The Prime Ministry's Human
Rights Directorate has been riddled with
controversies and scandals of all kinds for the
past two years. The government has always
underlined the importance it attaches to human
rights and the prevention of mistreatment of
citizens but when it comes to implementation it
seems, despite some improvements, that even the
scandals which have hit its own Human Rights
Directorate show most of the promises have
remained in the air.
The directorate's
latest report on violation allegations is highly
disappointing and if this reflects the
government's attitude then we feel Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's human rights
record will be seriously questioned. The premier
and his government have to distance themselves
from this report which is full of
inconsistencies and shows that the officials
involved don't understand the importance of the
issue.
The report, signed by the
directorate's new head Mustafa Taskesen, boasted
that in 2004 there were in total 847 complaints
about human rights violations made to the
directorate while last year the figure rose to
1,377, an increase of 62 percent increase. The
directorate claimed this a success as it shows
an increase in applications made. However it
said that while in 2004 the first three areas of
complaints were torture and mistreatment, the
right to a fair trial and personal freedoms and
security, last year the majority of complaints
centered around rights to proper health care,
land ownership and labor rights ... It claimed
that complaints about torture and mistreatment
were only number four on the list, asserting
this was a result of the government’s policy of
zero tolerance on torture ...
What a
great farce!
The report also claimed that
most of the complaints were from Konya,
Istanbul, Denizli, Kirikkale, Amasya, Samsun,
Kilis, Giresun and Adana ... No mention of any
trouble spots like Diyarbakir, Hakkari, Van,
Sirnak, Bitlis, Mardin and Batman ... It's is as
if these provinces don't exist. Well done
gentlemen at the Prime Ministry Human Rights
Directorate!
Those of us who care about
human rights and have fought for this cause over
the years in Turkey know how flawed this report
is.
According to our figures there were
825 complaints filed last year with the Human
Rights Association of Turkey on human rights
violations, especially on torture and
mistreatment of citizens, mostly from the
southeast with a massive Kurdish population.
They included 17 children. Compare that with the
165 reported by the Prime Ministry directorate
... Who's misleading this nation?
Above
all this, the directorate should be aware that
the public is required to make complaints to the
local authorities in each provincial center and
sub-district. Those are the very people who
control the security forces who are allegedly
involved in torture and mistreatment of citizens
... So can anyone really expect local people to
complain to those who actually ordered the crime
or were aware of it?
The Prime Ministry's
Human Rights Directorate was set up with good
intentions to create transparency and thus win
points from the European Union. However it's
evolved into a redundant and meaningless body
which only spreads disinformation.
When
it was first founded the people heading it, like
Vahit Bicak, and working there, like Professor
Baskin Oran, were full of enthusiasm and energy.
But the critical and highly professional reports
prepared by the directorate were stalled by
extreme nationalists and conservatives who even
tore up reports at a press conference when the
documents were to be made public. Professor Oran
was persecuted and prosecuted for writing a
critical report and this created an
international storm. Bicak simply quit, saying
he couldn't work in those conditions.
So
now the directorate seems to have been
completely pacified and is producing rosy
reports ... God help us
all.
A
joke: PM's Human Rights Directorate
