TURKEY COUNTRY REPORT October 2004 Country Information & Policy Unit IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY DIRECTORATE HOME OFFICE, UNITED KINGDOM Turkey October 2004 CONTENTS 1. Scope of the document 1.1 – 1.10 2. Geography 2.1 – 2.3 3. Economy 3.1 – 3.2 Corruption 3.3 – 3.4 4. History 4.1 – 4.2 General Election 1995 4.3 The National Security Council’s (MGK) actions 1997 4.4 – 4.7 General Election 1999 4.8 – 4.11 Conflict with the PKK (Partiya Karkeren Kurdistan - Kurdistan Workers’ Party) 4.12 – 4.23 European Union reforms 2001-2002 4.24 – 4.29 General Election 2002 4.30 –4.31 European Union reforms 2002-2003 4.32 – 4.39 Iraq 4.40 – 4.41 Suicide bombings 2003-2004 4.42 – 4.43 Release of Kurdish Deputies 4.44 – 4.47 5. State Structures The Constitution 5.1 – 5.7 Citizenship and Nationality 5.8 – 5.10 Political system 5.11 – 5.17 National Security Council (MGK) or (NSC) 5.18 – 5.23 Local Government 5.24 – 5.29 The Judiciary 5.30 – 5.35 Military Courts 5.36 State Security Courts (DGM) 5.37 – 5.39 The Constitutional Court (Anayasa Mahkemesi) 5.40 – 5.43 Legal rights/detention 5.44 - 5.46 Right to legal advice 5.47 – 5.50 Detention for questioning prior to formal arrest 5.51 – 5.55 The General Information Gathering System (GBTS) 5.56 – 6.65 Death Penalty 5.66 – 5.68 Internal Security Police 5.69 – 5.71 Jandarma/ Gendarmerie 5.72 – 5.74 Military /Special Forces 5.75 Intelligence Agency (MIT) 5.76 Village Guards 5.77 – 5.83 Prisons and Prison conditions 5.84 – 5.92 F-type prisons 5.93 – 5.102 Monitoring of prison conditions 5.103 –5.107 Military service 5.108 – 5.113 Deferring military service 5.114 – 5.115 Evasion of military service and punishment 5.116 – 5.118 Conscientious objectors 5.119 – 5.126 Posting after completion of basic training 5.127 – 5.129 Discrimination in the armed forces 5.130 – 5.134 Medical services 5.135 – 5.136 Cost of treatment 5.137 Mental Health 5.138 – 5.142 HIV/AIDS 5.143 – 5.144 People with disabilities 5.145 – 5.149 Educational system 5.150 – 5.151 6. Human Rights 6A. Human Rights Issues General 6.1 – 6.19 Torture 6.20 – 6.37 Medical examinations in detention 6.38 – 6.44 Turkey October 2004 Prosecution of State officials accused of ill-treatment 6.45 – 6.56 Enforcement of Human Rights 6.57 Disappearances 6.58 –6.59 Freedom of speech and the media 6.60 – 6.61 Freedom of speech/expression 6.62 – 6.68 Freedom of media/press 6.69 – 6.77 The High Board of Radio and Television (RTUK) 6.78 – 6.80 Internet 6.81 Freedom of religion 6.82 –6.91 Headscarves 6.92 – 6.96 Alevis, including Alevi Kurds 6.97 – 6.103 Christians 6.104 – 6.108 Jews 6.109 Freedom of assembly and association 6.110 – 6.124 Employment rights 6.125 – 6.126 Main Trade Union confederations 6.127 Main employers confederations 6.128 People trafficking 6.129 – 6.132 Freedom of movement 6.133 – 6.140 Nüfus card/ identity card 6.141 – 6.144 Treatment of foreigners seeking asylum in Turkey 6.145 – 6.149 6B. Human Rights –Specific Groups Ethnic Groups 6.150 – 6.153 Kurds 6.154 – 6.160 Kurdish language 6.161 – 6.163 Teaching in Kurdish 6.164 – 65 Pro-Kurdish political parties 6.166 –6.176 Relatives of HADEP members 6.177 PKK/KADEK/Kongra-Gel and the conflict in the Southeast 6.178 – 6.187 Internally displaced people (IDPs) and the return to villages programme 6.188 – 6.196 Kurdish National Congress 6.197 Newroz/Nevruz celebrations 6.198 – 6.200 Arabs 6.201 – 6.203 Caucasians 6.204 Armenians 6.205 Greeks 6.206 Women 6.207 – 6.213 Honour killings 6.214 – 6.218 Virginity testing 6.219 – 6.223 Employment 6.224 – 6.228 Children 6.229 – 6.234 Child care arrangements 6.235 – 6.238 Homosexuals 6.239 – 6.245 Transvestites 6.246 – 6.248 Transsexuals 249 6c. Human Rights – Other Issues Members of illegal organisations 6.250 – 6.252 Activists engaging in marginal activities for illegal organisations 6.253 – 6.254 Relatives of members of illegal organisations 6.255 – 6.257 Treatment of returned failed asylum seekers 6.258 – 6.267 Return of Turkish Kurds from Iraq 6.268 – 6.270 Government monitoring of human rights 6.271 – 6.273 Training on human rights 6.274 – 6.277 Reform Monitoring Group 6.278 Human Rights Presidency and Human Rights Boards/Councils 6.279 – 6.285 Parliamentary Human Rights Commission/ Parliamentary Human Rights Investigation Committee 6.286 – 6.290 Prison Inspection Committees/Prison Monitoring Boards 6.291 – 6.296 The Gendarmes Investigation and Evaluation Centre for Human Rights Abuse Issues Turkey October 2004 (JIHIDEM) 6.297 – 6.301 European Court of Human Rights 6.302 – 6.307 Treatment of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) 6.308 – 6.317 Human Rights Association (HRA) / Insan Haklari Dernegi (IHD) 6.318 – 6.325 Turkish Human Rights Foundation (HRF) / Türkiye Insan Haklari Vakfi (TIHV) 6.326 – 6.329 Mazlum-Der 6.330 – 6.332 State of emergency 6.333 – 6.337 Blood feuds 6.338 – 6.339 ANNEX A: Chronology ANNEX B: Parties which contest parliamentary elections ANNEX C: Main leftist and/or illegal political organisations ANNEX D: Prominent people ANNEX E: Martial Law and State of Emergency in Turkey ANNEX F: Administration of justice ANNEX G: The court system ANNEX H: Removal figures for Turkish Nationals ANNEX I: References to source material 1. Scope of the Document 1.1 This Country Report has been produced by Immigration and Nationality Directorate, Home Office, for use by officials involved in the asylum / human rights determination process. The Report provides general background information about the issues most commonly raised in asylum / human rights claims made in the United Kingdom. It includes information available up to 15 October 2004. 1.2 The Country Report is compiled wholly from material produced by a wide range of recognised external information sources and does not contain any Home Office opinion or policy. All information in the Report is attributed, throughout the text, to the original source material, which is made available to those working in the asylum / human rights determination process. 1.3 The Report aims to provide a brief summary of the source material identified, focusing on the main issues raised in asylum and human rights applications. It is not intended to be a detailed or comprehensive survey. For a more detailed account, the relevant source documents should be examined directly. 1.4 The structure and format of the Country Report reflects the way it is used by Home Office caseworkers and appeals presenting officers, who require quick electronic access to information on specific issues and use the contents page to go directly to the subject required. Key issues are usually covered in some depth within a dedicated section, but may also be referred to briefly in several other sections. Some repetition is therefore inherent in the structure of the Report. Turkey October 2004 1.5 The information included in this Country Report is limited to that which can be identified from source documents. While every effort is made to cover all relevant aspects of a particular topic, it is not always possible to obtain the information concerned. For this reason, it is important to note that information included in the Report should not be taken to imply anything beyond what is actually stated. For example, if it is stated that a particular law has been passed, this should not be taken to imply that it has been effectively implemented; rather that information regarding implementation has not been found. 1.6 As noted above, the Country Report is a collation of material produced by a number of reliable information sources. In compiling the Report, no attempt has been made to resolve discrepancies between information provided in different source documents. For example, different source documents often contain different versions of names and spellings of individuals, places and political parties etc. Country Reports do not aim to bring consistency of spelling, but to reflect faithfully the spellings used in the original source documents. Similarly, figures given in different source documents sometimes vary and these are simply quoted as per the original text. 1.7 The Country Report is based substantially upon source documents issued during the previous two years. However, some older source documents may have been included because they contain relevant information not available in more recent documents. All sources contain information considered relevant at the time this Report was issued. 1.8 This Country Report and the accompanying source material are public documents. All Country Reports are published on the IND section of the Home Office website and the great majority of the source material for the Report is readily available in the public domain. Where the source documents identified in the Report are available in electronic form, the relevant web link has been included, together with the date that the link was accessed. Copies of less accessible source documents, such as those provided by government offices or subscription services, are available from the Home Office upon request. 1.9 Country Reports are published every six months on the top 20 asylum producing countries and on those countries for which there is deemed to be a specific operational need. Inevitably, information contained in Country Reports is sometimes overtaken by events that occur between publication dates.