Country of origin information report Turkey March 2007

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Turkish Armed Forces (Türk Silahli Kuvvetleri, TSK)
8.32 The Turkish General Staff website updated on 15 August 2006 noted:
“The Armed Forces of the Turkish Republic having great geopolitical and geostrategic importance comprise the Army, Navy and Air Force that are subordinate to the Turkish General Staff. The General Command of Gendarmerie and the Coast Guard Command, which operate as the parts of internal security forces in peacetime, are subordinate to the Land and Naval Forces Commands, respectively in wartime… General Hilmi Özkok the 24th Commander of the Turkish Armed Forces retired on 30 August 2006 and the 25^th new Commander of the Turkish Armed Forces is now Yaşar Büyükanıt.” [106]
8.33 As recorded in Europa World online, Turkey: Defence (website accessed on 18 July 2006), “The total strength of the active armed forces at 1 August 2004 was 514,850 (including 391,000 conscripts), comprising an army of 402,000, a navy of 52,750 and an air force of 60,100. There was a gendarmerie numbering 150,000 and a coast guard of 2,200. Reserve forces totalled 378,700 in the armed forces and 50,000 in the gendarmerie.” [1e] (Turkey: Defence)
8.34 The Library of Congress 2006 report on Turkey noted that “Turkey’s armed forces, the second largest in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), are mainly made up of conscripts commanded by a cadre of professional soldiers. In 2005 the army had 402,000 active personnel, the navy had 52,750 active personnel, and the air force had 60,100. Of the active personnel, about 391,000 were conscripts, mainly in the army. In addition, some 379,000 were in the reserves and 150,000 in the national guard.” [110] (page 21)
Discrimination in the armed forces
8.35 The War Resisters International 2005 document stated that “There have been regular reports of Kurdish conscripts in particular being subjected to discriminatory treatment, especially when they are suspected of having separatist sympathies. Different sources make different assessments of the extent to which Kurdish conscripts face discriminatory treatment within the armed forces.” [53a] (Section on Draft evasion)
8.36 As reported by the Turkish Daily News on 13 August 2005:
“A military court’s decision to sentence a gay Turkish conscientious objector to a record four-year prison term is a ‘political sentence’ and actually serves only to intimidate all conscientious objectors as well as homosexuals in Turkey, his lawyers claimed yesterday. Mehmet Tarhan, a pacifist and gay rights activist who refused to serve his compulsory military service, was arrested in April [2005] and interned in a military prison in the central Anatolian province of Sivas… In June [2005] a judge ordered his release because he had already served the minimum three-month term of imprisonment and returned to his army unit. However, Tarhan was subsequently charged by the Turkish Military Penal Code (TACK) with Article 88, namely, ‘Insubordination in front of the unit,’ which carries a penalty of between three months and five years’ imprisonment. The court duly dealt with the original offense and the second one – Article 88 – and sentenced Tarhan to a four-year and a two-year sentence of imprisonment to run concurrently. The defendant’s lawyers announced they have appealed both sentences.” [23ai]
8.37 As noted in an Amnesty International public statement of 9 December 2005:
“Amnesty International is gravely concerned for the health and safety of conscientious objector Mehmet Tarhan, 27, who is currently serving a four-year sentence in Sivas military prison on two charges of insubordination after refusing to do his military service. During his imprisonment, Mehmet Tarhan has allegedly undergone severe ill-treatment. Furthermore, he is now facing a possible forced physical examination which would amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, as well as a breach of his right to privacy. Amnesty International considers Mehmet Tarhan to be a prisoner of conscience and calls for his immediate and unconditional release.” [12f]
8.38 The AI public statement of December 2005 continued:
“Amnesty International received reports that on 30 September 2005, a prison officer accompanied by at least three guards forcibly cut Mehmet Tarhan’s hair and shaved his beard against his will while he was held down by at least seven people. The incident reportedly left Mehmet Tarhan in great pain in his neck, hands, left arm and left foot, and unable to turn his head fully. Furthermore observers reported that he had bruises on his limbs. On 1 October 2005, Mehmet Tarhan was reportedly transferred to a military hospital against his will and examined by two military doctors. However, following the examination, which appears to have been cursory (allegedly lasting 10 minutes), he was apparently given a medical report stating that there were no signs of beating on his body and sent back to the military prison. Such an examination would be in clear contravention of the Istanbul Protocol, which stipulates that medical examinations should be thorough and carried out by civilian doctors. Following this incident, Mehmet Tarhan initiated a second hunger strike in protest at the prison authorities’ ill-treatment of him, and against the cramped, unhygienic conditions in which he was allegedly being held. According to reports, he was held in a small, dirty cell without windows, and was sometimes held in solitary confinement and denied his rights to make phone calls, receive reading materials and letters or see visitors for up to 15 consecutive days… Mehmet Tarhan reportedly ended his 34-day hunger strike on 2 November 2005 after the meeting of his demands for legal action to be taken against those who forcibly held him down and shaved him, and for equal treatment to that of other prisoners.” [12f]