Council of Europe says "no significant improvement" in Turkey’s human rights record |
On 9th June 1999, in an unprecedented move, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted an interim resolution condemning human rights abuses committed by the Turkish security forces in the Kurdish regions of Turkey. The Committee refers to thirteen cases adjudicated by the European Court of Human Rights and the Committee of Ministers between 1996 and 1998, where serious violations of the European Convention on Human Rights were found to have taken place, all in consequence of actions by the security forces in the south east of Turkey. Twelve of these cases were brought by individual applicants with the assistance of the Kurdish Human Rights Project, namely: Akdivar and others v Turkey (village destruction case), Aksoy v Turkey (detention and torture), Cetin v Turkey (denial of right to effective remedy), Aydin v Turkey (rape while in detention), Mentes and others v Turkey (village destruction), Kaya v Turkey (extra-judicial killing), Selcuk and Asker v Turkey (destruction of homes), Kurt v Turkey (extra judicial killing), Tekin v Turkey (ill-treatment in custody), Ergi v Turkey (village destruction), Yilmaz and others v Turkey (destruction of homes), and Yasa v Turkey (extra-judicial killing). The Committee’s resolution notes that while steps have been taken within Turkey to train the members of the security forces to show respect for human rights, and while some changes have been made to the criminal procedures:
The Kurdish Human Rights Project also notes that there are currently close to 2,500 outstanding applications against Turkey under the European Convention of Human Rights, including numerous allegations of extra-judicial killing, torture, village destruction and improper detention brought by applicants from the Kurdish regions. There have been more applications against Turkey than against any other country in the Council of Europe. The Kurdish Human Rights Project supports the recommendations and conclusions of the Committee’s report, calling on Turkey to
The Kurdish Human Rights Project hopes that this resolution will encourage the Turkish government to work with the international community and non-governmental organisations to ensure respect for human rights throughout the country in order to bring an end to the cycle of abuse which has brought misery to the Kurdish regions for so long.
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