ebook img

Staying Alive by Accident: Torture Survivors From Turkey in the UK PDF

92 Pages·2004·4.58 MB·English
by  
Save to my drive
Quick download
Download
Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.

Preview Staying Alive by Accident: Torture Survivors From Turkey in the UK

: Y a A p I * ‘ I a - -~~ ,~~~~~ J_p~ ~ ~ ~~ I -: - — MEDICAL FOUNDATION Ihis report was researched and written by Tary Salinsk ), Research Officer at the Medical ~ oundatiori for the Care of Victims of Torture, and ~ )r ( hristine Miller, retiied consultant epidemiologist. Specii l thanks are due to Sarah Haacke, intern mm Ameiican University, Washington DC, who did ouch of the initial dat collection and contributed to he anal sis of discrimination in education and during ~ nilitar’ service. ~ The authors’ thanks are due also to colleagues From the Medical Foundation who read drafts and made i1uahle comments, especially Sherman Carroll, ~ Duncan Forrest FRCS, Alison Harvey, Sally Verity Smith and Frol Yesilyurt, and to I ouise Pirouet, Trustee of Asylum Aid. We also wish to thank Professor Françoise F-lampson of the Department of ~ ~w, University of Essex, Dr Okhan Akhan of the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey and Jonathan Sugdcn of Amnesty International for information on aspects of this report. © \lediLaI 1-oundation for the Care of Victims of Torture 1999 A registered charity number 1000 340 Published I-ehruarv 1999 1)esiened h~ Tom Salinsk~ — 0186 S 395886 Staying Alive by Accident: Torture Survivors from Tur key in the UK IIII llII1 1I 1111111111101I 11I 1111I1 II1 1111 ll ~ ~ ~~ ~~ CONTENTS 303820664W Summary page 3 Introduction page 6 1. HistoricaJ Background page 8 2. Present Human Rights Situation page 14 3. Torture page 23 4. Characteristics of the Sample page 30 5. Detention page 38 6. Travel to and Arrival in the UK page 41 7. Medical Evidence of Torture page 45 8. Decisions on Asylum Claims page 63 9. Conclusions page 77 10. Recommendations page 84 Bibliograp hy page 87 z r~n —O~ ~.~~~ ~.~o~~ ~<UEw’Z OE —ZW ~ • • S I.’p._____ ~~~ _L~( ~~~~~— °.~Y S. ~~~ ~~ * aici ! -‘ ~-t ‘J~ ~8 ~ j E/ ~ ‘~~çmj ~; ~S~O \ i ~ -~~~~~ 1AU? ~ ~~~~~~_ .~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ * ~~~~~~ ! I ~ /)7c.\ ~ j I ~ U’ E - c.‘ iu F L ) i < - ~ I~E ~ ~ ~~~ ~ ~m I~F X a 25? : g iS~ ~~~ ~~~ ~ ~~4 (~~I)~ ~ T ‘ ‘~~~~~ U’ ~••.~ ~~~ >- (d - , .v - - S ~~~ 4 ~ a ____________________________________ ~ IC3~1997 Michael S Miller . c~~s ~ ~~ ~K’~~~\\ ~~~~~~ S ummary The Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture completed forensic medical reports on 78 of its Turkish clients referred to the Foundation in the period 1st Januiry 1997 to 31st March 1998. All presented with medical evidence of torture consistent with their accounts. Care and treatment were offered in the same period by the Medical Foundation to further Turkish survivors of torture who did not require forensic medical reports to support their asylum claims. Most of the torture we have documented occurs in the context of the struggle between the Turkish Government and the Kurdish separatist movement, the PKK The Treaty of Sevres after the First World War gave Kurds hopes for a state of their own. These were disappointed when Mustafa Kemal led an armed revolt to establish a new Turkish nation state. By the Treaty of Lausanne, a new peace was concluded with the victors, which made no provision for Kurdish independence. The new Turkish state was intended to be unitary, and did not recognise ethnic or cultural separateness for the Kurds. Risings were suppressed with armed force and people forced to move from their villages which were then burnt md destroyed. The Turkish Government remains determined not to permit any cultural pluralism. Violence characterised the initial relations between the Turkish Government and the Kurds in Turkey, and still does to this day. There is no doubt that torture occurs in Turkey. Organisations that monitor human rights, such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, attest to it year after year. Inter- governmental organisations, such as the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, the UN Committee against Torture and the Committee for the Prevention of Torture of the Council of Europe (CPT) all criticise Turkey for allowing torture to continue. The Turkish Government itself admits that torture occurs in Turkey. The measures it takes to combat torture, however, are insufficient Incommunicado detention enables torture to occur, shorter periods which were introduced in March 1997 are not everywhere complied with. Failure to investigate, prosecute, mod secure convictions and to impose appropriate penalties on those thought to be responsible for torture are considered by the US State Department in its report on the events of 1997 to be “the Staying Alive by Accident Torhire Survivors Iioni Turkey in the UK single largest obstacle to reducing human rights abuses”. Perpetrators may literally be getting away with murder Medical examination during detention and upon release or court appearance is required by Turkish law, hut intimidation of doctors and detainees leads to torture not being reported or documented even when there are clear signs of it In March 1998 a doctor was charged with malpractice for documenting torture of six men accused of theft although the charge against the doctor was later dropped. The Turkish Government has issued circulars ordering compliance with regulations forbidding the use of torture and has instituted human rights training for security personnel. It has also established a Human Rights Minister However, as the CPT pointed out, these measures are inadequate without more effective control of the security forces. The 78 clients in this report left Turkey and sought political asylum in the UK because they feared further torture All but eight of the sample were men, most of whom were married, but a good number had left wives and children behind Most lived in small towns or villages and were farmers, although some had fled to large towns to try to escape the attentions of the security forces. All hut two were Kurds; most had political sympathies for Kurdish separatist or communist ideas. Most belonged to the minority religious Alevi group whose members are also harassed. In ‘virtually every case, other members of the family had also been persecuted. The clients were usually detained repeatedly for a few days at a time. Only 15 were charged with an offence, and of these, only three were convicted. All described torture during their arrests. Forensic medical reports completed by 25 different Medical Foundation doctors found scars or other signs that the clients had been tortured as they described. The time between the last detention and examination at the Medical Foundation ranged from se~en months to ten years. Doctors found scarring from beatings, cigarette burn scars, pmin in feet and shoulders consistent with reported injuries , and in virtuall y all the clients, often considerable mental and emotional symptoms. Beating, falaka (beating on the soles of the feet) electrical torture, suspension and cold water hosing were the tortures most frequently reported, with blindfolding, enforced nakedness and threats of death or violence generally accompanying the physical ill-treatment Similar findings 4 Stoyinq Ahve by Accident Torture Survivors from Turkey in the UK were reported by other agencies, for example, Physicians for Human Rights, Human Rights Watch (Helsinki) and the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey. Despite the forensic medical evidence and the widely documented practices of torture in Turkey, the Home Office, which is responsible for deciding claims of political asylum, does not usually recognise these people as requiring international protection. Many of our clients told the Home Office, either at the intervies ~ or in written submissions from their legal representative, that they had been tortured. We read the accounts of what the clients said to the Home Office alongside the reasons gisen for refusing asylum. We found that refusal letters written to clients whom we know told the Home Office that they had been tortured either ignore or hardly mention what the clients said about their treatment in detention. Clients’ own es idence of torture appears to count for nothing. Ten cases had to wait until the Home Office had seen the medical evidence before their accounts of torture were considered and believed, and 32 were still denied international protection esen when the medical evidence was available. The Home Office assessment of the human rights situation in Turkey seriously and dangerously underestimates the risk of torture or persecution that would be faced by asylum seekers if = returned Its assessment also differs in being more favourable than those made by all the independent commentators whose views are ~~ considered here. The Home Office’s failure to consider evidence of torture means ~~ that many Turkish torture victims are not being granted the right to stay in the UK. Their claims to be in fear of further torture are being ignored, and the UK may consequently be failing to honour ~~ j its international obligations to protect those at risk Staying Alive by Accident Torture Survivors from Turkey in the UK 5 Intro duction The Medical Foundation has always had a large number of Turkish clients Since its beginnings in 1986, the Medical Foundation has seen 2800 Turkish clients, some 19% of the total number of clients. Many sought our help in 1989 when around 3000 Turkish asylum seekers from a limited area of Turkey came to the UK in the months of May and June. Since then, those seeking refuge from Turkey in the UK have continued to come for help from the Medical Foundation in large numbers. The Medical Foundation is concerned that many of these clients are neither recognised as refugees nor allowed to stay in the UK for humanitarian reasons. This is despite their having credible histories of persecution , and, in many cases, forensic medical reports documenting their torture. The Home Office uses two main arguments for refusing asylum. First, it may call into question the truth of the asylum seeker’s mccount of persecution in Turkey, often by pointing to apparent discrepancies or inconsistencies in what they have said. Our therapeutic work with our Turkish clients and the medical evidence vve have gathered lead us to find these histories credible Second, the Home Office perception of the human rights situation in Turkey is more favourable than that adopted by most other commentators. We examine these reasons and why we disagree sith the Home Office assessment in Chapter 8 of this report. In ~ the refusil letters sent to our clients the degree of risk Turkish Kurds who have been tortured would face if returned to Turkey is, in our ‘.~iew, dangerously underestimated. More recently, the Labour Government has been making its assessments of the human rights situation in refugee producing countries more publicly available (Fairer, Faster and Fumer 9.4 to 9 6). Earlier in 1998 the Home Office produced country assessments on 34 out of the 35 countries from which the largest numbers of asylum seekers come to the UK. The Medical Foundation, together with several other organisations, saw drafts of four of these, including that on Turkey. The Turkey country assessment was withdrawn, following criticisms from the Medical Foundation and others. Howevei~ the practice of providing publicly a~ailable country assessments is very much to be welcomed, especially since for the first time statements are referenced to a bibliography of sources generally within the public domain. 6 Staying Alive by Accident Torture Survivors from Turkey in the UK The Medical Foundation has a unique archive of information ibout types of torture and the context in which it occurs. Our files ontain reports on the individual experiences of thousands of orture survivors, what they endured, where they were detained, vhich authorities were responsible for their torture, and what ‘vents and expressions of opinion led to their being detained and ortured. The Medical Foundation will be using this material to omment on the Government’s country assessments Our response o the Home Office initiative is an additional reason for our ocusing on the experiences of our Turkish clients at this time It is arr of our work with our Turkish, as with all our clients, to nderstand as fully as possible the political and social context in ~ Nhich their torture occurred. Their evidence, our reading of other ,ources, many of which are also used by the Home Office, leads us o conclusions markedly at variance with those of the Home Office is regards the credibility of these asylum seekers and the degree of isk they would face were they to have to return Staying Alive by Accident Torture Survivors from Turkey vi the UK 7 CHAPTER 1 Historica l Backg round “All Kurds possess in Turkey, without any restriction, all the rights possessed by the Turks.” Turkish Gosernment spokesperson 1925 (quoted in McDowall 1997 p 146) “Everybody has to be Turkish.” Turkish Prime Minister Yitdirim Akbulut 1990 (quoted in Cotlinson chap I p 30) “To be Kurdish is enough.” Medical Foundation clienr on bLing asked by Home OfficL Immigration Officer why he had been detained in Turkey “In Europe, people die by accident; in Turkey, people stay alive by accident.” Medical Foundation ciient’s comment The introductory quotations illustrate the long-standing policies of the Turkish Gosernment towards the Kurds and how they are perceived by Kurds themselves. Kurds think of themselves as forming a distinct group with their own language and culture; the extent of actual ethnic difference is less clear (McDowall 1997 p 9). Those in Turkey are now estimated to number around 13 million and to constitute 23% of the population (McDowall 1997 p 3). Kurds speak different dialects of the Kurdish language, with Kurmanji being the principal one in eastern Turkey, and Zaza in ~estern Turkes Turkish Kurds live in the poorer ire-is of the countr%, predomin-intlv in provinces in the south elst sshich have been under emergency legislation and in provinces bordering that irea to ~hich many Kurds were deported betsseen the wars. They’ li~e largely in rural arems, although the Turkish Government’s 8 Staying Alive by Accident Torture Survivors from Turkey in the UK

Description:
referred to the Foundation in the period 1st Januiry 1997 to 31st. March 1998 in the UK are Kurdish and many of them are Alevi, features reflected.
See more

The list of books you might like

Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.