Kurdish human rights in Turkey in 2003

by  Rochelle Harris

"There are laws on the one hand and their implementation on the other […] The real problem is implementing the laws.”

-Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner Alvaro Gil-Robes during a visit to Turkey in June 2003

Since 2001, the Turkish government has passed a series of reforms aimed at achieving the "stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities" as required for European Union accession. Yet observers from the Council of Europe and European Commission; non-governmental organizations including the Kurdish Human Rights Project, Amnesty International and the Human Rights Association of Turkey; and even Turkish Justice Minister Cemil Cicek have expressed deep-founded concerns about the failure of Turkish authorities to implement the reforms on the ground.

There is no doubt that human rights violations in Turkey are continuing and widespread, and that Kurds are the principle victims. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) states that, by January 2003, there were 5,246 applications pending against Turkey in Strasbourg concerning torture, rape, "disappearances", extra-judicial killings, violations of freedom of expression and of association and the destruction and evacuation of villages. These figures do not necessarily illustrate that human rights abuses are multiplying, but rather that awareness of the ECHR is improving and with the assistance of human rights groups, individuals are more readily able to pursue their cases in Strasbourg. They do, however, provide a useful means of comparison: of the 1,390 judgments giving rise to the finding of an ECHR violation from 2001 to 2003 against all 45 member states, nearly one sixth concerned Turkey.

Moreover, human rights groups have deep concerns that human rights violations in Turkey are indeed increasing; and that the situation now facing the Turkish and Kurdish people is critical.

While international attention appropriately focused on war in Iraq in 2003, human rights violations against the Kurds in Turkey failed to reach the screens. These abuses were horrifying: the abduction and sexual torture of an executive member of the largest pro-Kurdish political party in June 2003 in Istanbul and the humiliating ill-treatment of two Kurdish teenagers in Diyarbakir province in April 2003 (the boys’ faces were smeared with excrement by police before they were marched publicly through the town to set an “example”). Torture remains widespread, with an increasing use of torture methods that do not leave visible marks on the body, such as electric shocks, hanging by the arms, and falaka (beating on the soles of the feet).

In spite of the reforms, there remain restrictions on the rights of parents to give their children Kurdish names, and not a single Kurdish-language school has been opened. There are continuing prosecutions against publishers, writers, human rights defenders, lawyers and journalists for daring to speak out against human rights violations.

The pro-Kurdish political party HADEP was permanently banned in March 2003, in spite of garnering widespread support in the Kurdish regions and despite a series of ECHR judgments against Turkey for its practice of banning political parties. Last year, the ECHR ruled that such closures not only violate the rights of party members to freedom of expression and of association, but also the rights of voters to fair and free elections (KHRP case of Sadak v. Turkey). In other words, it is not only Kurdish women, children, journalists, publishers, human rights defenders and politicians whose rights are violated by the Turkish Government; according to the ECHR, it is the rights of the entire population.

In fact, the spiralling number of human rights violations in Turkey reported to the ECHR has contributed to a further problem: it can no longer cope with its burdening caseload and escalating costs and, in 2001, began changing its approach and debating reforms.

It was the KHRP case of Faysal Akman v. Turkey in 2001 that marked a significant change in the European Court's approach. The case concerned the fatal shooting of the applicant’s 22-year-old son by Turkish security forces. Following unsuccessful attempts to reach a friendly settlement, the Turkish government requested that the case be struck out. It offered to pay compensation and to make a declaration making limited admissions of wrongdoing and promising to improve in future. The ECHR agreed to strike out the case without the applicant’s consent on the basis that continued examination was “no longer justified.” Since then, the ECHR has continued to accede to Turkish government requests to strike out cases. In short, with such a long history of judgments proving human rights violations in Turkey, the European Court can no longer find time to consider such “repetitive” applications. The court is now planning to amend its admissibility criteria in May 2004.

Despite every negative indication, many in the international community seem unable or unwilling to tackle Turkey’s treatment of the Kurds. For example, the United Kingdom Home Office’s 2003 Country Assessment for Turkey reports that Turkey has pledged to implement decisions of the ECHR without delay, and on that basis concludes, “There is no significant evidence to suggest this agreement is not being upheld and it is therefore considered that the Turkish Government are committed to these reforms.” Yet, Turkey has been obligated to implement ECHR judgments since its ratification of the Convention in 1954.

The problems faced by the Kurds in Turkey are multi-fold and multifaceted. However, there is one certainty: their situation is now critical. The international community must acknowledge the human rights violations occurring against Turkey’s Kurdish population, and must maintain a dialogue with both the Turkish and Kurdish people in order to find a democratic and peaceful solution in the interests of both.-Published 18/12/03©bitterlemons-international.org

Rochelle Harris is public relations officer with the Kurdish Human Rights Project based in London.