Country of origin information report Turkey March 2007

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Human Rights

7 Introduction
7.01 As outlined in the Human Rights Watch (HRW) World Report 2007, published on 11 January 2007:
“The government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan failed during 2006 to

implement key reforms necessary to consolidate the human rights progress of the past years. Entrenched state forces, including the military, continued to resist reform. Illegal armed groups, as well as rogue elements of the security forces, conducted violent attacks that threaten the reform process, although clashes decreased after the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) declared a ceasefire in October.” [9b]

7.02 The US State Department Report (USSD) 2005, published on 8 March 2006, noted that:
“The government generally respected the human rights of its citizens; although there were improvements in a number of areas, serious problems remained. The following human rights problems were reported: some restrictions on political activity; unlawful killings; torture, beatings, and other abuses of persons by security forces; poor prison conditions; arbitrary detention; impunity and corruption; lengthy pretrial detention; excessively long trials; restrictions on freedoms of speech, press, assembly, and association; restrictions on religious freedom; violence and discrimination against women; child abuse; child marriage; trafficking in persons; restrictions on worker’s [sic] rights; child labor.” [5b] (Introduction)
7.03 As noted in the European Commission Turkey 2006 Progress Report, published on 8 November 2006:
“The human rights situation in the Southeast raises particular concerns following the violent disturbances that took place in several cities in March and April. Over 550 people were detained as a result of these events, including over 200 children. The Diyarbakir Bar Association submitted more than 70 complaints of ill-treatment to the authorities. Subsequently, investigations were launched into 39 of these claims.” [71a] (p13)
7.04 The International Helsinki Federation (IHF) report ‘Human Rights in the OSCE Region’ (Events of 2005), published on 8 June 2006, noted that:
“In the past two years, Turkey has made major modifications to its legislation with a view to protecting human rights and democratizing the country in connection with the EU accession process. In 2004, a paragraph was added to article 90 of the constitution, recognizing the supremacy of international agreements in the area of fundamental rights and freedoms duly put into effect over national law. The criminal justice system was reformed with a series of laws that came into force in June 2005, amending key provisions that had led to the prosecution of peaceful speech and introducing provisions against ‘honor killings’ and the trafficking of women as well as for the protection of children and combating the impunity of officials involved in gross human rights violations”. [10a] (p1)
7.05 The Freedom House report ‘Freedom in the World 2006’, published on 17 January 2007, described Turkey as ‘partly free’. Using the following scale of 1 (being the most free) to 7 (being the least free), Freedom House assessed Turkey’s political rights as 3 and civil liberties as 3. Turkey struggles with corruption in government and in daily life. The AK Party- ‘ak’ means ‘pure’ in Turkish-came to power amid promises to clean up governmental corruption, and it has adopted some anticorruption measures, including ones aimed at combating corruption in public procurement. However, enforcement is lacking, and a culture of tolerance of corruption pervades the general population. Parliamentary immunity prevents prosecution. Transparency has improved through EU reforms, although implementation lags. Turkey was ranked 65 out of 159 countries surveyed in Transparency International's 2005 Corruption Perceptions Index. [62g] The Freedom House ‘Global Survey 2007, Freedom in the World (Table of Independent Countries: Comparative Measures of Freedom)’, also described Turkey as ‘partly free’ with the same ratings for political rights and civil liberties. [62f]