TURKEY
Turkish pre-trial detention a form of
punishment?
There are growing concerns that
pre-trial detention in Turkey is being used a punishment without trial against
journalists, political activists, students, and academics. Thousands are being
held, sometimes for years.
In Turkey, thousands of people
charged under the country's sweeping anti-terror laws have now been languishing
in jail for years awaiting trial. Such is the scale of the problem that the
government is being accused of systematically punishing its opponents by long
periods of pre-trial detention.
Last week, leading Turkish academics
came together to launch a campaign against the increasingly frequent jailing of
fellow academics and students under Turkey's anti-terror laws.
Zeynep Gambetti talks at a press
conference in protest of increased detentions
One said over 100 students have been
detained under the laws, most on charges of supporting the PKK, the outlawed
Kurdish rebel group.
Campaign organizer Professor Zeynep
Gambetti says one of their chief concerns is the lack of transparency in the
use of the anti-terror law.
She said the case of Professor Busra
Ersanli is causing particular concern. Ersanli was detained last year, but she
has still not been formally charged. "We don't know what exactly the
charges are, or what the proof is against her. She does not know either, and
her lawyers don't know," Gambetti said. However, Ersanli is just on
example.
"There is a student who was
arrested a year ago for wearing a Kurdish scarf, for being in the wrong place
at the wrong time, and we don't know the charges against him. He has been in
prison since last year," Gambetti added.
"These people have been
kidnapped," said Ertugral Kurkcu, member of parliament for the pro-Kurdish
Peace and Democracy Party (BDP).
Ertugrul Kurkcu is an MP for the
Pro-Kurdish BDP party
"There is no evidence they have
committed any violent crimes. They are just opponents of the government."
he said. Kurkcu's BDP party and its supporters are among those hardest hit by
pre-trial detentions.
According to Turkey's Human Rights
Association, over 6,000 BDP members are currently being detained on conspiracy
charges in a three-year police anti-terror probe into an organization called
the Kurdistan Communities Union (KCK). The KCK is claimed to be the urban wing
of the Kurdish rebel group, the PKK.
Last week saw another 150 people
arrested as part of the probe. Since the investigation started there have only
been a handful of convictions, while the vast majority of prisoners are still
awaiting trial. Over a dozen elected mayors, along with senior party members,
trade unionists, and human rights workers are among those held.
Professor Busra Ersanli was detained
last year as part of a an anti PKK probe.
Furthermore, over a hundreds
journalists have been jailed under Turkey's anti-terror laws, with most
spending months or even years awaiting trial. All are accused of supporting the
PKK or an alleged ultra-nationalist conspiracy known as Ergenekon, which
prosecutors claimed was an attempt to overthrow the government.
The catchall nature of the
anti-terror law means journalists are liable for prosecution even if they only
quote statements deemed supportive of the conspiracies.
But the government strongly supports
the KCK probe, saying such steps are necessary in the fight against terrorism,
and are little different than its western allies' struggle against Al-Qaeda.
“The KCK trial is not because they
have written something in a newspaper or because they have said something, but
because they are part of a terrorist organization. They have been helping those
terrorists who are killing young people," Volkan Bozkir, the head of the
Turkish parliament's foreign affairs committee, said.
Critics of both investigations argue
that they are being deliberately delayed because much of the evidence is
flimsy, or at worst manufactured, and ultimately most defendants will be
acquitted.
Many people suspected to support the
PKK have been detained in recent months.
In a report published last month on
the Turkish judiciary, the Council of Europe expressed its concern over
pre-trial detention. "The number of KCK cases continues to increase. I am
sure that quite a number of those detained should not be in prison at
all," said Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammerberg, the report's author.
Hammerberg spent weeks meeting with
senior judiciary members researching his report. He said there was little
attempt made to hide the fact that pre-trial detention is being used as a
punishment.
"I was discussing with a
prosecutor in Diyarbakir and spelling out why there should be reasons to detain
someone before the final trial, and he said ‘At least they will learn a
lesson.' But why does the penitentiary system take on the role of teaching
lessons to people who perhaps may be innocent? There have been cases continuing
up to 10 years. That is absolutely outrageous. No one should be held before
being proved guilty for such long periods," he said.
But Hammerberg did express some
cautious optimism following his discussions with Justice Minister Sadullah
Ergin. "Decisions pertaining to arrest, or to the refusal of a request for
release on bail, will now have to be clearly written out," Ergin announced
as one of a series of reforms to address pre-trial detention concerns.
Students demand the release of
hundreds of people who have been detained in recent months.
In total, 88 reforms to the judicial
system are currently being pushed through parliament. But they have already met
with deep skepticism, with some critics calling them merely cosmetic.
"When it comes to tackling Turkey's big human rights challenges, this
reform package is little more than window dressing," said Emma Sinclair
Webb, the Turkish representative for the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch.
Acknowledging that some progress had
been made, Human Rights Watch said in a statement that it was “positive … that
judges would have to justify their decision to detain pre-trial defendants.”
Even if the reforms are passed, few
people are expecting Turkish jails to open their doors and release the
thousands of opponents of the government currently in pre-trial detention.
There is growing international impatience with the Turkish government's
handling of the situation. "We are still waiting for the implementation of
the signals we have received from the government," Thomas Hammerberg said.
Last year Turkey had the unenviable
record of the most violations in the European Court of Human Rights, with 228,
of which 83 were for pre-trial detentions. This year is expected to be even
worse for Ankara, as the number of anti-terror arrests shows no sign of
abating.
Author: Dorian Jones / sb
Editor: Anke Rasper
Editor: Anke Rasper
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