- Signs of torture and other ill-treatment and indifference to violent attacks
civil servants Law enforcement officers sent to the region devastated by the earthquakes that hit Turkey on February 6 have beaten, tortured and otherwise ill-treated persons suspected of robbery and lootingAmnesty International and Human Rights Watch said today. One person died in custody after being tortured. In some cases, these agents did not intervene to prevent some people from violently assaulting others whom they considered suspected of having committed crimes.
Although incidents of robbery and looting of homes and businesses have been reported in the aftermath of the earthquakes, posing a huge security challenge for law enforcement officials, international law and also Turkish law prohibit inflicting torture or other ill dealings with suspicious persons under any circumstances. The Turkish government has long claimed that it has a “zero tolerance towards torture” policy.
“Reliable reports that police, gendarmes and military personnel subject individuals suspected of crimes to prolonged violent beatings and arbitrary and unofficial detention constitute a startling indictment of current law enforcement practices in the earthquake-affected region of Turkey,” said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch.
“Law enforcement officials view the state of emergency decreed in connection with the natural disaster as a license to torture and other ill-treatment and even kill with impunity.”
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have interviewed 34 people and examined the available video material, which recorded 13 cases of violence perpetrated by the police, the gendarmerie —police in rural areas— or soldiers deployed in the area, against 34 male victims.
Investigative staff heard additional accounts and saw videos of other people being severely beaten by security forces, but have not been able to fully corroborate these incidents. Among the people interviewed were 12 victims of torture or other ill-treatment, 2 people who had been threatened at gunpoint by the gendarmes, witnesses and legal professionals.
Although in four cases documented by the organizations there were private citizens who provided humanitarian assistance after the earthquakes among those who participated in the beatings of the victims, the investigation focused mainly on abuses committed by public officials. All but three cases of torture and other ill-treatment took place in the city of Antioch, Hatay province. In four cases, the victims were Syrian refugees and the attacks showed signs of additional xenophobic motivation.
All the incidents took place in the 10 provinces included in the state of emergency announced by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on February 7 and approved by Parliament two days later. The state of emergency during a natural disaster grants the government powers such as issuing decrees mandating the use of private and public resources—land, buildings, vehicles, fuel, medical supplies, and food—in rescue and humanitarian aid work, the use of the armed forces as aid, the control of the opening hours of businesses in the affected region and the restriction of entry to the region.
A Turkish man said that a gendarme had threatened him with these words: “We are in a state of emergency, we will kill you. […] We will kill you and bury you under the rubble.” A Syrian man said that a police superintendent, to whom he complained after an officer punched him in the face, told him: “We are in a state of emergency. Even if that agent kills you, he won’t be held accountable. No one can tell you anything.”
“Authorities should promptly open criminal investigations into all cases of torture and other ill-treatment committed by police, gendarmerie and other law enforcement officials”
On March 17, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch wrote to the Turkish Interior and Justice Ministers to send them the conclusion of their verifications and to request information on the investigations related to the complaints of abuses presented and the videographic evidence that circulates on social networks.
On March 29, the Human Rights Directorate of the Ministry of Justice responded on behalf of the Ministry of Justice itself and the Ministry of the Interior. In their response, the ministries claimed that the Turkish government has a zero-tolerance policy on torture, and claimed that the findings of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch were “imprecise statements devoid of any factual basis.” They did not address what was stated by these human rights organizations or the questions raised about specific cases or police practices in the region affected by the earthquake during the state of emergency. Instead, the joint response of the ministries focused on the magnitude of the earthquakes, the devastation and humanitarian relief efforts.
Most of the victims explained that they had been detained by groups of police, gendarmes or soldiers while they were participating in search and rescue work in buildings that had been destroyed by the earthquake or while they were going through neighborhoods in Antioquia. In most cases, the victims were not taken into official custody, but were immediately beaten or forced to lie on the ground or kneel while being kicked, slapped, and insulted for prolonged periods, sometimes with their hands in handcuffs. . Some were forced to confess crimes. However, only in two cases has a subsequent investigation been carried out on the victims for the commission of alleged crimes, which raises serious doubts as to whether there was ever a real suspicion that they had acted illegally.
“My house is in ruins, I live in a tent and, as if this were not enough, the police beat me and held a gun to my head,” said a man. “They acted like it was the Wild West.”
A 19-year-old victim recounted: “I lost track of time and it seemed like it was going on for an hour and a half or two. First it was the three of us, then a large group of policemen came and joined in, punching me, kicking me.”
The victims or their families formally denounced the violence to which the agents had subjected them in only 6 cases of the 13 examined; in one such complaint, a man alleged that he and his brother had been subjected to prolonged episodes of torture in gendarmerie custody and that his brother had then fainted and died in custody.
In seven other cases, victims said they would not file official complaints. for fear of retaliation and because they thought the chances of obtaining justice were remote. Several also said that the deaths of family members and friends in the earthquakes and the far-reaching shocks experienced in their own lives overshadowed the abuses they had suffered at the hands of the police and gendarmerie.
Syrian citizens in particular were the most reluctant to file an official complaint. A woman who worked as a translator for foreign search and rescue teams stated: “Most of the gendarmes treated the Syrians like thieves and were very aggressive towards them. They didn’t accept Syrian people in the rescue teams and they were furious.”
Another search and rescue volunteer, a Syrian national, who helped rescue several Turkish and Syrian people from the rubble, but who was also a victim of gendarmerie and mob violence, said: “I don’t I will file a complaint because I think it will not help. I am afraid to go outside, because images of my car appeared on social networks and they spread videos of us. […] We are afraid that they will attack us again. I did not go to the hospital or get a medical report because I was afraid they would consider me a looter, and we are Syrians.”
A witness explained that “some soldiers beat up three young men between the ages of 20-25 who looked like workers and poor, whom they considered ‘looters’, and who encouraged the individuals present to join in the beating.” Another person interviewed said that he had seen a military man, apparently of high rank, appeal from his car to a crowd in Samandağ, near Antioquia, in these terms: “When they catch looters, hit them as you wish, give them what they deserve, but don’t kill them, call us”.
The Turkish authorities must carry out full, impartial and prompt criminal and administrative investigations on all reports that police, military and gendarmerie personnel in the earthquake-affected region have committed torture or other ill-treatment, regardless of whether they consider the victims suspects of criminal activity, Human Rights said today Watch and Amnesty International.
“The appalling descriptions and images of gratuitous violence committed by law enforcement officials abusing their power in the worst natural disaster the country has ever suffered cannot be dismissed out of hand,” said Nils Muižnieks, director of Amnesty International for Europe.
“All victims, including refugees, have the right to justice and reparations for the damage suffered. The authorities must promptly open criminal investigations into all cases of torture and other ill-treatment committed by the police, gendarmerie and other law enforcement officials, and bring those responsible to justice.”