Ankara, 21 May 2001
Mr. Hikmet Sami Türk,
Minister of Justice
Dear Mr. Türk,
We hereby express our deep regret that the Ministry of Justice rejected our request for visiting the representatives of political prisoners in F Type prisons with a view to search for ending the hunger strikes and death fasting, which have led to the death of 22 protesters and to lasting disabilities of at least 37 of them. Our request has been rejected at a moment when more protesters are launching death fasting.
The prison crisis haunting Turkey for 6 months persists threatening human life. Proposals we have developed for rescuing human life and developing appropriate conditions in prisons with a view to the protection of the health and human dignity of prisoners, have not resulted in solving the crisis. So far, we have been insisting that the only step to be taken for convincing hunger strikers to stop their fatal action is to put an end to isolation practices and to start a process of dialogue with prisoners, and that this is in compliance with international standards and the Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) recommendations.
We state, once again, that dialogue of a government with its citizens is an ordinary procedure for democratic states. If those citizens requesting a dialogue are those who are entirely controlled by the government, the latter is not expected to avoid any dialogue under the rule of law. As well known, the CPT has recommended in its report published in 1999 that the government should search for solutions to protest actions in prisons through dialogue.
Another aspect of the prison crisis is that professional organisations, human rights organisations and other democratic organisations dealing with this issue have been put out of the process. As you demonstrated in your practice until 19th of December, 2000, any problem in a country may be solved through participation of all legitimate actors in the country. Governments are expected to be more flexible and encourage a wider social participation if human life is concerned.
The rights to organisation, peaceful assembly and demonstration by non-governmental organisations working in the field of human rights and democratisation, particularly the Human Rights Association (HRA), have been restricted in such crisis periods; the enjoyment of the right to freedom of expression by the executives of these organisations has been prevented through media monopoly and prosecution by political abuse of the judiciary. 6 branches of the HRA have been closed down on the basis of various pretexts and court actions for the closure of the Association and its branches and for the conviction of our executives have been launched. Investigations launched against Istanbul Bar Association and Turkish Medical Association are the most recent examples that point to a return to the practices of the post-12 September 1980 military regime.
The HRA is obliged to work for the creation of prison conditions complying with the health requirements and human dignity in all prisons in Turkey. Our criteria are international standards in this field, which are the common heritage of humanity, rather than intergovernmental or national legal and administrative arrangements.
The HRA is receiving worrying reports from lawyers and families of prisoners and from those who have been released. These reports indicate that, among others, health care is not provided to prisoners having serious health problems; transfers of prisoners to hospitals and court hearings are restricted arbitrarily or they face ill-treatment during transfers; access to lawyers and families is restricted. Most importantly, single or small-group isolation is not only applied in F-type prisons but also in other prisons in Turkey. We remind you that we consider isolation as a form of torture. Furthermore, we also regret that, despite your public statement of 9th December 2000 that you would not open F Type Prisons without making legislation for preventing isolation and ill-treatment, isolation has not been ended although the relevant legislation was made on 2nd May 2001.
The review of these allegations in the places concerned, which have been exemplified in various reports and statements by the HRA, is the duty of our Association and relevant professional organisations. These allegations addressed to you and to the public either by the HRA and by other national or international organisations are denied simply without making any review, and regarded as reflecting malicious intent. Under these circumstances, the only thing that should be done is to visit those prisons.
However, Bar Associations and Medical Chambers are prevented to enter F-type prisons. The HRA's application of 24 April 2001 for visiting the prisons has been rejected by the authorities in a letter dated 16 May 2001. The reason for rejection of the HRA's application is "security". We hope that you would understand our inability to comprehend the reason cited for rejection of our application.
Is making a review in Turkish prisons dangerous in terms of the safety of HRA's executive members' or of personnel in prisons or of the "safety of the state"? As the prisoners and convicts under isolation regime cannot threaten the safety of others, who are the people in these prisons threatening the safety of Turkish citizens?
We ask you to facilitate a delegation to be composed of the professional organisations and Human Rights Association's representatives to make a review in F-type and other prisons and to meet the representatives of prisoners.
Yours sincerely,
On behalf of the Executive Board
Hüsnü Öndül
President