Country of origin information report Turkey March 2007

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12.13 The CPT 2006 further stated that:
“In Tekirdağ F-type Prisons No 1 and 2, the delegation encountered a small number of prisoners who had been placed in single cells on psychiatric grounds. None of them were receiving the care required by their state of health. In this connection it should be noted that neither of the doctors assigned to the establishments had any competence or experience in treating psychiatric disorders, and there were no consultations at the prisons by visiting psychiatrists. The delegation formed the view that the mental state of at least one of the prisoners concerned – held in a single cell in an otherwise completely empty block at Tekirdağ F-type Prison No. 2 – was such that he should be placed in a secure psychiatric establishment.” [13a] (paragraph 52)
12.14 The EC 2005 report recorded that “The Parliamentary Human Rights Investigation Committee published a report on Tekirdag F-type prison in March 2005 and concluded that there were problems with the structure and administration of the prison.” [71d] (p24)
Monitoring of prison conditions
12.15 The EC 2005 report stated:
“The 131 Monitoring Boards, whose work focuses on living conditions, health, food, education and the rehabilitation of prisoners, continued to carry out inspections. By June 2005, these boards had made 1 247 recommendations, of which 532 had been acted upon. The Boards paid visits to 419 prisons between October 2004 and May 2005. Their composition still does not include a significant representation from civil society and their reports remain confidential. In the last quarter of 2004, the 141 Enforcement Judges received 830 complaints on actions involving prisoners and detainees. Of these applications, 83 have been accepted and acted upon, 4 have been partially accepted and acted upon, 679 have been rejected and 64 have resulted in other decisions, such as non-jurisdiction of the Enforcement Judges. Training of Enforcement Judges is ongoing.” [71d] (p24-25)
12.16 As noted in the Amnesty International document ‘Turkey Memorandum on AI’s recommendations to the government to address human rights violations’, dated 1 August 2005:
“Amnesty International welcomes recent steps by the government to allow for greater inspection of places of detention. Article 92 of the new CPC requires State Prosecutors to carry out inspections of places of detention – Amnesty International considers such inspections could be an effective and important measure against torture and ill-treatment if the inspections are carried out on both a regular and an ad hoc basis and the subsequent findings and recommendations made public.
Both the Parliamentary Human Rights Commission and the Provincial and Regional Human Rights Boards have both reportedly carried out recent visits to places of detention. While such extra levels of scrutiny are welcome, these bodies are not demonstrably independent or necessarily possessed of the necessary expertise in evaluating places of detention. At the moment, the only demonstrably independent body which enjoys the right to carry out visits unannounced in Turkey is the European Committee for the Prevention for Torture (CPT) whose findings and recommendations have generated significant change in Turkey regarding detention regulations and an apparently commensurate improvement in patterns of torture and ill-treatment.” [12i] (Section on The need for greater scrutiny of places of detention)

12.17 The USSD 2005 report noted that:

“The government permitted prison visits by representatives of some international organizations, such as the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT); however, domestic nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) did not have access to prisons. The CPT visited in March 2004 and conducted ongoing consultations with the government. Requests by the CPT to visit prisons were routinely granted.” [5b] (Section 1d)
13 Death penalty
13.01 The European Commission reported in 2006 that “With respect to the right to life and, in particular, the abolition of the death penalty, Turkey ratified, in March 2006, the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which aims to abolish the death penalty. Protocol 13 to the ECHR, which abolishes the death penalty at all times, was ratified in February 2006. Turkey abolished the death penalty in its national legislation, in all circumstances, in 2004.” [71a] (p61)
13.02 As outlined in the May-June 2005 issue of Newspot (published on the website of the Office of the Prime Minister, Directorate General of Press and Information) in an article on the new Turkish Penal Code, “The new Turkish penal code went into effect on June 1 [2005], along with the penal procedures and the law on the execution of sentences. The new penal code changes the duration and number of penalties in certain cases…Terrorist Abdullah Öcalan and similar criminals will remain in prison indefinitely.” [36j]
13.03 The Amnesty International List of Abolitionist and Retentionist Countries (1 January 2006) report noted that the date provided for the last execution carried out in Turkey as being in 1984. [12q] (p4)