ASYLUM SEEKERS FROM TURKEY II by David McDowall (a revised, updated edition of the report of a mission to Turkey, October 2000) November 2002 2 Acknowledgement for first edition We are particularly grateful to the Avenue Trust for the major donation that made this mission possible, and to those law firms which also supported the mission financially. We should also like to record our debt to those who helped us prepare, or who gave us useful material: Marion Ellingworth of Amnesty International, Sherman Carroll of the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture, Veronica Forwood of Reporters Sans Frontieres, Pro Asyl, Izmir War Resister's Association (ISKD), Guido van Leemput of the Study Centre on Turkey and Tina Devadasan of the Kurdish Human Rights Project, Konrad Hirschler and Murvet Ozkan. Others helped but preferred to remain anonymous. We are also grateful to numerous individuals and the staff of organisations who provided advice, information, contacts and other assistance in Turkey, and arranged for us to meet those who had experienced serious violations. These informants are named on page 4. Most of all, we would record our gratitude to those who screwed up their courage to retell their stories of State persecution and whose statements form a vital part of this report. This report was written for, and not by, Asylum Aid, which had no control over the contents. The Mission consisted of Navita Atreya took degrees in chemistry and management at King's College London before qualifying as a barrister. She has been practising since 1995, and has specialised in immigration and asylum law. David McDowall took degrees in Islamic History (BA) and Modern Middle East History (M.Litt) at Oxford, 1966-72. He is author of several publications on the Kurdish question, including A Modern History of the Kurds (IBTauris, London 1996, new edition 2000). He has written for the Minority Rights Group on the Kurds, on the Lebanon, the Palestinians and is author of the Middle East section of the World Directory of Minorities (1997). He has written reports on the Kurdish situation in Turkey for the Kurdish Human Rights Project, and also one entitled The Kurds of Syria (1998). In 1992 RIIA (Chatham House) published his paper Europe and the Arabs: Discord or Symbiosis? a contribution to Euro- Arab understanding. Perihan Özbolat was born and grew up in a village near Afsin (Maras province) in Turkey until she moved to Germany at the age of 14. She graduated from Göttingen University in 1998 with a MA in Political Sciences, International Law and Sociology, her thesis being “The Role of the Kurdish Women's Movement in the Independence Struggle.” Being from a Kurdish and immigrant background she was involved in political activities in different organisations during her studies. She has returned to Turkey frequently to organise and research for visiting delegations. Since 1998 she has lived in London, working with immigrants from Turkey. Currently she is preparing a study on the experiences of victims of village destruction in Turkey. The September 2002 edition is revised and updated by David McDowall who is entirely responsible for what it now states. This report owes a particular debt to the following sources: Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey (TIHV), the Turkish Human Rights Association (IHD), two press cutting services provided by the Washington Kurdish Institute and the International Association for Human Rights of the Kurds (IMK) and also Birnberg Peirce & Partners. 3 Contents Abbreviations page 4 Itinerary List of informants Report summary 6 Introductory Section: what is the essential question? objectivity; about oral and written testimonies, report layout and use 9 The General Human Rights Situation, 2000 13 Detention 13 Torture 16 Sexual abuse and rape 21 Freedom of expression and assembly 22 Changes in the Constitution 23 Turkish Parliamentary Human Rights Commission 25 Pressure to become an informant 27 Relatives at risk of torture 28 Climate of impunity 28 Bad law and bad practice 29 Is torture sanctioned by the authorities? 30 Why is there no doctor’s certificate confirming mistreatment? 33 Legal procedures, unfair trials and prisons 35 Unfair practices in trials 37 Prisons 39 The Kurds in Turkish Society 42 Kurdish ethnicity 42 Political exclusion 43 Discrimination against Kurds qua Kurds 44 Registration of residence 48 Social and economic exclusion 50 Displacement of villagers 51 HADEP 53 Alevi Kurds 55 Alevi History 55 Generalised discrimination and prejudice against Alevis 56 Political prejudice 59 State suspicion and co-optation 61 Nationalist Action Party (MHP) 62 Kahraman Maras Province 64 Military service 66 Service conditions 66 Evasion of service 69 Conscientious objection 70 Gendarmerie (jandarma) 71 Village Guards 73 War waged contrary to the basic rules of human conduct 73 Cultural freedom 77 4 Language 77 Cultural organisations 79 Kurdish names 81 Allusions to Kurdish identity 82 Newroz 82 Kurdish colours 84 Kurdish music 84 Kurdish broadcasting 85 Returned asylum seekers 86 Uncertain consequences 86 How many are likely to report mistreatment? 86 Assessing the risk 87 Is the Home Office concerned with the safety of returnees? 87 The most reliable sources of information? 88 What happens on arrival at Istanbul or another Turkish airport? 91 Trying to estimate what proportion of returnees are mistreated 94 What can happen to those mistreated 95 Appendix 1: Oral Statements 97 Appendix 2: Cases of Rape 115 Appendix 3: HADEP 120 Appendix 4: Events in Kahraman Maras 126 Appendix 5: Military service 130 Appendix 6: Asylum seekers returned to Turkey 141 Appendix 7: The Kurds in Turkey: an introductory note 149 Abbreviations used DEP Democracy party DGM State Security Courts DSP Democratic Left Party Goç-Der The Migrants’ Social and Solidarity Association HADEP People's Democracy Party HEP People's Labour Party IHD Turkish Human Rights Association ISKD Izmir War Resisters' Association JITEM Gendarmerie Intelligence Department MiT National Security Organisation MGK National Security Council MHP Nationalist Action Party MKM Mesopotamian Cultural Centre OHAL State of Emergency Region PKK Kurdistan Workers' Party TCA Turkey Country Assessment (CIPU, April 2002) TIHV Human Rights Foundation of Turkey UNHCR UN High Commission for Refugees 5 Informants in Turkey, October 2000 Istanbul: Staff of Goç-Der; TIHV, IHD, HADEP; Mesopotamia Cultural Centre; Ugur Yorulmaz, (military service resister); Nadire Mater (journalist). Ankara: Mr Kazim Bayraktar, lawyer; staff at IHD and TIHV headquarters; Political Section, UK Mission; IHD congress delegates from Izmir, Kayseri, Adiyaman, Malatya, Elazig and Iskenderun. Adana: Staff of IHD and HADEP. Gaziantep: Staff of IHD; HADEP; 2000'e Yeni gundem. Pazarcik: Staff of HADEP. Use of this report This report was researched and written to assist in the determination of asylum cases, both at the time of initial application and at the appeal stage. It is hoped that the Home Office will study it carefully its entirety. Special Adjudicators and the Tribunal are already often confronted with formidable bundles of evidence. In their case, it is hoped that they will be directed with precision to those specific sections which are relevant to the case in hand. 6 Report Summary The overriding purpose of this report is to convey what it is really like on the streets or in police detention for those suspected of asserting Kurdish ethnic identity 1. The general human rights situation in Turkey: The pattern of human rights violations has changed with the end of the PKK war. Violations in the countryside have declined but this certainly does not mean an end to violations there, nor has there been any change in the brutal ethos of the security forces. A culture of detention and torture remains endemic. Most of those detained seem to be tortured or mistreated, yet only about 7 per cent are ever charged or gaoled. Sexual abuse and rape are probably severely under-reported because of the shame involved. There is an upward trend in persecution of those exercising the right to freedom of expression. There is no sign that modest progress on constitutional change has had any affect at all on police behaviour. The evidence strongly indicates that torture viewed as necessary by senior echelons of the state. 2. Kurds in Turkish Society: The possibility of advancement for Kurds in Turkish society notwithstanding and regardless of official claims of non-discrimination, human rights workers without exception confirmed that (i) advancement as a Kurd socially and in public life depends upon the conscious abandonment of Kurdish identity and culture. (ii) all other things being equal, a Kurd is much more likely to be detained and ill- treated than a Turk; (iii) moving from the State of Emergency Region in no way affords displaced Kurds any assurance of safety from mistreatment by the security forces; (iv) being 'small fry' or even not politically active in no way indicates a displaced Kurd can safely assume he/she will not be detained and mistreated by the security forces. Those displaced who decide to remain unregistered do so because they have fears well-grounded in experience. (v) being a relative of any person wanted even on the most trivial grounds places one at risk of mistreatment. (vi) displaced Kurds are unlikely to be able to access benefits on an equal footing because they face severe educational, social and economic disadvantages. 3. Legal procedures, unfair trials and prisons. The Anti-terror law (No. 3713) of 12 April 1991 remains the principle legal instrument for the conviction of those who assert political freedoms of expression and assembly. The failure to separate the powers of the executive and judiciary remains a serious flaw to the whole judicial system. Those charged with political offences are unlikely to receive a fair trial because (i) the law is framed and used to persecute political activists (ii) the decision where to try defendants (i.e.