APPENDIX 10
Memorandum from the Kurdish Human Rights
Project (KHRP)
The Kurdish Human Rights Project (KHRP) is an
independent, non-political, non-governmental organisation committed
to protecting the human rights of all persons living within the
Kurdish regions of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria and the former Soviet
Union. It is based in London and was founded in 1992. It is a
registered charity in the UK.
Since 1992 KHRP has worked, in partnership with
lawyers and human rights organisations in the Kurdish regions,
to promote and protect human rights. Its main activity has been
a strategic and dynamic litigation programme that has involved
representing more than 450 applicants from Turkey in their cases
before the European Court of Human Rights. These cases have covered
violations of the most fundamental human rights: the right to
life, freedom from torture, freedom of expression and association
and property rights. In parallel, KHRP has a proactive public
awareness programme, carrying out research, fact-finding missions
and trial observations, and publishing reports aimed at raising
international awareness of the violations of human rights in Turkey
and the other Kurdish regions. These have been disseminated to
governments, the EU, OSCE, UN, in addition to a wider audience
of lawyers, academics, human rights organisations and individuals.
During the 10 years of its existence, KHRP has developed extensive
expertise in the human rights situation in Turkey, its causes
and solutions.
In response to the Foreign Affairs Committee's
decision to carry out an inquiry into the UK's relations with
Turkey, with reference to, inter alia, its prospects for
accession to the European Union, the KHRP would like to submit,
for the Committee's consideration, the following two documents:
— "Turkey in Europe: Opportunity
for Change?".[2]
The material—which was submitted to the Foreign and Commonwealth
Office in July 2000 and subsequently published in the form of
a report and widely disseminated in November 2000—includes
discussion of the steps needed in order for Turkey to conform
with the human rights standards that form an essential component
of conditions for EU accession, and Recommendations addressed
to Turkey and the EU.
— KHRP's Recommendations to the UK
Government.
Since KHRP's report was published in November
2000 the Accession Partnership for Turkey has been formally adopted,
including short and medium term "priorities and intermediate
objectives", and two Regular Reports on Turkey's Progress
Towards Accession have been produced by the European Commission
in November 2000 and November 2001 respectively. These documents
reflect many, but not all, of the concerns that are raised by
KHRP in the attached report.
Turkey, in March 2001, adopted its National
Programme for the Adoption of the Acquis, and on 3 October 2001
adopted a package of 34 changes to its Constitution of 1982. However,
the changes fall far short of the EU's criteria set out in the
Accession Partnership. The reform package offers only limits on
the circumstances in which the death penalty can be imposed rather
than its complete abolition. The practices that facilitate torture,
such as incommunicado police detention and a lack of prompt access
to legal counsel, are not addressed. Although some loosening of
the bans on minority language rights are included, education in
Kurdish remains forbidden as are any broadcasts deemed to be threats
to national security. The reforms offer no attempts at a solution
to the Kurdish question.
Similarly, the reforms fail to address the issues
raised in KHRP's attached report of November 2000.[3]
Of the Recommendations listed in the report, only the very first—that
Turkey "establish a working group of legal and constitutional
experts to undertake the revision and amendment of the Constitution
and laws of Turkey to ensure full compliance with EU criteria"
was implemented, and that only partially. No group of independent
experts was appointed for this purpose, there was no consultation
process that included the bar association, human rights organisations
or other civil society groups.
As to the failure of Turkey to take serious
steps to address its human rights problems, the facts speak for
themselves. The attached "Data on the violations of human
rights in Turkey in 2001" documented by the Turkish human
rights organisation IHD demonstrate the serious problems that
remain. Two aspects stand out in particular. One is the high numbers
of complaints of torture and inhuman treatment, which has also
been raised as a matter of serious concern by Amnesty International.
The second is the harassment and intimidation of political parties,
particularly the pro-Kurdish HADEP (People's Democracy Party),
including two cases of disappearance. KHRP believes it is important
that NATO membership and international measures to combat terrorism
in the wake of 11 September do not become a justification for
overlooking human rights violations in Turkey.
In sum the evidence of the situation in Turkey,
as presented in the attached report[4],
remains valid. KHRP puts it forward for the consideration of the
Foreign Affairs Select Committee, and asks that this evidence,
together with our Recommendations, serve as guidance to the Committee
in determining the UK's own foreign policy in relation to Turkey.
IHD—HUMAN RIGHTS ASSOCIATION OF TURKEY
DATA ON THE VIOLATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN
TURKEY IN 2001
REPRESSION
Unpunished killings: 124
Balance from explosions of mines: 16 deaths,
21 injured
Extra-judicial killings and killings as a result
of refusals to stop at road blocks: 37
Deaths in conflict: 86
Operations against the civil population: 42
deaths, 68 injured
Arrested people who have "disappeared":
4
Cases of torture and known and/or denounced
inhuman treatment: 832
People arrested for political reasons: 55,389
People imprisoned for political reasons: 3,224
People injured as a result of attacks against
demonstrations: 269
People killed or injured as a result of security
forces' attacks: 17 deaths and 21 injured
People forced, through threats, to collaborate
with security forces: 44
Cases of physical damage caused by assaults
of the security forces: 129
Outcomes of bombings or burning of human settlements:
64 settlements, 11 deaths, 21 injured
Villages and settlements forcibly evacuated:
2
PRISON SYSTEM
Prisoners injured or subjected to sexual violence
during attacks of the security forces: 55
Prisoners who have been denied medical treatment:
275
Prisoners who have died as a result of the hunger
strike: 40
Prisoners who have died as a result of setting
themselves on fire: 6
Prisoners who have died as a result of the refusal
to provide them with medical treatment: 2
Other prisoners who have died as a result of
alleged suicide: 7
VIOLATIONS OF
WORKERS' RIGHTS
Illegal sackings for political or economic reasons:
58,669
Workers forcibly transferred to other workplaces,
suspended, dislocated and subjected to administrative sanctions:
1,944
Judicial appeals against illegal measures: 9,757
Accidents at work: 45 deaths, 41 injured
VIOLATIONS OF
FREEDOM OF
EXPRESSION, ORGANISATION
AND OPINION
Closures of associations, branches or political
parties, cultural centres and publications: 114
Raids on associations, branches of political
parties, cultural centres and publications: 196
Publications seized and/or closed down: 245
Banned initiatives or activities: 38
Public officials removed of subjected to restrictions
for expressing their opinions: 162
Sentences demanded for crimes of opinion:1,921
cases, 3,758 years and two months of imprisonment
Sentences imposed for crimes of opinion: 66
cases, 132 years and six months of imprisonment, fines of 42,500,000,000
Turkish lire
"Prisoners of conscience" imprisoned
for crimes of opinion: 93
Halting of television transmissions (from 1
day to 180 days): in total 94 months (2,836 days)
Theatrical spectacles and films banned: 6
Political parties banned: 1 (Virtue party)
Provincial and district Presidents of HADEP
(political party) arrested: 30
Provincial and district Presidents of HADEP
imprisoned: 9
Provincial, district and city organisers of
HADEP arrested: 182
Provincial, district and city organisers of
HADEP imprisoned: 93
Members of HADEP arrested: 1,303
Members of HADEP imprisoned: 28
Provincial organisers of HADEP disappeared:
2
Provincial organisers of HADEP attacked: 1
Provincial organisers of HADEP threatened: 3
Elected HADEP Mayors removed from office: 2
Members of SIP (political party) arrested because
of their activities: 50
Members and organisers of EMEP arrested because
of their activities: 40
Furthermore:
(a) A penal proceeding, based on article
number 8 of the anti-terror law, was begun against the President
of the Party of Democracy and Peace, its provincial headquarters
in Diyarbakir was searched and a Conference on the Turkish Constitution
was banned.
(b) Another political party is about to
be banned only because of the presence of the word "Communist"
in its name.
EXILED PEOPLE
AND REFUGEES
According to official statistics in the year
2001 alone, 12,800 Turkish citizens have been forced to escape
abroad.
RECOMMENDATIONS TO THE GOVERNMENT OF THE
UK REGARDING ITS RELATIONS WITH TURKEY WITH PARTICULAR REFERENCE
TO THE PROSPECTS OF EU ACCESSION
1. KHRP urges the UK Government to insist
on strict adherence to short and medium term criteria for Turkey's
accession that have been laid down by the EU. However it is not
enough to lay down standards; EU member states must work to put
in place an effective mechanism for measuring the implementation
of the standards. In this regard, KHRP urges the UK Government
to have regard to its Recommendations addressed to Turkey in its
report "Turkey in Europe: Opportunity for Change?" which
was submitted to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in July 2000
and is submitted to the Foreign Affairs Select Committee herewith.
KHRP recommends that the Select Committee asks the Government
to explain how it is intended that Turkey's implementation of
the standards set by the EU be measured.
2. The UK should work to secure Turkey's
full compliance with the judgments of the European Court of Human
Rights. In light of Committee of Ministers resolution DH (99)
434 of 1999 on actions of the security forces in Turkey, and resolution
ResDH (2001) (106) of 2001 on violations of freedom of expression
in Turkey, both of which make clear that Turkey has not taken
measures to put an end to the violations found by the Court in
a series of judgments condemning Turkey, KHRP recommends that
the UK Government, under the auspices of the Council of Europe's
Committee of Ministers, uses its best endeavours to ensure enforcement
of these judgments.
3. Human rights standards in the UK's trade
and investment in Turkey:
(a) When considering whether to grant export
credit guarantees to UK companies for projects in Turkey, and
permits for sales of weapons and other equipment to Turkey, the
UK Government must view considerations of human rights and the
environment as central. KHRP recommends that the Committee press
the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to work for binding standards
relating to human rights and the environment that would apply
to the granting of export credit guarantees.
(b) It recently emerged that Balfour Beatty,
which later said it could not possibly satisfy the Government's
conditions for the granting of an export credit guarantee given
the current political context in Southeast Turkey, and that it
would never have become involved in the Ilisu Dam project had
it been aware of the problems, had met early on with the Government
and with the British Embassy in Ankara, which had encouraged the
company to proceed and informed the company that the Government
had declared Turkey to be a preferred trading partner. This is
cause for concern, since the FCO is fully informed about the political
sensitivities and instability in the Southeast of Turkey. KHRP
urges the Committee to ask the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
to reveal what advice has been given to potential investors in
Turkey regarding projects in Southeast Turkey.
4. In the context of the pre-accession negotiations,
KHRP urges the UK Government to encourage Turkey to establish
the social, legal and political conditions necessary for a truly
open civil society, and to participate in democratic dialogue
with the Kurds with a view to achieving a peaceful political solution
to the Kurdish question.
Kurdish Human Rights Project
January 2002
2 Not printed. Back
3
"Turkey in Eurpe: Opportunity for Change?" KHRP,
November-2000. Not printed. Back
4
Ibid. Back
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