Rights group accuses Turkey of torture
Ankara says post-coup crackdown needed as it faces threats from Kurdish militants and wars in Iraq and Syria
Turkey has effectively written a “blank cheque” to security services to torture people detained after a failed military coup attempt, a US-based rights group said yesterday, citing accusations of beatings, sleep deprivation and sexual abuse.
A report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) said a “climate of fear” had prevailed since July’s failed coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the arrest of thousands under a State of Emergency. It identified more than a dozen cases raised in interviews with lawyers, activists, former detainees and others.
A Turkish official said the Justice Ministry would respond to the report later in the day; but Ankara has repeatedly denied accusations of torture and said the postcoup crackdown was needed to stabilise the Nato state facing threats from Kurdish militants as well as wars in neighbouring Iraq and Syria.
Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at HRW, said in a statement it “would be tragic if two hastily passed emergency decrees end up undermining the progress Turkey made to combat torture”. “By removing safeguards against torture, the Turkish government effectively wrote a blank cheque to law enforcement agencies to torture and mistreat detainees as they like,” he said.
Erdogan reined in police use of torture especially in the largely Kurdish southeast when he first came to power in 2002. But the battle with Kurdish militants has become more fierce since the breakdown of a ceasefire last year.
HRW said it had uncovered allegations that police had used methods including sleep deprivation, severe beatings, sexual abuse and the threat of rape since the failed coup. Cases were not limited to possible putschists, but also involved detainees suspected of links to Kurdish militant and leftist groups.