European anti-torture committee accused in Turkish parliament of bias and conspiracy against Turkey

Levent Kenez/Stockholm

At a session of the Turkish Parliament's Human Rights Committee last week, attended by the Minister of Justice, detention conditions and the health of detainees were discussed, ruling party MPs accusing the Council of Europe's anti-torture commission of bias against Turkey and deliberately seeking evidence to undermine the country.

The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) does visits to detention centers in the 46 member states of the Council of Europe to assess the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty. These facilities include prisons, juvenile detention centers, police stations, immigration detention centers, and psychiatric hospitals.

During the session of June 12, following a Kurdish member of the the parliament reference to CPT reports stating that Kurdistan was off limits Workers The leader of the party (PKK), Abdullah Calan, is in solitary confinement in a prison on the island of Mrali. Harun Mertolu, a member of the ruling party and former member of the Turkish Council for Equal Human Rights, claimed that visits by the CPT and other international organizations to Turkish prisons are deliberately selective and intentional. visit specific locations chosen in advance for a certain agenda. For this reason, he stated that only Diyarbakr and Ankara prisons fall under the jurisdiction of the CPT.

Mertolu also claimed that in the CPT reports, the statements focus only on the conditions of detention of the selected prisoners. He alleged that visits were made to political prisoners affiliated with the Glen movement, a group critical of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and members of the PKK. He further claimed that people imprisoned for criminal offenses were explicitly not chosen for such visits.

Mertolu Same made an accusation during the meeting that security cameras were deliberately deactivated for an hour at a police station in that of Ankara Ankaya district, suggesting that it has been done knowingly. He alleged that by visiting this police station, the CPT delegation had voluntarily participated in a conspiracy. However, he did not provide a specific date or additional details regarding the accusation.

During the meeting, Minister of Justice Ylmaz Tun and ministry officials chose to stay silent in response to these allegations.

Text of the parliamentary committee meeting:

commission_minutes

However, the CPT the last visit to Türkiye in February contradicts by Mertolu complaints. During its visit, the delegation inspected the following prisons: Antalya S-Type Prison, Idr S-Type Prison, Van F-Type Prison, Van High Security Prison, Van Antalya L-Type Prison and Istanbul-Maltepe L-Type Prison No. 3. for foreign nationals. They interacted with convicts and detainees in these facilities. The delegation said its main objective was to assess the treatment of people detained in high-security prisons, with a particular focus on the conditions of LGBTI prisoners and women. The visit was led by CPT members Hans Wolff, 1st vice-president of the committee (head of delegation); Thérèse Rytter, 2nd vice-president; Juan Carlos Da Silva Ochoa; and Marie Kmecov. They were supported by Hugh Chetwynd (executive secretary), Elvin Aliyev and Monica Martinez of the CPT. Secretariat, and assisted by two experts: Jurgen Van Poecke, Belgian prison director, and Kate Wood, British doctor.

Furthermore, the Ministry of Justice's assertion that international organizations can freely conduct inspections in Turkish prisons and share their findings with the public does not reflect reality. The CPT's periodic reports on Turkish prisons cannot be published with Turkey approval. Turkey has so far not authorized the publication of periodic visit reports for years 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021 and 2022.

In particular, during its visit from August 28 to September 6, the CPT documented the testimonies of victims of torture among members of the Glen movement who were accused of involvement in a controversial coup attempt on June 15, 2016. Their visit was invited by initial allegations raised by Amnesty International that detainees in Turkey were victims of physical abuse, torture and even sexual assault in official and unofficial detention centers across the country. Many suspects, soldiers and alleged members of the Glen movement, are said to have suffered severe torture, as documented by human rights organizations.

In 2020, Nordic Monitor revealed that the CPT had conducted interviews in 2016 with Colonel Cemil Turhan, whose testimony and medical reports confirmed that he had been tortured, despite the fact that the report has not been approved for public release. Turhan detailed the torture he suffered in his statement. In addition, this was discovered that four medical reports relating to his initial detention had disappeared from his file.

As of January 31, 2023, Turkey was the country with the highest number of prisoners and detainees among Council of Europe member states, with around 350,000 people in prison. According to the 2023 prison report established by the University of Lausanne, Turkey had 348,265 prisoners and detainees on January 31, 2023. Next come the United Kingdom (90,964), France (72,294) and Poland (71,228). Turkey also has the highest rate of prisoners and detainees per 100,000 inhabitants among Council of Europe countries, with 408 individuals per 100,000 inhabitants.