades; the police dispersed the
demonstrators through kicking and the use of truncheons,
injuring 30 persons.  On May Day, a demonstration in downtown
Ankara turned violent when police beat demonstrators, including
M.P. Salman Kaya.  Ten persons, three of whom were police, were
injured in the melee.  Following the May Day demonstration,
Ankara security director Orhan Tasanlar, who assaulted some
demonstrators in the January civil servants' demonstration, was
suspended from duty pending an investigation but reinstated on
May 18.  On September 4, police detained, and released 5 hours
later, 24 persons participating in a World Peace Week festival
on Istanbul's Besiktas wharf.  Those detained carried posters
stating "Peace Now" in five languages.

In June the Constitutional Court ordered the closing of the DEP
on the grounds that it "acted in a separatist manner and
functioned against the Constitution and laws."  Many of its
members formed the HADEP (People's Democracy Party) and were
soon subjected to similar investigations.